Numbers 14:13-19 and James 1:1-18 Bible Study Notes

Bible Study Notes - Numbers 14:13-19 & 

James 1:1-8

The passage in Numbers 14 captures an instance of intercessory prayer.  Moses appeals to God to spare the people despite their sin of bickering, complaining and indicting the character of Almighty God.  Frankly, God appears to lose patience in extending His faithful provision to people who trample upon His grace and mercy.  Moses asks God to consider the aspersion that God would cast upon Himself in the eyes of the Egyptians and His other enemies if God were to consume His chosen in the fit of His rage at their unbelief.  Consider the following ideas as you study the passage.

• Moses says that the Egyptians will tell the inhabitants of the land that the God of the Hebrews is not reliable.  He led the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt only to let them die in the wilderness like common wildlife.
• According to the fourteenth verse, how could a God who shows His face and glory and provides a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night do such a thing to the people that call upon His name and whom He leads?
• If God fails to spare the Israelites, then the surrounding nations will insist that God slaughtered His own people.  Who wishes to serve such a god?
• Moses then petitions for mercy on the basis of God’s holy name and character.  “The Lord is slow to anger, abounding in love and forgiving sin and rebellion.”
• Additionally, Moses acknowledges that God does not leave the guilty unpunished.
• In fact, God visits punishment on the sins of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate Him.  What exactly does this mean?  Is it fair?  Can the cycle be broken?
• Moses concludes his intercession with a reference to God’s “great love” and faithful forgiveness of Israel from the time of their liberation from Egyptian slavery to the present.

After completing a study of the Numbers passage, we will commence a study of the book of James, the New Testament book of “Wisdom” literature.  The book concentrates upon daily and practical religion which is most evident in a disciple’s lifestyle rather than his verbal profession of faith.  James defines “good religion” in 1:27 and 2:14-26.  In the words of that old Negro spiritual, “Have You Got Good Religion?”  In the first and second chapters of the book, James distinguishes the characteristics of “true religion.”  The third and fourth chapters, in contrast, delineate the signs and deeds of “false profession” of faith.  The final and fifth chapter offers various “warnings, exhortations and instructions” for average believers.  Again, James heavily emphasizes the necessity of practicing the best attributes of the Christian faith rather than merely granting “intellectual assent to truth [doctrines, creeds and beliefs] without change of character.”  As we study this brief but powerful book of the Bible, let’s continually ask “How do we daily practice Christian principles we believe and learn?”

As it relates to James 1:1-8, consider the following ideas as you study the passage.

• How do we practically “consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds?”  What does it mean to have joy?  How do you know when you are joyous?  What are the determining aspects of joy?
• “The testing of your faith develops perseverance.”  Are pain and evil necessary in order to grow spiritually?  Without passing various tests of faith, can you really cultivate the personal quality of perseverance?
• How do you persevere practically during a difficult time?  Compare this verse in James with Romans 5:3-5.  How does a very depressed and emotionally paralyzed person persevere through a particularly bleak situation?
• The fourth verse links perseverance to maturity and wholeness in faith when means “not lacking anything.”  Enduring trials and tribulations is a prerequisite to seeing more clearly the faithfulness of Almighty God in your spiritual journey.
• The fifth verse encourages us to seek God if we lack wisdom.  What does it mean to “lack wisdom?”  How do we ask God? Let’s evaluate our personal and collective understanding of prayer?
• Consider the biblical promise that God “gives [wisdom] generously to all without finding fault.”  If a person asks, “it [wisdom] will be given to him.”  Amazingly, anyone whether a believer or not receives the guarantee of divine guidance.
• Is belief and doubt two sides of the same coin?  What does it mean to believe practically?  What are the daily realities of doubt? What is a practical contrast of belief and doubt?  Let’s look at Mark 9:23-24.
• James offers a great literary image of doubt in which he compares it to waves of the sea, blowing and tossing back and forth by the wind.
• James refers to a perpetual doubter as a double-minded person, literally a person with two minds within one head.  Such a person “will not receive anything from the Lord.”  More regrettably, this man is “unstable in all he does.”
• What is the practical cure to double-mindedness? 
• Let’s look at Hebrews 11:1-6.  Let’s discuss faith and its necessity to pleasing God.