Things that God Does NOT like.

Things that Displease The LORD: 

Numbers 14:1-12

“ Then all the congregation raised a loud cry, and the people wept that night. ² And all the people of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron. The whole congregation said to them, “Would that we had died in the land of Egypt! Or would that we had died in this wilderness! ³ Why is the LORD bringing us into this land, to fall by the sword? Our wives and our little ones will become a prey. Would it not be better for us to go back to Egypt?” ⁴ And they said to one another, “Let us choose a leader and go back to Egypt.”

⁵ Then Moses and Aaron fell on their faces before all the assembly of the congregation of the people of Israel. ⁶ And Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, who were among those who had spied out the land, tore their clothes ⁷ and said to all the congregation of the people of Israel, “The land, which we passed through to spy it out, is an exceedingly good land. ⁸ If the LORD delights in us, he will bring us into this land and give it to us, a land that flows with milk and honey. ⁹ Only do not rebel against the LORD. And do not fear the people of the land, for they are bread for us. Their protection is removed from them, and the LORD is with us; do not fear them.” ¹⁰ Then all the congregation said to stone them with stones. But the glory of the LORD appeared at the tent of meeting to all the people of Israel.

¹¹ And the LORD said to Moses, “How long will this people despise me? And how long will they not believe in me, in spite of all the signs that I have done among them? ¹² I will strike them with the pestilence and disinherit them, and I will make of you a nation greater and mightier than they.” -ESV

#1– Rebellion 

Numbers 14:9-10

⁹ “Only do not rebel against the LORD. And do not fear the people of the land, for they are bread for us. Their protection is removed from them, and the LORD is with us; do not fear them.” ¹⁰ Then all the congregation said to stone them with stones. But the glory of the LORD appeared at the tent of meeting to all the people of Israel.”  -ESV

Rebellion displeases the LORD. So much so that rebellion is like witchcraft in the sight of God. The people rebelled against the LORD because they did not put their trust in Him and wanted to do things their own way. 

1 Samuel 15:23a-b 

 “²³ For rebellion is as the sin of divination,

and presumption is as iniquity and idolatry. -ESV

#2– Complaint

When the people complained it was directed towards God, although the people spoke to Moses and Aaron, the context of what they were saying was about God. If you’re complaining then you are not submitting. There is no such thing as complaints having a spirit of submission. The Holy Trinity: God the Father, The Son, and The Holy Spirit teach us how to submit to each other perfectly in unison. They don’t complain to each other when they submit, they do it in love and submission is freely given, it is not something that is demanded, manipulated, or forced to be given. 

Complaint due to impatience. 

Numbers 21:4-9

⁴ “From Mount Hor they set out by the way to the Red Sea, to go around the land of Edom. And the people became impatient on the way. ⁵ And the people spoke against God and against Moses, “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and we loathe this worthless food.” ⁶ Then the LORD sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people, so that many people of Israel died. ⁷ And the people came to Moses and said, “We have sinned, for we have spoken against the LORD and against you. Pray to the LORD, that he take away the serpents from us.” So Moses prayed for the people. ⁸ And the LORD said to Moses, “Make a fiery serpent and set it on a pole, and everyone who is bitten, when he sees it, shall live.” ⁹ So Moses made a bronze serpent and set it on a pole. And if a serpent bit anyone, he would look at the bronze serpent and live.” -ESV

Be careful with the way you speak to God and the way you speak to God’s chosen servant, and don’t call something worthless what God has blessed you with to have for a specific purpose. 

Numbers 14:1-4

​¹ “Then all the congregation raised a loud cry, and the people wept that night. ² And all the people of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron. The whole congregation said to them, “Would that we had died in the land of Egypt! Or would that we had died in this wilderness! ³ Why is the LORD bringing us into this land, to fall by the sword? Our wives and our little ones will become a prey. Would it not be better for us to go back to Egypt?” ⁴ And they said to one another, “Let us choose a leader and go back to Egypt.” -ESV

Don’t ever let complaint turn into you wanting to go back to being in slavery and captivity–because you chose not to trust in the LORD. Don’t let impatience and your fear (which includes anxiety) hinder you from trusting God.

Numbers 11:1-3

​¹ “And the people complained in the hearing of the LORD about their misfortunes, and when the LORD heard it, his anger was kindled, and the fire of the LORD burned among them and consumed some outlying parts of the camp. ² Then the people cried out to Moses, and Moses prayed to the LORD, and the fire died down. ³ So the name of that place was called Taberah, because the fire of the LORD burned among them.” -ESV

When entering a new season God examines how you behave and how you speak.

#3– Wickedness

Numbers 14:31-38

³¹ “But your little ones, who you said would become a prey, I will bring in, and they shall know the land that you have rejected. ³² But as for you, your dead bodies shall fall in this wilderness. ³³ And your children shall be shepherds in the wilderness forty years and shall suffer for your faithlessness, until the last of your dead bodies lies in the wilderness. ³⁴ According to the number of the days in which you spied out the land, forty days, a year for each day, you shall bear your iniquity forty years, and you shall know my displeasure.’ ³⁵ I, the LORD, have spoken. Surely this will I do to all this wicked congregation who are gathered together against me: in this wilderness they shall come to a full end, and there they shall die.”

³⁶ And the men whom Moses sent to spy out the land, who returned and made all the congregation grumble against him by bringing up a bad report about the land— ³⁷ the men who brought up a bad report of the land—died by plague before the LORD. ³⁸ Of those men who went to spy out the land, only Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh remained alive.” 

Not only do your decisions affect you, but also your children, and others around you. The people were unfaithful to God, their children suffered forty years in the wilderness, because of the words they spoke themselves over their children.

Proverbs 18:21

 ²¹ Death and life are in the power of the tongue,

and those who love it will eat its fruits. -ESV

Be careful with the things that you speak. Let us not have a pessimistic attitude, but…

⁵ Trust in the LORD with all your heart,

and do not lean on your own understanding.

⁶ In all your ways acknowledge him,

and he will make straight your paths. -Proverbs 3:5-6

Be careful also not to speak against God’s chosen people and God’s anointed places. The Land of Canaan (The Land Flowing with Milk and Honey) was an anointed place that God set apart for His people. 

Saul was anointed by God to be king. David had the opportunity to kill Saul but he never did because he knew the anointing that God had placed on Saul, even though Saul many times tried to kill David. David never tried once because he truly feared the LORD (Read 1 Samuel chapters 24, 26, and 31). 

#4– Disobedience

Disobedience really should be the number one thing. 

Do what God said the first time. Don’t wait and don’t hesitate. If you want to know how to hear the voice of the Lord and discern God’s voice go read my blog on ‘Discerning the Voice of God’ (here). God cares more about your obedience to Him than any kind of sacrificial offering. 

 1 Samuel 15:22-23

 ²² And Samuel said,

“Has the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices,

as in obeying the voice of the LORD?

Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice,

and to listen than the fat of rams.

²³ For rebellion is as the sin of divination,

and presumption is as iniquity and idolatry.

99% obedience is still disobedience. God wants your 100%. 

Disobedience is the number one thing that hinders your relationship with God. My mentor said “Obedience is hard on the flesh but it is good for it.”  Don’t disobey God just to satisfy your flesh. Disobedience to God opens doors for the enemy to attack and if you don’t repent and ask God to cover you under the blood of Jesus, which is protection for you, those doors remain open.  

In the book of 1 Samuel, Saul, the King of Israel at this time disobeyed the voice of God because he grew impatient waiting for Samuel to come and sacrifice the offering to God so that God may show mercy and help the Israelites win the war that was going on. So because Saul looked upon his situation he took matters into his own hands and offered up an unlawful sacrifice. 

The crazy thing is that when Saul finishes offering up the sacrifice, Samuel then shows up. What if this was God’s way of testing Saul’s heart to see if Saul was actually a man after God’s own heart? Saul’s disobedience brought consequences. (1 Samuel 13:1-23). Saul later then disobeys God again and then the Lord rejects Saul (1 Samuel 15). Once the Lord rejected Saul due to disobedience, and the Spirit of God departed from Saul, which opened doors for the enemy to attack, there was a harmful spirit that tormented Saul. (1 Samuel 15-16). Obey the voice of the Lord the first time He asks you to do something. 

#5– Pride 

So what are some examples of pride: Taking matters into your own hands–thinking you can do it all on your own, exalting yourself above God. Taking matters into your own hands is NOT trusting in the LORD. Saul did not trust in God because he took matters into his own hands and did the unlawful sacrifice, which cost Saul the kingdom. 

1 Samuel 15:1-23

¹ And Samuel said to Saul, “The LORD sent me to anoint you king over his people Israel; now therefore listen to the words of the LORD. ² Thus says the LORD of hosts, ‘I have noted what Amalek did to Israel in opposing them on the way when they came up out of Egypt. ³ Now go and strike Amalek and devote to destruction all that they have. Do not spare them, but kill both man and woman, child and infant, ox and sheep, camel and donkey.’”

⁴ So Saul summoned the people and numbered them in Telaim, two hundred thousand men on foot, and ten thousand men of Judah. ⁵ And Saul came to the city of Amalek and lay in wait in the valley. ⁶ Then Saul said to the Kenites, “Go, depart; go down from among the Amalekites, lest I destroy you with them. For you showed kindness to all the people of Israel when they came up out of Egypt.” So the Kenites departed from among the Amalekites. ⁷ And Saul defeated the Amalekites from Havilah as far as Shur, which is east of Egypt. ⁸ And he took Agag the king of the Amalekites alive and devoted to destruction all the people with the edge of the sword. ⁹ But Saul and the people spared Agag and the best of the sheep and of the oxen and of the fattened calves and the lambs, and all that was good, and would not utterly destroy them. All that was despised and worthless they devoted to destruction.

¹⁰ The word of the LORD came to Samuel: ¹¹ “I regret that I have made Saul king, for he has turned back from following me and has not performed my commandments.” And Samuel was angry, and he cried to the LORD all night. ¹² And Samuel rose early to meet Saul in the morning. And it was told Samuel, “Saul came to Carmel, and behold, he set up a monument for himself and turned and passed on and went down to Gilgal.” ¹³ And Samuel came to Saul, and Saul said to him, “Blessed be you to the LORD. I have performed the commandment of the LORD.” ¹⁴ And Samuel said, “What then is this bleating of the sheep in my ears and the lowing of the oxen that I hear?” ¹⁵ Saul said, “They have brought them from the Amalekites, for the people spared the best of the sheep and of the oxen to sacrifice to the LORD your God, and the rest we have devoted to destruction.” ¹⁶ Then Samuel said to Saul, “Stop! I will tell you what the LORD said to me this night.” And he said to him, “Speak.”

¹⁷ And Samuel said, “Though you are little in your own eyes, are you not the head of the tribes of Israel? The LORD anointed you king over Israel. ¹⁸ And the LORD sent you on a mission and said, ‘Go, devote to destruction the sinners, the Amalekites, and fight against them until they are consumed.’ ¹⁹ Why then did you not obey the voice of the LORD? Why did you pounce on the spoil and do what was evil in the sight of the LORD?” ²⁰ And Saul said to Samuel, “I have obeyed the voice of the LORD. I have gone on the mission on which the LORD sent me. I have brought Agag the king of Amalek, and I have devoted the Amalekites to destruction. ²¹ But the people took of the spoil, sheep and oxen, the best of the things devoted to destruction, to sacrifice to the LORD your God in Gilgal.” ²² And Samuel said,

“Has the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices,

as in obeying the voice of the LORD?

Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice,

and to listen than the fat of rams.

²³ For rebellion is as the sin of divination,

and presumption is as iniquity and idolatry.

Because you have rejected the word of the LORD,

he has also rejected you from being king.” 

Presumption is another form of pride. Presumption is an idea that one takes to be true and it is an inflated opinion that one’s own importance is greater than another. Saul committed a great sin in the eyes of God. God said to destroy all the things of the Amalekites, which included the king of the Amalekites and the “best of the best,” well what is considered the best in the eyes of people, but only God knows the heart. The fact that Saul destroyed only what was despised and worthless in his own eyes is such a wickedness to God, for one because of his disobedience to what God said the first time, for two his prideful heart, and for three God has no favoritism between anyone (Romans 2:11 “For God shows no partiality [no arbitrary favoritism; with Him one person is not more important than another].” -AMP Version)  and Saul showing favoritism to what seemed like the ‘best’ is showing the people that outcasting others is okay when in the eyes of God it is not okay because God is the one that is there for the humble. 

#6– Grumbling Against the LORD

Numbers 14:1-5

​¹ Then all the congregation raised a loud cry, and the people wept that night. ² And all the people of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron. The whole congregation said to them, “Would that we had died in the land of Egypt! Or would that we had died in this wilderness! ³ Why is the LORD bringing us into this land, to fall by the sword? Our wives and our little ones will become a prey. Would it not be better for us to go back to Egypt?” ⁴ And they said to one another, “Let us choose a leader and go back to Egypt.”

⁵ Then Moses and Aaron fell on their faces before all the assembly of the congregation of the people of Israel.

Numbers 14:26-30 

²⁶ “And the LORD spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying, ²⁷ “How long shall this wicked congregation grumble against me? I have heard the grumblings of the people of Israel, which they grumble against me. ²⁸ Say to them, As I live, declares the LORD, what you have said in my hearing I will do to you: ²⁹ your dead bodies shall fall in this wilderness, and of all your number, listed in the census from twenty years old and upward, who have grumbled against me, ³⁰ not one shall come into the land where I swore that I would make you dwell, except Caleb the son of Jephunneh and Joshua the son of Nun.”

What they grumbled and spoke against the LORD is exactly what the LORD brought upon them because of their wickedness. Be careful with what comes out of your mouth. There is a fine line between complaint and grumbling, and none of them are pleasing to the LORD. (Numbers 14:1-4, v31-35). 

When you are displeased with something when you come to God in humility that’s when God will move, because you humble yourself. Don’t think that telling God what to do is gonna change your situation. You don’t tell God what to do–you submit to Him. 

So, now that we’ve covered what displeases the LORD, let’s talk about…What are things that do please the LORD? —COMING SOON…