(My BSF
Notes)
Last
week we saw how the Israelites complained about the manna and wanted meat to
eat. God gave them exactly what they
wanted. He sent quail for a month and
they ate the quail until they were sick of it.
Then we saw Miriam criticize Moses and how God came to his defense.
Numbers 13-14:1-4 – The Spies
The
Lord told Moses to send 1 leader from each tribe to go explore the land of
Canaan that He was giving them. Men from
twelve tribes were selected including Caleb from the tribe of Judah and Joshua
from the tribe of Ephraim. They were to
find out what the land was like and if the people there strong or weak, few or
many. Was the land good or bad? What
were the towns like, unwalled or fortified?
How was the soil? Was it fertile
or poor? They were also to try to bring
back fruit from the land. They did just
what they were told and explored the land.
They cut a single cluster of grapes.
It was so large that two men had to carry it on a pole between them.
At the
end of 40 days they returned and reported to Moses and the Israelite
community. They reported that it does
flow with milk and honey, but the cities were fortified and very large. The people that lived there were
powerful. They reported they saw
descendants of Anak there who were like giants.
“Then Caleb silenced the people before Moses and
said we should go up and take possession of the land, for we can certainly do
it.” – Num. 13:30.
Ten of
the spies disagreed with Caleb and didn’t want to attack. They said the people there were stronger so
the men spread a bad report about the land. The people had gone through so much to get to
the Promise Land and now it was time to claim it. They failed to trust that God would do what
He said He would do. They simply did not
believe His Word. They carried the
evidence on their shoulders, but had unbelief in their hearts.
Many of
us are like the Israelites. We see the
evidence all around us, but we just don’t believe God will do what He says. This keeps us from achieving what we could as
witnesses for Jesus.
Do you
believe God will do what He says?
What
are you doing to help others believe?
By
Caleb standing up against the people he probably lost his friends, his
followers, and his credibility. There
was one other who was with him. That was
Joshua. Caleb was a faithful servant and
trusted God and was not afraid to speak against the others.
When
have you stood up for when you believe something was God’s will?
What
should you do before beginning a new work for God?
What
important job has God asked you to do?
The
people were fearful and raised their voices, wept, and grumbled against Moses. “If only we had died
in Egypt! Or in this desert! Why is the Lord bringing us to this land only
to let us fall by the sword?......Wouldn’t it be better to go back to Egypt? … We should choose a leader and go back to
Egypt.” – Num. 14:1-4. What were they thinking? How quickly they forgot the hardships and
slavery in Egypt and all that God had done for them. They blamed Moses and Aaron by wanting to
choose another leader, but were really blaming God.
How do
you do the same thing when you think you are facing the impossible?
Do you
blame others?
Or do
you trust God will be with you and do what He says?
Numbers 14:5-45 – The Unbelief
Moses
and Aaron fell face down before the people, probably in fear of what would
happen to them and maybe in prayer and worship of God. Caleb and Joshua had their eyes on God and
not themselves. They told the people, “Do not be afraid of the people of the land, because we will
swallow them up. Their protection is
gone, but the lord is with us. Do not be
afraid of them.” – Num. 14:9. The people were afraid of the giants in the
land, but Caleb and Joshua knew they had a giant God.
What
are the giants in your life?
Do you
trust God will help you face them?
When
have you stood on God’s promises when others did not?
The
people talked of stoning Caleb and Joshua.
Then the glory of the Lord appeared at the Tent. “How long will these
people treat me with contempt? How long
will they refuse to believe in me, in spite of all the miraculous signs I have
performed among them? I will strike them
down with a plague and destroy them, but I will make you into a nation greater
and stronger that they.” – Num
14:11-12.
Moses
reminded God if He destroyed the people the Egyptians would hear about it and tell
the inhabitants of this land and they would think He doesn’t keep His
promises. This would question God’s
power and that He is not the true God. (Num. 14:13-16) Moses reminded God, “Now may the Lord’s strength be displayed, just as you have declared:
‘The Lord is slow to anger, abounding in love and forgiving sin and
rebellion. Yet he does not leave the
guilty unpunished; he punishes the children for the sin of the fathers to the
third and fourth generation.’ In
accordance with your great love, forgive the sin of these people, just as you
have pardoned them from the time they left Egypt until now.” - Num. 14:17-19.
Some
think in the Old Testament that God is always strict and angry and
judgmental. They think in the New
Testament He is different. God does not
change! He is always the same. “Jesus Christ is the
same yesterday and today and forever.” – Heb. 13:8. He always loves
us. He loves us so much that He sent His
son Jesus to take the punishment we deserve.
If we are sorry for our sins, He will forgive us, because of the work of
Jesus on the cross.
God
listened to Moses and forgave and spared the people. He forgave them, but condemned them to wander
in the desert for the next 40 years.
They would not enter the Promise Land.
Only Caleb and Joshua would enter.
Then the 10 men who gave the bad report were struck dead.
God
listened to Moses which encourages us when we pray. Our prayers do affect God. The words we use are not important, because
He already knows our hearts and what we need.
We need to be humble and honest and God will hear us and answer our
prayers.
Moses told
the Israelites what God said that they would not enter the land and they
mourned bitterly. “We have sinned. We
will go up to the place the Lord promised.” – Num 14:40. Moses told the people
not to go to the land because God would not be with them, because they had not
obeyed Him (Num. 14:41-43). They went anyway even though the cloud of the
Lord did not move. When they arrived in
the land, the Amalekites and Canaanites attacked them and beat them down all
the way to Hormah. The people faced the
same armies they would have faced, but without the Lord and they were
defeated. Jesus said, “Apart from me you can do nothing.” – John 15:5.
They realized
and confessed their sin, but there was no true repentance. They tried to correct their wrong doing by
their own strength and attempted to go without Moses and without God’s
presence.
When
have you blamed God for your circumstances?
How
have you disobeyed God and what was the result?
Principles:
Follow
God and trust that He will do what He says.
If we
trust and obey God, He will bless us.
When
you go against God, you will suffer consequences.
________________________________________
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