Numbers 13 - 15

Go Explore The Land
Chapters 13 and 14 recount one of the most critical junctures in the travels of the children of Israel.  They were on the brink of entering into the Promise Land and allowed their fears to control their thoughts and actions.  The lessons to be learned by Christians in these chapters are painfully obvious. The Lord states in 13:2, "Send out men to explore the land of Canaan, the land I am giving to the Israelites." The Lord is giving them the land!  He does not instruct the leaders to determine all the reasons they cannot go, but that is exactly what 10 of the 12 men did.

The twelve are gone for 40 days and return to Kadesh Barnea with evidence - grapes, pomegranates, figs - that the land is good and bountiful. Yet, for 10 of the men, there had to be something within them that did not understand or trust God, something that did not hear (or ignored) His promise to give them the land.  They give an "evil report" that frightens the people to the point that they want to return to Egypt. Only Joshua and Caleb accept God at His Word and declare, "Let's go at once and take the land. We can certainly conquer it." (13:30).  With such vigor did Joshua and Caleb deliver their message of conquering the land, the people wanted to stone them.

The Lord is so angered, He wants to destroy the people!  Only the intervention of Moses and Aaron spares the people from utter annihilation.  Ultimately, one year of wandering in the wilderness is prescribed for each year the men spent exploring the land, and the curse of not seeing the land for those who complained is imposed and the people wander for 40 years until all the nay-sayers die.

The tragedy of this event is overwhelming!  Think of this in terms of your own life.  Haven't we all experienced a "Kadesh Barnea" in our lives?  We have come to the precipice of attaining and accepting one of the Lord's great promises only to let our pride, our ego, our fear, our self-righteousness, our self-pity, our hard-headedness stop us.  And then we spend countless years attempting to regain that which we lost.  There is nothing more pathetic than a Christian not willing to accept all the good things Christ has for him/her.

As we will find out later in the books of Deuteronomy and Joshua, everything the Lord said would happen, did happen.  All of those, save Joshua and Caleb, died in the wilderness and did not get to enter the Promised Land - including Moses!

Lord, help me at this time and every moment of my life to accept Your will and believe Your promises.  Do not let fear or my own understanding rule me. Let me be like Caleb and Joshua, willing to accept you at Your Word.  In Jesus' Name, Amen.

May God bless you and bless the reading of His Word.