They rose early in the morning and went up to the heights of the hill country, saying, “Here we are. We will go up to the place that the Lord has promised, for we have sinned.” ⁴¹ But Moses said, “Why do you continue to transgress the command of the Lord? That will not succeed. ⁴² Do not go up, for the Lord is not with you; do not let yourselves be struck down before your enemies. ⁴³ For the Amalekites and the Canaanites will confront you there, and you shall fall by the sword; because you have turned back from following the Lord, the Lord will not be with you.” ⁴⁴ But they presumed to go up to the heights of the hill country, even though the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and Moses, had not left the camp. ⁴⁵ Then the Amalekites and the Canaanites who lived in that hill country came down and defeated them, pursuing them as far as Hormah.” Numbers 14:40-45

When we follow G-d’s command reluctantly and give a half-hearted response to G-d’s calling, is it no wonder that we often find little success? The people Israel, after learning that they have once again incurred G-d’s wrath, they decide to invade the land hoping to avoid G-d’s wrath rather than trusting that the Lord will provide. Even though they are warned to avoid this course of action, they decide to launch an attack and are soundly defeated. We are reminded that we should heed G-d’s calling – even if we are fearful – we need to trust in the Lord. Discernment is often a painful, lonely process, bringing fear of what following G-d might bring, and fear of what might happen if we do not follow. Trusting G-d will not always remove our fear. But trust in G-d can sustain us through those times of uncertainty. Can we afford not to trust or to respond?

Pastor Dave

 “The Lord said to Moses, ² “Send men to spy out the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the Israelites; from each of their ancestral tribes you shall send a man, every one a leader among them.” ³ So Moses sent them from the wilderness of Paran, according to the command of the Lord, all of them leading men among the Israelites. 

  ¹⁷ Moses sent them to spy out the land of Canaan, and said to them, “Go up there into the Negeb, and go up into the hill country, ¹⁸ and see what the land is like, and whether the people who live in it are strong or weak, whether they are few or many, ¹⁹ and whether the land they live in is good or bad, and whether the towns that they live in are unwalled or fortified, ²⁰ and whether the land is rich or poor, and whether there are trees in it or not. Be bold, and bring some of the fruit of the land.”²⁵ At the end of forty days they returned from spying out the land. ²⁶ And they came to Moses and Aaron and to all the congregation of the Israelites in the wilderness of Paran, at Kadesh; they brought back word to them and to all the congregation, and showed them the fruit of the land. ²⁷ And they told him, “We came to the land to which you sent us; it flows with milk and honey, and this is its fruit. ²⁸ Yet the people who live in the land are strong, and the towns are fortified and very large…” Numbers 13:1-3, 17-20, 25-28

The spies are sent out into the land and they return to give an unfavorable report – that it does flow with milk and honey, but the people who live there are enormous, too large and strong to be defeated. All along, G-d has provided for these people – in every respect G-d has supplied all that they need. Yet, they continue to lack one important thing—complete trust in G-d. So, in a final act of disobedience, in lying about the state of the inhabitants of the land, G-d’s wrath turns against them and they are sentenced to wander the wilderness for one generation – 40 years – one year for every day that the spies were in the land. What do we learn? It seems to me, we can discern that if we knowingly engage in deliberate, determined, disobedience of G-d, we run the risk of falling away from our spiritual journey with G-d—and instead trusting and following the path of our own humanity—a path that is full of potholes, and off ramps.

Look, even if we remain on our spiritual paths, even if our trust is completely in G-d, we will also encounter potholes and off ramps. The difference is this—with G-d as our co-pilot, we will always be guided back onto the right path. Having G-d as our co-pilot does not prevent us from accidents and dangers, it just means our recovery will be more complete. Do you agree?

Pastor Dave