Consequences of sin, blessings of obedience - Numbers 14-15

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Numbers%2014-15&version=NIV

The LORD said to Moses, "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? – Numbers 14:11

(So not to mislead anyone into believing that this is my own wisdom, I want to make sure I note that it is a combination of my own words and those taken from Matthew Henry’s Complete commentary of the Bible.)

Today’s passage continues to address the Israelites unbelief that God would give them the land. They move from doubt in chapter 13 to open rebellion in chapter 14. The chapter opens with the people raising their voices and weeping. The question is, what do they have to weep about? No harm has come to them – their weeping comes from their own imagining that their situation is desperate. Matthew Henry’s commentary says that, “Unbelief, or distrust or God, is a sin that is its own punishment. Those that do not trust God are continually vexing themselves.” There weeping is based upon what they have not seen God do, and so believe that he will not, despite the fact that he has promised and has proved himself faithful over and over.

How often have we ourselves done this – how often do we weep because of something we are waiting on that God has not yet done. I believe I might be guilty above all in this. I have focused not on what God has promises, nor how he has proven himself faithful in the past, but rather I focused on my own imaginations, giving sway to my unbelief – giving sway to Satan’s lies, and forget the fact that God is “faithful to all his promises and loving towards all he has made” (Psalm 145:13) and that his plans for us are for our good and to prosper us (Jer. 29:11).

Not only that, but the Israelites forget how far God has led them and how much he has done for them - so much so that they are willing to return to their former bondage. They decide returning to Egypt would be better than what they fear they face in the promised land. How often does that occur in us today. We forget how far God has brought us – how much he has changed us. We face a future that is uncertain and don’t trust God to take us through it and to the land. Instead, we focus on what we lack and decide that returning to our former life would be better than trusting God to move us forward. Instead of moving forward in trust, we move back to our former, “comfortable” sin – returning to our bondage.

Unbelief is a great sin – but the unbelief of one who has walked with God – is especially offensive. Why? Henry points out that it is first, because of their relationship with God – they are a professing people. The nearer we are to God, the more offensive their unbelief. Second, they had first hand experience of God’s power and goodness, in all the signs which he had shown among them, but which, one would think, he had effectively convinced them to trust and follow him. The bottom line is that when we are in relationship with God, when we know him, when profess to believe, when he has proved himself over and over, it is piercing to God to see us still walk in unbelief. He must also say about us, ‘how long will these people treat me with contempt’.

To be certain, there are consequences for all sin – including unbelief. The Israelites would not enter the land for forty years to answer the number of days in which the pies were searching the land. They were content to wait forty days for the testimony of man about the land because they could not take God’s word; and therefore they are kept waiting forty years for the performance of God’s promise.

Consequences are exacted to that they might be brought to repentance and so that they might understand the dangers when a covenant-people break with God. And so God deals with us the same. There are consequences for our sin, meant to point us towards repentance and God’s mercy and intended to keep us from breaking with God yet again.

The beauty in the consequences given to the people of Israel is that they show us two things – the most obvious is that God is a merciful God who fulfills his promises. The children of the Israelites will still received the promised land. In addition, we see that Man’s folly cannot stop God from keeping his promises. Just as Adam and Eve’s sin would not result in man-kind being permanently separated from the promised land, so the Israelites sin would not result in permanent loss of the land.

Lastly, it is important to see the blessing in obedience – of unwavering faith and belief in the promises of God – and the reward that comes when one stand for God. To see this we look to Caleb, the one who was certain they could take possession of the land. Notice that he has another spirit that is different from the other spies. He followed the Lord fully, kept close to his duty, and went through with it, despite the fact that he was deserted and threatened. In return, God stood for him and protected him. Caleb not only would enter the promised land, but he would receive a portion of that land set apart for him.

We must also be like Caleb in our belief and obedience to God’s will. We must serve to honor him, follow him uprightly and cheerfully – without disputing him. We must have another spirit – one that strengthens, renews, transforms. And we must remember that when we fail, we might be disciplined for a while, but God’s loving kindness will never be removed from us. For he indeed is slow to anger, abounding in love and forgiving of sin and rebellion.

"For men are not cast off by the Lord forever. Though he brings grief, he will show compassion, so great is his unfailing love." - Lamentations 3:31-32

Today's post was submitted by Carol Bartels