Have you ever regretted doubting someone? Wishing your trust had been there before the person had to prove he was worthy of your trust? Remember Thomas? Doubting Thomas? How he demanded to see for himself before he would believe? But he shouldn't be the only one to be known as doubting. I mean he wasn't the first one to doubt.
Way back when Moses was trying to get his people to the promise land they threw him a doubters' curve ball. He sent twelve spies into the land so they could return with reports regarding the nature of the land and conditions of any cities. Oh, yes, and to bring back some samples of food.
And they did. They brought back pomegranates, figs, and one cluster of grapes that took two men to carry. But in spite of wonderful reports about the land, what they focused on were the fortified cities and the giant people that lived there.
Just an aside: All these years I thought Goliath (1 Samuel 17) was an odd ball; you know, genes gone wild. But, here we read about a whole group of people known for being extremely tall. . .giants in fact. Look at Deuteronomy 9. . . Moses reminds his people that the men they will face live in cities with high walls and even without the walls no one can win against these giant men. So Goliath wasn't an odd man. He just had giant genes.
Well, enough of that. Getting back to our spies. . .ten of them focused on the bad; letting the negatives outweigh their God. They in a sense doubted that God could go before them and bring them victory. Never mind they recently witnessed a wind strong enough to dry land and keep the water away while hundreds of thousands of them traveled to safety. And, then the wind dying back so quickly that the water rushing to return to its place took out the entire Egyptian army. That wasn't the only example of God's might. Why did they forget? Did they not understand the reason for the mission?
Moses sent them into the land not to be scared spit-less
to the point they would convince the others it was too much for their God to
help them. He sent them to see just how much God was going to do for them and how much the booty was going to be. It was suppose to be an encouragement, not a doubt-giving experience.
Was it just fear that gripped them? Or, did they really doubt and not trust God enough to protect them? To go before them? Equally perplexing is that the people listened to the ten who were weak. They saw the same evidence of God's presence and yet they still did not give him the trust he deserved for their final step into the promise land. They didn't believe the two men whose trust in God's ability to protect the nation were speaking the truth.
It saddens me when I read how there was no second chance given. There was no going back even after they confessed their sin. Maybe their heart wasn't right. You know, they only regretted their words because they didn't want the punishment. They even tried to make it right, on their own terms, by attacking the people, in their own accord. And, guess what? They were defeated and sent running back home. All because they didn't trust God the first time.
Forty years. The doubt of the people was so great. . .not giving God the chance to show his stuff. . .that they continued a nomadic life; one year for each day that the spies spent in the promise land. That's a lot of years of regret. Hopefully, the adults raised their children, who would be allowed entrance into the promise land, to listen to Moses and to trust God in all things.
No comments:
Post a Comment