3/22

Numbers 14:8-9

⁸If the LORD delights in us, he will bring us into this land and give it to us, a land that flows with milk and honey. ⁹Only do not rebel against the LORD. And do not fear the people of the land, for they are bread for us. Their protection is removed from them, and the LORD is with us; do not fear them."

Moses sent a spy from each of the 12 tribes to investigate the Promised Land. They came back saying it was a land of milk and honey, which means a land of pastures for animals and fields for farming. It had terraced fields already in place. But ten of the spies said they should give up any hope of conquering it because of the giant people that lived there and the walled cities. Immediately the people gave up the hope of God fulfilling His promises to Abraham. They talked of choosing a leader to go back to Egypt.

Two of the spies, Joshua and Caleb, spoke our passage for today. They were men of faith. They were the kind of men that could see the hand of God and applied what they knew of God in the past to their present circumstance. They spoke of God's ability and warned against rebelling against God. After all, they had seen what happened to Pharaoh's army when he rebelled against the Lord. They had witnessed God's wrath on their own people that rebelled.

These two men presented the people with two options: obediently go forward in faith and continue under the blessing of God to receive the Promised Land, or rebel and face His wrath. Fear of the Canaanites and stubbornness of heart motivated the people to attempt to stone Joshua and Caleb. God appeared in the cloud and stopped them from doing so, and announced His sentence on their rebellion. The older generation would die in the wilderness, and the young generation would go in later.

Consider: We are often presented with the same choice. God has good things planned for us if we will believe Him and not fear. But if we rebel, we will face the consequences of our rebellion. Consider what God has done in the past, where He is presently leading, and go forward with faith in His presence with us.