August 7, 2019
Are We There Yet?
Numbers 14:26-31
Jeff Bishop
Central Truth
God sometimes allows us to wander in the wilderness. He is always faithful, however, and is always ready to welcome us.
Key Verse | Numbers 23:19
God is not a man, that he should lie, or a son of man, that he should change his mind. Has he said, and will he not do it? Or has he spoken, and will he not fulfill it?
Numbers 14:26-31
26 And the LORD spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying, 27 “How long shall this wicked congregation grumble against me? I have heard the grumblings of the people of Israel, which they grumble against me. 28 Say to them, ‘As I live, declares the LORD, what you have said in my hearing I will do to you: 29 your dead bodies shall fall in this wilderness, and of all your number, listed in the census from twenty years old and upward, who have grumbled against me, 30 not one shall come into the land where I swore that I would make you dwell, except Caleb the son of Jephunneh and Joshua the son of Nun. 31 But your little ones, who you said would become a prey, I will bring in, and they shall know the land that you have rejected.
Dive Deeper | Numbers 14:26-31
Have you ever been on a road trip with kids? How long did it take for the first person to ask "how much longer?" Or, "when will we get there?" Now imagine that you are on foot in the desert with 603,550 people (Numbers 1:46). That paints a picture, doesn't it? A picture of a long and arduous journey. The alternative to this trip was not pleasant either—slavery and suffering at the hands of the Egyptians.
This is the story told in Numbers, a story of wandering and rebellion, but also patience and faithfulness. As I read Numbers, I was first struck by the Israelites and their ability to complain. If I had seen the Red Sea part and then watched it close over the enemies pursuing me (Exodus 14), surely I would have had more faith in God. But that is not what happened. Time and time again, the Israelites grumbled and wanted to do their own thing. Time and time again, Moses interceded on their behalf, and God forgave them (Numbers 14:19-20), until he didn’t (Numbers 14:22-30).
I am struck with the idea of wandering in the dark. There is a "trust" exercise in which one person is blindfolded, and the other tells the blindfolded person where to walk to navigate through the room. You have to trust the person giving you directions, or you will never get anywhere. Most of my life I "knew" God, but did I trust him fully? No, I wandered in the desert, I grumbled, I wanted to do things my way. The results were not pretty—a failing marriage, kids that were scared of my temper, and depression.
But I had someone interceding for me: Jesus. While I was still sinning, God sent His Son to die for my sins (Romans 5:8). But I was not magically transported out of my desert, there was still a lot of work for me to do. That is the message in Numbers—to have faith in our God and to know that He keeps His promises (Isaiah 41:10).
Discussion Questions
1. How are we like the Israelites? Do we grumble and complain when the "going gets tough"?
2. Do we tend to have more faith in ourselves than God?
3. How can we learn from the Israelites and not repeat their mistakes?