Avoiding The Detour

The LORD now said to Moses, “Send out men to explore the land of Canaan, the land I am giving to the Israelites.”   Numbers 13:1-2

Moses sent them off, and the spies traveled through the Promised Land for forty days gathering information. But when they got back, things began to go horribly wrong. The majority of the spies took the view that the land couldn’t be conquered.

Their pessimism spread, and the people lost heart. They were unwilling to press forward in obedience to God’s command. At the very point where great things lay ahead, a negative spirit emerged: “The people began to complain about their hardship, and the LORD heard everything they said” (Numbers 11:1). This group of people who had been uniquely blessed by God became deeply dissatisfied with what God had given them.

It is difficult to make good decisions when you have a bad attitude. If in your heart you feel deeply dissatisfied with what God has given to you, be careful! That’s where God’s people were when they made the mistake of a lifetime. God determined that this generation of grumblers and complainers would not enter the land he promised them. So they spent the next thirty-eight years in the desert, until that whole generation had died and their children were old enough to take their place.

Numbers is a book that need never have been written. It is the story of an unnecessary detour by a group of God’s people who held back when they should have pressed forward. God recorded this sad experience of his people to warn us about the long-term consequences of cowardly choices.

Even though we belong to God, there is still the danger that we may miss our calling and become a group of wandering, aimless people who merely mark time for a generation. The prospect is frightening, and that is why the book of Numbers is so valuable to us. If we can understand where these people went wrong, it will help us to avoid repeating their mistakes.

For further reading, see 1 Corinthians 10