Today’s reading is a great encouragement for those who follow the Lord obediently but a stark warning for those disobey the Lord willingly and repeatedly. GOD is serious about his will and desires to bless us. We need only obey.
Numbers 14:20-38
20 Then the Lord said, “I have pardoned, according to your word. 21 But truly, as I live, and as all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord, 22 none of the men who have seen my glory and my signs that I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and yet have put me to the test these ten times and have not obeyed my voice, 23 shall see the land that I swore to give to their fathers. And none of those who despised me shall see it. 24 But my servant Caleb, because he has a different spirit and has followed me fully, I will bring into the land into which he went, and his descendants shall possess it. 25 Now, since the Amalekites and the Canaanites dwell in the valleys, turn tomorrow and set out for the wilderness by the way to the Red Sea.”
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. 32 But as for you, your dead bodies shall fall in this wilderness. 33 And your children shall be shepherds in the wilderness forty years and shall suffer for your faithlessness, until the last of your dead bodies lies in the wilderness. 34 According to the number of the days in which you spied out the land, forty days, a year for each day, you shall bear your iniquity forty years, and you shall know my displeasure.’ 35 I, the Lord, have spoken. Surely this will I do to all this wicked congregation who are gathered together against me: in this wilderness they shall come to a full end, and there they shall die.”
36 And the men whom Moses sent to spy out the land, who returned and made all the congregation grumble against him by bringing up a bad report about the land— 37 the men who brought up a bad report of the land—died by plague before the Lord. 38 Of those men who went to spy out the land, only Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh remained alive.
[ WHAT ] is this passage saying and what is a key truth or thought that we learn?
+ What caused the 1st generation of Israelites to die in the wilderness without entering the promised land?
+ What caused their children to wander in the wilderness?
+ How long did they wander?
+ Who was able to enter the promised land? Why?
+ How many times did GOD say he was tested by the Israelites who grumbled? What does this reveal about the patience of GOD?
[ HOW ] is the Lord calling me to action/obedience?
+ Is there a sin to confess or a next step to take? How has it gone since last time?
+ Is there an area of disobedience I need to seek the Lord’s face concerning?
[ WHO ] am I walking with and praying for to discover Jesus?
+ What is my next step?
+ Who might I/we be a witness to this week?