4-24-16.  Numbers 14:1-9. Why Be Afraid When God Is With You? – my devotional

Key Verse: 14:9                  Kevin E. Jesmer

^“Only do not rebel against the LORD. And do not be afraid of the people of the land, because we will devour them. Their protection is gone, but the LORD is with us. Do not be afraid of them.” (NIV)

Part 1: Never, Never, Never Desire To God Back To Your Old Life (1-5)

Verses 1-4 read, “That night all the members of the community raised their voices and wept aloud. ² All the Israelites grumbled against Moses and Aaron, and the whole assembly said to them, “If only we had died in Egypt! Or in this wilderness! ³ Why is the LORD bringing us to this land only to let us fall by the sword? Our wives and children will be taken as plunder. Wouldn’t it be better for us to go back to Egypt?” ⁴ And they said to each other, “We should choose a leader and go back to Egypt.”

When the people heard the reports of the spies, they forgot the power and promises of God and fell into fear. They raised their voices and wept aloud. They started to grumble against Moses, their leader and in verse 3, they were grumbling against God. It was a deliberate revolt. They wanted to elect a captain for themselves. For Moses was God’s appointed and the Lord was the captain of the host. (Josh 5:14-15). The proposal to depose him and to choose another, marked the extremes of the unbelief and the ingratitude of the people. (It also marked how much they were suffering.) When the clouds of despair went up, everyone joined in. Their greatest fears were being realized. Loosing their perspective, the people were caught up in the emotion of the moment, forgetting what they knew of God.

Instead of looking at God, they looked at the powerful enemy and at themselves. They said, “We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes. Let’s go back to Egypt.” They failed to trust in God. They also believed that God was planning ill will upon them, leading them into certain disaster. They were bent on replacing Moses. This was not the first time they fell into fear, but this time it was critical, for it was the time of decision for they were on the verge of entering into the Promised Land. God had brought them to the brink of a great work. It was the time that the people needed to engage their faith and trust God.

There was no need for them to weep. God was leading them along the best possible path. Why weep?  Ideally, they should say, “O.K. this is going to be tough, but we believe Caleb and Joshua’s testimony. We trust in what God is doing through Moses. We ultimately trust God in this matter. We stand together in faith and move together in faith.” Wouldn’t that be nice?

How deceived could they get? They actually felt that their previous lives as slaves in Egypt were much better. They were oppressed and hopeless and crying out in their past lives. Now, by the grace of God, they were free people with a bright future. They were poised to change world history. They were going to become such as blessing! God was at their side. He was their shepherd. He was leading them in their pilgrimage in the desert. Yes, there were sometimes unbearable hardships. But they were fruitful hardships. God was growing them. They needed to know that God would not allow them to struggle beyond what they could bear. Couldn’t they see all this?

They were rejecting God’s appointed leader. This is never a good thing. We may not like our leaders. We may hope for another, who might be a little bit better. But the fact is, God raises up the leader. To deny this is to deny the sovereignty of God. God establishes them for a time to serve a purpose. Wanting to replace them because we are angry and not content in our situation could mean that we are rejecting God’s sovereignty. We must trust the Lord for all things. If God doesn’t want a church leader in his position, he will take them out in his way and in his time. We need to trust that. If we are not acting in faith and fall into grumbling because we are rejecting the sovereignty of God, changing a leader will not help us. We will grow discontent with the next leader too.

What we need is good old fashioned repentance. Instead of grumbling we need to turn towards the Lord, coming to him in faith and humble submission.  We need to repent of wanting to go back to our old lives in the world. Whatever we are facing, Jesus will be with us and help us to overcome. Jesus is getting his people through occasional dry times. But remember he has already given us true spiritual victory through the Gospel. Have faith in God.

Part 2: God Is Doing Great Things. Stand Up And Encourage Others  (5-9).

Look at verses 5-9, “ ⁵Then Moses and Aaron fell facedown in front of the whole Israelite assembly gathered there. ⁶ Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh, who were among those who had explored the land, tore their clothes ⁷ and said to the entire Israelite assembly, “The land we passed through and explored is exceedingly good. ⁸ If the LORD is pleased with us, he will lead us into that land, a land flowing with milk and honey, and will give it to us. ⁹ Only do not rebel against the LORD. And do not be afraid of the people of the land, because we will devour them. Their protection is gone, but the LORD is with us. Do not be afraid of them.”

The leaders were appalled by the peoples’ reaction. Look at verses 5-6 again, “ ⁵Then Moses and Aaron fell facedown in front of the whole Israelite assembly gathered there. ⁶ Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh, who were among those who had explored the land, tore their clothes.”  Moses, Aaron, Caleb and Joshua had the right attitude and eyes to see God. They could see the sin of the people and they were appalled. Tearing clothing was a customary way of showing deep sorrow and mourning. They were greatly distressed by the people’s refusal to enter the land. The tearing of the clothes was meant to serve as a symbol for the people to know how extreme their situation was. It was done in hopes that they would turn around. They tore their clothes, not so much because of repentance, but because of the enormity of their own peoples’ sin.

They had eyes to see things from God’s perspective. They fell down before the people, partly begging them to stop walking down the road they were walking on. It was like when Isaiah saw the glory of God and then saw the depth of his sin and his peoples’ sin. He said in Isaiah 6:5, “Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty.” (NIV)

Two wise men were not helpless in the face of the peoples’ rebellion. They encouraged the people to act on God’s promises and move ahead into the land. Caleb and Joshua plead with the people in verses 7-9, “⁷ and said to the entire Israelite assembly, “The land we passed through and explored is exceedingly good. ⁸ If the LORD is pleased with us, he will lead us into that land, a land flowing with milk and honey, and will give it to us. ⁹ Only do not rebel against the LORD. And do not be afraid of the people of the land, because we will devour them. Their protection is gone, but the LORD is with us. Do not be afraid of them.” The peoples’ grumbling and their resistance to follow God’s leading was rebellion was a sin against God. But Caleb and Joshua had seen the powerful enemies, yet they were not afraid. They believed that the Lord would give them the good land. They begged the people not to be afraid and not to rebel against God. They knew for certain that the Israelites could conquer the land because the Canaanites had no protection, and the Lord was with his people Israel (9).

God was doing exceedingly great things. The people needed eyes to see that. He was leading them in a land flowing with milk and honey. With great miracles and an outstretched arm, God led the Israelites out of slavery, through the desert, to the edge of the Promised Land. He had protected them, fed them fulfilling every promise. Yet, when encouraged to take the last step of faith and enter into the land, the people refused. Why did they stop trusting God?

They were afraid of what God was doing. God wanted them to embrace the life to which they have been called. It was the life they asked for, for they were crying out to be set free from their slavery in Egypt for centuries. God answered their cries and delivered them. They had to embrace all that God had for them, the new life, the new mission, and the new challenges. But they wanted to go back to the old life in Egypt, despite the fact that it included even more suffering under the yoke of slavery.

There are scary moments when people are called out the darkness and brought into the light of God. Sometimes, along the way, things do not seem so good. They were faced with living a new life. People are called by God in their twenties. They are called to new life with other Christians and into a church that they do not know. Older Christians are called to a mission in life. They are called come out of their comfort zone. There are the challenges of cross cultural ministry. There are calls to sacrifice, letting God be God, and letting God be the navigator of their life.

But we need to see things from the proper perspective. Decide to fly at the 30,000 foot level and view the contours of the landscape. Submit to God. Submit within the team of Christians God has called you to serve along side. What about letting go of your own career path to follow the Lord? Never be afraid and stop trusting God just as you proceed along your pilgrimage. He brought you this far and won’t let you down now. Believe on the Faithful One who has called you.

In this passage we can also see the priestly roles of the spiritual leaders. The roles are part of how to be a good shepherd for the people.

They were setting the example of repentance. Some leaders ignore this part, as if they have nothing to more to repent about. How can people ever learn how to repent if they don’t see their leader’s repenting? It is like a child who needs to see his/her parents responding to God. Then they would  learn how to respond to God.

They reminded them of what God is doing and wants to do. They reminded them of God’s good purposes for them…God’s grace. God wants to do good to them and bless them as a nation.

They had encouraging words. In any situation you can give words of encouragement. There is power in encouragement. You need it. Others need it. Therefore, give lots of words of encouragement. In Christ, there is everything to be encouraged by. We just need eyes to see it and a heart full of faith to speak it.

 Caleb stood up as a leader and boldly declared the truth. We need to stand up and not let grumbling take over. We must make a stand and make sure that faith takes over.

They planted faith in the peoples’ hearts. We must always build an atmosphere of hope and faith in the Lord.

It always good to find out ways to be a better shepherd of God’s flock.

Prayer: “Lord, I thank you for calling us to a new life. I trust you and in how you are leading me. Yes, things are hard at times. But you are with me and leading me. Help me to stand up in faith and take steps along the path you are leading.”
One Word: More than just words of encouragement. They are power words of truth and faith. God is leading is in faith and victory.