Numbers 13 and 14
Only on God’s Bidding
Only when God directs shall we go
When God says
Go and conquer the land
We shall succeed
When God has not bid us to go
We fail disastrously
Numbers 13 and 14
Moses sent out twelve spies
Ten were afraid
When they saw giants in the Promised
Land
They discouraged the rest of the
Israelites
The hearers of the bad news were
terrified
They saw themselves as grasshoppers
in the eyes of the giants
What they were not able to see with
their carnal eyes
Was what Joshua and Caleb saw
With their faith-filled eyes
Joshua and Caleb
Knew Who their God is
They knew
If God is with them
They will succeed and conquer the
land of the giants
The descendants of the much feared
Anak
Joshua and Caleb
Knew nothing was impossible
No one was
Too tall
Too big
Too strong
Too difficult
For their God
The God of
I Am Who I Am
The God who
Demonstrated Who He is
Through the ten plaques
The slaughter of all the first born
and spared the households covered
with blood
Dried up the Red Sea over night
Drowned the pursuing chariots in the
Red Sea
Guided the Israelites with Pillar of
Cloud by day
And Pillar of Fire by night
The God Who is Present
The God who delivers
Who goes before and goes after
Is in the very midst
Of them all
This same God
Who has been
Is present
And will continue to be
With His own people
His Chosen Possession
To conquer the land of the giants
The Promised Land
Flowing with milk and honey
Lush and gigantic fruits are in
abundance
The Lord is with us
We will devour them
Just do not rebel against God
Nor be afraid of the giants
The Israelites were terrified in
their own eyes
They spoke of stoning Joshua and
Caleb
The glory of the Lord had to
intervene
And forbade the doubters from ever
entering the Promised Land
Each day of scouting the Promised
Land is turned into a year
Forty days scouting becomes forty
years wondering in the wilderness
The ten fear-filled scouts were
struck down with a plaque
The Israelites mourned bitterly
And decided to go conquer the land on
their own
Even when God was not going with them
They were obsessed with wanting to
prove they have changed
They are now
“obedient”
They were rebellious the day before
Now they are ready
To “obey”
And conquer the land
They continued to not get the point
The point is
When God says
Go
Then we go
When God says no
We
Stay
Two disobediences to God’s bidding
God’s timing
Do not make it right
Two disobediences
Reaped
Two dire consequences
The first was not being able to enter the Promised Land
The second was the death of those who
forged ahead
In their presumption
Without God
These died
As the Amalekites and the Canaanites
Slaughtered
them
Because God
was not with them
For He has
not told them
To go
Or
To stay
Is all up
to God
What God
says
At His perfect
timing
His own Will
His dictate
Not ours
Not out of
our fear
Not out of
our presumption
Simply
God’s Will
God’s bidding
God’s timing
Whatever
God says
We will do
Wherever
He leads
We will go
Whenever
He wants
We obey
That is the
key to
Joy in the
Lord
Protection
by the Lord
Provision
from the Lord
Contentment
in our walk with the Lord
Yes Lord
Speak
Here I am
Send me
To go
or
To stay
Whatever
Your Will
Let me obey
