As humans when faced with an expected, overwhelming roadblock on the journey of life; we most often respond first with what is happening and why is this happening.  We want life explained in full!  If we there isn’t an explanation; we invent one!  We humans are analyzers and fixers and we want our troubles fixed as soon as possible!  But when we become “stuck between a rock and hard place,” with seemingly no place to go without causing more trouble; we freeze.  We stop dead in our tracks when trials challenge our very existence.

We suddenly don’t know where to turn, left or right, back or forward. The options are slim. It’s like walking a tight rope at times. You must tediously move forward, trying to maintain your balance, because looking back with an effort to turn around will be worse and you will most likely fall to your death! 

It’s especially hard when you have been assigned to be the leader of the group.  You can be the most Godly, smart, wise, methodical, practical, loving, selfless, Spirit-led person among the group; but when those you are leading are gripped with fear of unknown outcomes of known challenges; fear drives a rebellion that immediately seeps in and trust is gone.

WHY? Why do we have to go through?  Why must we live like this?  Why doesn’t the Lord fix this?  Why, why, why?  Upon the report of those sent out to “scout” the land and hearing there would be battles to overtake the land of “milk and honey” promised by God to them; the Israelites rebelled.  Moses and Aaron succumb to the pressure of the thousands now turning against them—and God!  Ooh, let’s see what happens next…

Numbers 14

The People Rebel

14 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.”

⁵ Then 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.”

¹⁰ But the whole assembly talked about stoning them. Then the glory of the Lord appeared at the tent of meeting to all the Israelites. ¹¹ The Lord said to Moses, “How long will these people treat me with contempt? How long will they refuse to believe in me, in spite of all the signs I have performed among them? ¹² I will strike them down with a plague and destroy them, but I will make you into a nation greater and stronger than they.”

¹³ Moses said to the Lord, “Then the Egyptians will hear about it! By your power you brought these people up from among them. ¹⁴ And they will tell the inhabitants of this land about it. They have already heard that you, Lord, are with these people and that you, Lord, have been seen face to face, that your cloud stays over them, and that you go before them in a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. ¹⁵ If you put all these people to death, leaving none alive, the nations who have heard this report about you will say, ¹⁶ ‘The Lord was not able to bring these people into the land he promised them on oath, so he slaughtered them in the wilderness.’

¹⁷ “Now may the Lord’s strength be displayed, just as you have declared: ¹⁸ ‘The Lord is slow to anger, abounding in love and forgiving sin and rebellion. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation.’ ¹⁹ In accordance with your great love, forgive the sin of these people, just as you have pardoned them from the time they left Egypt until now.”

²⁰ The Lord replied, “I have forgiven them, as you asked. ²¹ Nevertheless, as surely as I live and as surely as the glory of the Lord fills the whole earth, ²² not one of those who saw my glory and the signs I performed in Egypt and in the wilderness but who disobeyed me and tested me ten times— ²³ not one of them will ever see the land I promised on oath to their ancestors. No one who has treated me with contempt will ever see it. ²⁴ But because my servant Caleb has a different spirit and follows me wholeheartedly, I will bring him into the land he went to, and his descendants will inherit it. ²⁵ Since the Amalekites and the Canaanites are living in the valleys, turn back tomorrow and set out toward the desert along the route to the Red Sea.”

²⁶ The Lord said to Moses and Aaron: ²⁷ “How long will this wicked community grumble against me? I have heard the complaints of these grumbling Israelites. ²⁸ So tell them, ‘As surely as I live, declares the Lord, I will do to you the very thing I heard you say: ²⁹ In this wilderness your bodies will fall—every one of you twenty years old or more who was counted in the census and who has grumbled against me. ³⁰ Not one of you will enter the land I swore with uplifted hand to make your home, except Caleb son of Jephunneh and Joshua son of Nun. ³¹ As for your children that you said would be taken as plunder, I will bring them in to enjoy the land you have rejected. ³² But as for you, your bodies will fall in this wilderness. ³³ Your children will be shepherds here for forty years, suffering for your unfaithfulness, until the last of your bodies lies in the wilderness. ³⁴ For forty years—one year for each of the forty days you explored the land—you will suffer for your sins and know what it is like to have me against you.’ ³⁵ I, the Lord, have spoken, and I will surely do these things to this whole wicked community, which has banded together against me. They will meet their end in this wilderness; here they will die.”

³⁶ So the men Moses had sent to explore the land, who returned and made the whole community grumble against him by spreading a bad report about it— ³⁷ these men who were responsible for spreading the bad report about the land were struck down and died of a plague before the Lord. ³⁸ Of the men who went to explore the land, only Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh survived.

³⁹ When Moses reported this to all the Israelites, they mourned bitterly. ⁴⁰ Early the next morning they set out for the highest point in the hill country, saying, “Now we are ready to go up to the land the Lord promised. Surely we have sinned!”

⁴¹ But Moses said, “Why are you disobeying the Lord’s command? This will not succeed! ⁴² Do not go up, because the Lord is not with you. You will be defeated by your enemies, ⁴³ for the Amalekites and the Canaanites will face you there. Because you have turned away from the Lord, he will not be with you and you will fall by the sword.”

⁴⁴ Nevertheless, in their presumption they went up toward the highest point in the hill country, though neither Moses nor the ark of the Lord’s covenant moved from the camp. ⁴⁵ Then the Amalekites and the Canaanites who lived in that hill country came down and attacked them and beat them down all the way to Hormah.

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

Rebellion against Moses and Aaron, their leaders was rebellion against God.  Rebellion against God comes in many forms but begins with grumbling and complaining with an entitled attitude.  People say things like; “God, you owe this to us.” “Why are having trouble?” “Did God promise this land only to lead us to death?” “If our leaders don’t do what we want, we’ll just get new leaders.” “We were better off in Egypt as slaves to our oppressors!” “I rather die in Egypt than in this wilderness—in fact, kill me now in this desert!”

YIKES, BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU PRAY FOR! 

All the complaints of God’s rebellious people became what God used to seal their fate. “All the Israelites grumbled…” Their whining and grumbling against God, wailing in fear and dismay, demanding their own way, while putting undue pressure on God’s leaders, Moses and Aaron, all weirdly became “prayers” that God indeed answered! 

“I will do to you the very thing I heard you say: In this wilderness your bodies will fall—every one of you twenty years old or more who was counted in the census and who has grumbled against me. Not one of you will enter the land I swore with uplifted hand to make your home… As for your children that you said would be taken as plunder, I will bring them in to enjoy the land you have rejected…”  The final blow… “For forty years—one year for each of the forty days you explored the land—you will suffer for your sins and know what it is like to have me against you.”   

Oh, be careful little eyes what you see, Oh be careful little ears what you hear,

Oh be careful little mouth what you say, For the Father up above is looking down in love…

So, be careful little eyes what you see, little ears what you hear, little tongues what you say, little hands what you do, little feet where you go, little hearts who you trust, and be careful little minds what you think…(the rest of verses in this Sunday School song.)

THE BRIGHT SPOTS IN THE REBELLION—CALEB AND JOSHUA!

Even though it was ten against two; Caleb and Joshua stood their ground.  They became the “rocks” in these hard discussions that moved the heart of God!  God knew their hearts. God knows all our hearts!  God is always on the lookout, searching for hearts who are fully committed to Him.  Both young men are being “groomed” by God as future leaders.  “Of the men who went to explore the land, only Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh survived.”  God will equip Joshua and Caleb to lead His people into the Promised Land!

PEOPLE MOURNED GOD’S JUDGEMENT; BUT STILL REBELLED!

When Moses told the people what God said, they “mourned over their sins.”  But they continued to rebel!  They decided to carry on business as usual and go into the land without God’s leading, protection or provision despite Moses’ warning!  What were they thinking, we ask?  Let’s ask ourselves.  We sometime do the same in our daily walk.  Ok, Lord, I shouldn’t have said or done that and I’m sorry—that I got caught.  And because you love me, surely you won’t discipline me is most often our presumption.  So, more likely, through lack of remorse, we do it again.  So, “don’t judge lest you be judged,” Jesus tells us.  (Matthew 7:1) 

“All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,” Paul preaches. (Romans 3:23) But please read what comes next: “and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood—to be received by faith. He did this to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished— ²⁶ he did it to demonstrate his righteousness at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.” Romans 3:24-26 

The only Way to remove sin is confession to Jesus. We cannot merely decide to “be better” or “be good.”  Only God is good. Only Jesus can save us from our sins and our rebellious ways.  God gave us help!  It is God’s Holy Spirit who then comes to reside with power within our being, and helps us transform into all God created us to be then do for our good and His glory!  We cannot do this alone apart from God! We need His help.

When we humbly admit we need God; God gives us all we need.  When we fully and committedly believe that Jesus died for our sins and rose to give us the hope of eternal life a transformation of God in us occurs.  Our hearts are cleansed; our minds renewed with less presumptions and assumptions of our own small thinking; our spirits refreshed by His new mercies; and the joy of His salvation flourishes as we yield to Him daily as an offering of worship.  Only then we will bear the fruits of His Holy Spirit…see Galatians 5 for the list of new behaviors that will begin to happen on our journey.  We will also begin to see ourselves asking God what HE wants; more than demanding God to do what we want.

Our response trust and obey God.  Our obedience to God demonstrates our real love for God.  Real faith stops asking why.

Lord,

When I am perplexed, you are my Rock!  Thank you for reminding us of our own dangerous rebellion against You. Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us and make life hard for us.  Lead us away from all temptations, especially thinking we are entitled or better than others.  Deliver us from evil, the real enemy of our hearts.  May Your will be done in all the details of today.

In Jesus Name, Amen