So these are the results of the registration of the people of Israel as conducted by Moses and Eleazar the priest on the plains of Moab beside the Jordan River, across from Jericho. Not one person on this list had been among those listed in the previous registration taken by Moses and Aaron in the wilderness of Sinai. For the LORD had said of them, “They will all die in the wilderness.” Not one of them survived except Caleb son of Jephunneh and Joshua son of Nun. [Numbers 26.63-65]
It took a while, like almost 40 years, for all those alive when Israel first surveyed the land of Canaan to die off as sworn by God at that time:
Then the LORD said, “I will pardon them as you have requested. But as surely as I live, and as surely as the earth is filled with the LORD’s glory, not one of these people will ever enter that land. They have all seen my glorious presence and the miraculous signs I performed both in Egypt and in the wilderness, but again and again they have tested me by refusing to listen to my voice. They will never even see the land I swore to give their ancestors. None of those who have treated me with contempt will ever see it. [Numbers 14.20-23]
Faithlessness is not something God takes lightly even though people today seem to think it is okay to say something like, "I just don't have that kind of faith... (but the Lord knows my heart)."
Really? The fact is, God DOES know our hearts:
“The human heart is the most deceitful of all things, and desperately wicked. Who really knows how bad it is? [Jeremiah 17.9]
And to prove what is said here above about faithfulness, one only has to look a few verses before Jeremiah 17.9 to see what God thinks about misplaced trust...
This is what the LORD says: “Cursed are those who put their trust in mere humans, who rely on human strength and turn their hearts away from the LORD. They are like stunted shrubs in the desert, with no hope for the future. They will live in the barren wilderness, in an uninhabited salty land. [Jeremiah 17.5-6]
Israel was cursed because they trusted only in their own ability to overcome the inhabitants of Canaan. For their misplaced trust, they died in the wilderness.
And, to be clear, God is not satisfied with us trusting Him as 'second choice' either. Israel found that out in painful fashion shortly after Numbers 14.20-23. After Israel saw how they had displeased God with their initial faithlessness, they went against God's most recent order to return to the wilderness and met defeat (see Numbers 14.44-45). This is what I think of when I hear someone say, "there is nothing left to do now but pray..."
In light of our current culture of knowledge and technology, man faces quite a monumental decision when tasked with trusting God alone. With our knowledge, devices, medicine, money and insurance, we are compelled to 'trust God' only when all our own means are exhausted. Something is terribly askew with this mindset.
While we are on the topic of the paragraph above, let us be reminded when tempted to console ourselves that "God gave us knowledge, devices, medicine, money and insurance so we might take care of ourselves..." that Jeremiah 17.5-6 noted above stands in stark contrast.
If we do not obey God in the Promised Land of faith in Him alone, we will "die" in the wilderness of independent human capacity.
This explains why Jesus' life seemed so incredibly miraculous: His faith was in God alone. And Jesus did not withhold instruction for His followers to do exactly the same.
Have we not been living in the 'wilderness' long enough?
Father, forgive me for ingrained faithlessness toward You. Forgive me for unchecked faith in man and the systems of man. May I be found trusting You and You alone...
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