The “Why” of the “What”

So, they said to one another, “Let us appoint a leader and return to Egypt.” – Numbers 14:4

The last time we were together, we saw what God was about to do to discipline Israel for their lack of faith and obedience in what God had clearly told them to do.

If you will recall, God promised them the land, and He went as far as to tell them that He had given (past tense) the land to them. All they needed to do was go up, spy it out, and then go take it.

So, a question arises: if God knew the spies would bring back a bad report and convince the people it wasn’t a good idea to go up, why give the command to spy out the land in the first place?

It was a test. A test of faith. A test that the majority failed, save 2 Joshua and Caleb.

Remember, for the believer today, this story is connected to your “inheritance” of the Kingdom of Heaven, ruling and reigning with Jesus’ in His millennial Kingdom. When the Word of the Kingdom is preached far too many believers will not receive it, nor believe it. The reason is the same, they think it’s too hard.

What they don’t understand, just like the Israelites, is that they are not the ones who are to do the work, God is.

But let’s take a step back for a moment. We want to understand why God disciplined the Israelites the way He did. We saw that He “did” discipline them, but exactly why did He?

The answer is found in our verse today.

This is more than just a group of people getting together to say, “We want to go back to Egypt.” This, in picture form, is a group of believers saying, “We no longer want Christ to be in control of our lives. We want to go back to where we came from.” In other words, these are believers who are so engrossed in the carnal side of life that they want to stay there.

I know that many will say, if you live like that, you can’t be saved. But by the authority of the Word of God, that is not true. Merely read 1 Corinthians 3:1-2 and you will see the carnal Christian.

For the believer who is shown the Truth of the Kingdom but then thinks in their own mind, ‘this life is just too hard’, or ‘it’s just not worth it’, these are the ones pictured in Numbers 14:4.

But again, look at how many there were! Out of the entire congregation of Israel, other than Aaron and Moses, only two men stood out among the millions of people and believed God.

Yet there is a deeper lesson for us if we will see it. Have you ever had a time in your life when it felt like God just wasn’t there…He wasn’t listening?

We all have. Is it that we’ve done something wrong? No. Your performance does not mandate God’s existence in your life. He is there whether you believe it or not. But in those times, when it seems as though God is NOT there, He has given you a test to see if you will believe that He is. Even if you don’t “feel” Him or “hear” Him.

He has promised He will always be with us; those times are a test. They are meant to build our faith.

For Israel, the test was, do you believe what God said about the land? They did not.

For us, do you believe what God has said about the Kingdom…?

If you would like to learn more about how to grow in the Word of God, we have different teaching resources at our website: www.lhcpensacola.org. Just look for the “Teaching” tab for more information. We also have a YouTube channel, Lighthouse Church Pensacola with other teaching resources. If you feel led to give online to support us, we have a “GIVING” tab where you can do just that. Thank you for even considering…

Thank you so much for your time today. If this message has blessed you, challenged you, or encouraged you, then please share it by passing it on! I pray God blesses you today! Cast all your cares to Him, because He loves you!