Good evening, everyone.
Today I read Numbers 14-15.
And the whining is over.
But now the real trouble begins.
The Israelites rebel.
Yep. You read that right.
They rebel.
Against...
Moses! And God!
Who thinks that's a good idea? Anyone?
It's not.
It's really, really not.
Because now they are in big trouble.
In fact, because of what they've done, only Joshua and Caleb (who believed that God would help them overcome their enemies and take back the promised land) out of all the adult Israelites will even see the promised land.
Yep.
Two adults, plus all the children who will grow up.
Out of thousands of people.
Only 2 adults out of this entire group will even set eyes on the promised land.
I felt that needed to be repeated.
But wait, that's their blessing from God, right?
Well, did you know that you can mess that up?
Because you can.
This is a lesson to be taken from today's reading.
You can mess up, delay, or even forfeit, a blessing from God.
But you have to really mess up.
Like grumbling over and over, and then turning on God's chosen leaders and God.
Think about even just these things that the Israelites have done since being rescued from Egypt:
Doubt.
Worshiping the golden calf. (This is a big one)
Grumbling.
Complaining.
Open rebellion.
So they messed up big. And they lost their inheritance. Some of them even died for their attack against Moses. The ground literally opened up and swallowed them.
But because God is faithful to keep His promises, and because of Moses' pleading, their children still get to go into the land He promised them.
Let's all take a lesson from this and make a conscious effort to reduce the amount of complaining we do. And remember that there is a difference between talking to God about a problem and complaining about it. Talking to Him involves asking His direction about the situation.
I hope you'll join me tomorrow when I read Numbers 16-17.
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