Almost all of the Israelites who fled the land of Egypt, who saw God’s greatness on a daily basis as they trekked through the wilderness, almost all the adults never made it to the Promised Land.
They missed the main lesson of the wilderness. They did not learn how to trust God.
They got within a stone’s throw of the Promised Land, standing just the width of the Jordan River away from heaven on Earth, and they couldn’t pull the trigger.
They did not believe that God could “pull it off.”
(Numbers 13:33-14.1 NKJV) “There we saw the giants (the descendants of Anak came from the giants); and we were like grasshoppers in our own sight, and so we were in their sight. (14:1) So all the congregation lifted up their voices and cried, and the people wept that night.
They heard the report of giants and cried all night.
Now we come to the account in Deuteronomy where, after wandering in the wilderness because of their previous lack of faith, they are once again standing on the banks of the Jordan River.
Moses recounts their previous visit, Round One of “Going to the Promised Land.”
(Deuteronomy 1:32 NKJV) “Yet, for all that, you did not believe the LORD your God.”
For all what? For God’s daily care and provision, cloud by day, fire by night, protection from enemies, miraculous provision of food and water.
Deuteronomy 1:29-33 MSG I tried to relieve your fears: “Don’t be terrified of them. (30) GOD, your God, is leading the way; he’s fighting for you. You saw with your own eyes what he did for you in Egypt; (31) you saw what he did in the wilderness, how GOD, your God, carried you as a father carries his child, carried you the whole way until you arrived here. (32) But now that you’re here, you won’t trust GOD, your God– (33) this same GOD who goes ahead of you in your travels to scout out a place to pitch camp, a fire by night and a cloud by day to show you the way to go.”
They didn’t learn a d;+=#@ thing!
Why?
I believe a huge part was their grumbling for “the way it was” and the lack of vision for what God had promised.
All along the way they grumbled.
(Exodus 14:11 ESV) They said to Moses, “Is it because there are no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness? What have you done to us in bringing us out of Egypt?”
They accused Moses: What have you done to us?
Think about that one for a minute. “What have you done to us?”
He had answered God’s call and given up his peaceful life in Midian, went back to a land where he had once been wanted for murder and treason, faced off with one of the most powerful rulers in the world for their benefit, was God’s right hand man in orchestrating their escape, provided for them, had stood before God in their behalf, had led them through the wilderness toward the land of their dreams.
And because their perspective was so bereft of faith, they asked: What have you done to us?
Did someone just win the “dumb ass” award for the day?
