A Land Flowing With Milk and Honey 4
Numbers 14:6-11
6 Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, of those who had spied out the land, tore their clothes; 7 and they spoke to all the congregation of the sons of Israel, saying, “The land which we passed through to spy out is an exceedingly good land. 8 If the LORD is pleased with us, then He will bring us into this land and give it to us–a land which flows with milk and honey. 9 Only do not rebel against the LORD; and do not fear the people of the land, for they will be our prey. Their protection has been removed from them, and the LORD is with us; do not fear them.” 10 But all the congregation said to stone them with stones. Then the glory of the LORD appeared in the tent of meeting to all the sons of Israel.
Moses Pleads for the People
11 The LORD said to Moses, “How long will this people spurn Me? And how long will they not believe in Me, despite all the signs which I have performed in their midst?
Please note:
When the preacher cites biblical passages, to keep up with her speed, I am skipping the book names and chapter & verse numbers and going straight to the content. But for your reference, they are placed at the bottom of each paragraph. Hope that there’ll be no confusion about thisJ
Brothers and sisters, this is the fourth session on A Land Flowing with Milk and Honey. Amidst God’s power, the Israelites left Egypt, went through the life in the wilderness and finally arrived at the threshold of Canaan. Through the shortcut, the distance from Egypt to Canaan is only a ten-day walk.
Of course, those countless people joined by cattle, sheep, wagon, the elderly and the young, moved so slow. Even if we consider this situation, they would’ve arrived in one month or two. But, God didn’t lead them through the shortcut but through the wilderness which …….Along the way, He sometimes had them stay in one place for a few days or for months.
As the Bible says, “Whether it was two days or a month or a year that the cloud lingered over the tabernacle, staying above it, the sons of Israel remained camped and did not set out; but when it was lifted, they did set out,” when the pillar of cloud didn’t move, they didn’t move as well. That’s why ..
The answer is found in Exodus 13:17. “Now when Pharaoh had let the people go, God did not lead them by the way of the land of the Philistines, even though it was near; for God said, “The people might change their minds when they see war, and return to Egypt.” If the Israelites were to take the shortcut, they would have to pass through the land of the Philistines, which means they would have to battle with them. So, God prevented them from having a battle.
Of course, if they had confronted them by faith, they must’ve been more than able to defeat even an army of ten million! But, the Israelites were lacking so much in faith. Of if there was no food, they made a fuss, saying that they were happier as slaves. If these people had been told to fight, not only would they have disobeyed but tried to return to Egypt. For this reason, God led them through the wilderness which was relatively safe.
Whenever they faced a trouble, God let them witness His power through Moses’ faith, thereby offering them opportunities to grow their faith. But entry into the Promised Land required the faith of the whole congregation because they had to march with faith, defeat the Canaanites and take their land. Suppose you were there with Moses. Would you be able to win the battles and conquer the land flowing with milk and honey?
Because you’ve witnessed numerous works of power, it’s only natural that you should be able to take the land of Canaan through perfect deeds of faith. If you find yourself falling short of this, I hope that this message inspire you to set your foot on the Promised Land indeed with faith. By doing so, I pray in our Lord’s name that you’ll take possession of the blessings from the Promised Land.
Brothers and sisters, now, the Israelites have arrived in Kadesh-barnea located right below Canaan. God instructed Moses to dispatch chiefs, one from each of the twelve tribes, and spy out the Land of Canaan. This was the beginning of the test required to enter the Land of Canaan.
For us to receive blessings, we should definitely prepare a vessel and make ourselves qualified. By passing a test, we have to prove ourselves to be a vessel worthy of blessings. As for Abraham, the father of faith, he came forth as a person proper for God’s will through trials. But God didn’t bless him without a reason. Only after he passed the test of offering his only son, Isaac, and demonstrated what kind of faith he had, did God blessed him to become the source of blessings.
Even though God knows all things, He gives us a test and blesses us only after we pass it. Otherwise, Satan would bring an accusation and He Himself wouldn’t be the God of justice. While we offer vowed prayer or fasting to receive blessings, we may encounter a trouble. Reflecting on ourselves, if we have nothing to repent of, we can just give thanks and rejoice and try to please God all the more.
Of course, if you find anything to repent of, you have to repent without delay. Then, your prayers will be answered quickly. It is God’s justice that people who’ve prepared the vessel receive the answer. Only when things are done according to the justice, there’s no accusation from Satan. Representing the whole congregation, the twelve spies were in a position to demonstrate their faith after spying out the land.
The twelve passed through the Land for 40 days. As expected, the land was flowing with milk and honey and its fruit was beautiful. But there was a problem. There was no way that such fertile and good land was empty without owners. Six gentile tribes were living in the land and they looked so strong and robust.
And, their cites were fortified and large and it seemed never easy to conquer them. Seeing this reality, ten of the twelve spies got discouraged. Coming back, they gave the people a negative report.
As the Bible says, Caleb quieted the people before Moses and made a confession of faith, “We should by all means go up and take possession of it, for we will surely overcome it.” Not relented by this, the ten spies confused the people with more evil words and fleshly confessions void of faith.
(Numbers 13:30)
31 But the men who had gone up with him said, “We are not able to go up against the people, for they are too strong for us.” 32 So they gave out to the sons of Israel a bad report of the land which they had spied out, saying, “The land through which we have gone, in spying it out, is a land that devours its inhabitants; and all the people whom we saw in it are men of great size. 33 There also we saw the Nephilim (the sons of Anak are part of the Nephilim); and we became like grasshoppers in our own sight, and so we were in their sight.” (Numbers 13:31-33)
Everyone, once we let in fleshly thoughts, they develop into more evil and negative words. When someone advises us with the truth, we would hate it when someone advises us with the truth and do more evil. To what kind of words are we paying attention? Are we happy to hear confessions of faith, goodness, and truth? Or do we love hearing words coming from fleshly thoughts, judgment, and condemnation and join others in saying such words? We have to check ourselves. The congregation listened to the confessions of the ten spies and agreed. So, they wept all night, resenting Moses and Aaron.
The Bible says, “The whole congregation said to them, “Would that we had died in the land of Egypt! Or would that we had died in this wilderness! 3 Why is the LORD bringing us into this land, to fall by the sword? Our wives and our little ones will become plunder; would it not be better for us to return to Egypt?” The Israelites complained, “Why is the LORD bringing us into this land?” But, actually, they themselves cried and asked God to save them from slavery.
Answer their plea, God sent Moses to bring them out. They also said they would fall by the sword and their wives and little ones will become plunder, but such things never happened But, they assumed that they were to happen for sure and wanted to return to Egypt. How frightening fleshly thoughts are!
As one thought led to another, they complained about what didn’t happen as it was their reality and outrageously said that it would have been better to die in Egypt or in the wilderness. According to their confession, God had them die in the wilderness. Here, we have to bear in mind the importance of the words of our lips.
The Bible says, “Death and life are in the power of the tongue, And those who love it will eat its fruit.” We should never utter words recklessly. We should get into a habit always speaking honestly and precisely. In doing so, honesty is planted deep in our heart. Then, we wouldn’t be trapped into tribulations by our words. But, even if we decide not to speak recklessly, while we have evil in our heart and we’re full of fleshly thoughts, we end up failing to control our lips.
After we say things carelessly, we cannot even remember our words. Because we cannot repent and the wall of sins remains, tribulations continue. Therefore, I urge you to control your lips and say only words of faith, goodness, and truth. Also, you have to know that your words can take away faith of your family members and fellow church members just as the ten spies’ confessions resulting from their fleshly thoughts and lack of faith led the people to commit sins.
God is the One who delivered them out of Egypt through the Ten Plagues and split the Red Sea so they could cross it as if they walked through dry land. In the wilderness, He fed them manna and quails, turned bitter water into sweet one, and made water spring from a rock. He guided them with the pillars of cloud and fire. Having been shown many signs, they were quick to resent God and Moses and even defied him, whenever they found their situation going against their benefits.
Their evil and lack of faith was just the same as it was when they first got out of Egypt. They even talked about appointing a leader and turning back to Egypt. Among the twelve spies, only Joshua and Caleb lamented for their deeds lacking faith, tore their clothes and appealed to them.
They said, “The land which we passed through to spy out is an exceedingly good land. 8 If the LORD is pleased with us, then He will bring us into this land and give it to us–a land which flows with milk and honey. 9 Only do not rebel against the LORD; and do not fear the people of the land, for they will be our prey. Their protection has been removed from them, and the LORD is with us; do not fear them.” But the people didn’t listen to this faithful confession of faith. Rather, they tried to stone them.
(Number 14:7-9)
Earlier, I mentioned that God told them to spy out the land and that this was a test of faith required to take the blessed land. The right answer was the confession of faith offered by Joshua and Caleb. Men of faith don’t look at the reality visible to their eyes. They only try to figure out what God’s will is and they march on with confessions and deeds of faith that if God is with them, they can ably fulfill His will.
The Bible says, “Delight yourself in the LORD; And He will give you the desires of your heart.” Another verse tells us, “And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.” From Genesis to Revelation, we find numerous cases where impossible things were made possible only by God’s power. All we have to do is please the almighty God through confessions and deeds of faith.
(Psalm 37:4)
(Hebrews 11:6)
Even though they’d experienced God’s works numerous times, except for Joshua and Caleb, all of them didn’t pass this test of faith. Enraged by this evil people without faith, God proclaimed that He would destroy them pestilence. Thanks to Moses’ earnest and sincere plea, they managed to save their lives, but the hope for Canaan was no longer there for them.
God’s promise of Canaan was handed over to their offspring who were younger than 20. God said that even they would spend 40 years in the wilderness for their parents’ sins and then enter the land. Also, the ten spies who negatively reported on the land after spying on it died of a plague before God. The Israelites who heard this message of God’s wrath and saw the deaths of the ten pies grieved with regrets. And they talked to Moses as we find in Numbers 14:40, “In the morning, however, they rose up early and went up to the ridge of the hill country, saying, “Here we are; we have indeed sinned, but we will go up to the place which the LORD has promised.”
They wanted to attack the cities of the Canaanites. But it was already too late. God was not with them. Knowing this, Moses earnestly deterred them from going saying that it wouldn’t be successful. He said, “Do not go up, or you will be struck down before your enemies, for the LORD is not among you.” For the Amalekites and the Canaanites will be there in front of you, and you will fall by the sword, inasmuch as you have turned back from following the LORD. And the LORD will not be with you.”
(Numbers 14:42-43)
Having heard this warning, they went up the hill where the Canaanites lived to attack them. Before, they refused to go when they had to go. At this point, they were told not to go. Still, they insisted on going. Regrettably, the outcome was a miserable defeat just as Moses told them. We cannot say that their attack on Canaan was a deed of obedience or faith. Let’s say a student failed the college entrance exam. But he’s found out the answers to the exam questions. Does this mean he can now enter the college? No way!
They have to study more, improve their scholastic abilities, and take the test with different questions. Only after they get those questions right can they prove qualified to enter the college. Likewise, just because they went up the hill where the Canaanites lived doesn’t mean they suddenly got faith which they didn’t have previously. They just pretended like they had faith. To recklessly charge into Canaan was not what they had to do.
They should’ve repented of their evil, indeed had spiritual faith, and resolved to unconditionally obey. Of course, if they had repented from their heart at least at this point, the situation could’ve changed. But, Israel didn’t charge into the Land of Canaan with a truly penitent heart. What they did was add another deed of disobedience to get away with their faults and avoid God’s retribution.
As a result, Israel suffered a painstaking defeat and their 40-year life in the wilderness began. Even in our life of faith, , when we pass a God-given test, we’re blessed. But if we fail it, we can suffer a trial for a certain period of time. It is just as a student has to study for one more year if he fails the SAT. After you go through a trial, when God allows you a test again, you have to pass it. If you fail it, then, a trial follows again.
That’s why some believers continuously suffer trials. They have a change of heart. Once we believe in something, we can just believe to the end without a change of heart and say Amen. Then, we can grow spiritually without a trial. If we face a trial, we can make it an opportunity to grow your faith. If we discover our shortcomings through trials, repent, and fix them, we become more than able to overcome the following test. Finally, we can confess that the trials have been a blessing. But, if we still complain amidst the trials and insist on ourselves, we may fall into temptation because of our evil. We shouldn’t be such foolish ones.
Still, the first generation of the Exodus neither repented nor turn from their ways even as they suffered the retribution of wandering in the wilderness. They didn’t cast off evil. Nor did they have faith. Due to their evil, the entire Israel once again suffered a disaster. This resulted from Korah and his followers’ rebellion.
According to God’s word, the Israelites entered the wilderness, and they became sick and tired of their life as they wandered for long. Meanwhile, Korah, one of the Levites deceived the people into opposing Moses. Biologically, Korah was Moses’ cousin. As Korah compared himself to Moses, he considered himself not falling short in any way. So, he was upset about only Moses and Aaron having the authority of priests as men of God. He deceived 250 leaders who were famous in the congregation into opposing Moses along with hm.
Korah and his followers said to Moses, “You have gone far enough, for all the congregation are holy, every one of them, and the LORD is in their midst; so why do you exalt yourselves above the assembly of the LORD?” But this is not true. When did Moses and Aaron go beyond the line and exalt themselves? It was God who exalted them and established them as leaders. When God first told Moses to become the leader to deliver the Israelites out of Egypt, Moses reacted like, “How could I bring them out of Egypt?”
For this reason, God demonstrated the evidences of Him being with Moses and guaranteed him so that the people would follow him. They also mentioned that all the congregation were holy and the LORD was in their midst. If the congregation had really been holy, they wouldn’t have sought their benefits in all affairs. They would’ve never complained or grumbled and opposed God. God was in their midst not because they were good but on account of Moses. The LORD God was with them because of Moses. If it hadn’t been for Moses, He wouldn’t have been with them.
Numbers 14:6-11
6 Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, of those who had spied out the land, tore their clothes; 7 and they spoke to all the congregation of the sons of Israel, saying, “The land which we passed through to spy out is an exceedingly good land. 8 If the LORD is pleased with us, then He will bring us into this land and give it to us–a land which flows with milk and honey. 9 Only do not rebel against the LORD; and do not fear the people of the land, for they will be our prey. Their protection has been removed from them, and the LORD is with us; do not fear them.” 10 But all the congregation said to stone them with stones. Then the glory of the LORD appeared in the tent of meeting to all the sons of Israel.
Moses Pleads for the People
11 The LORD said to Moses, “How long will this people spurn Me? And how long will they not believe in Me, despite all the signs which I have performed in their midst?
Please note:
When the preacher cites biblical passages, to keep up with her speed, I am skipping the book names and chapter & verse numbers and going straight to the content. But for your reference, they are placed at the bottom of each paragraph. Hope that there’ll be no confusion about thisJ
Brothers and sisters, this is the fourth session on A Land Flowing with Milk and Honey. Amidst God’s power, the Israelites left Egypt, went through the life in the wilderness and finally arrived at the threshold of Canaan. Through the shortcut, the distance from Egypt to Canaan is only a ten-day walk.
Of course, those countless people joined by cattle, sheep, wagon, the elderly and the young, moved so slow. Even if we consider this situation, they would’ve arrived in one month or two. But, God didn’t lead them through the shortcut but through the wilderness which …….Along the way, He sometimes had them stay in one place for a few days or for months.
As the Bible says, “Whether it was two days or a month or a year that the cloud lingered over the tabernacle, staying above it, the sons of Israel remained camped and did not set out; but when it was lifted, they did set out,” when the pillar of cloud didn’t move, they didn’t move as well. That’s why ..
The answer is found in Exodus 13:17. “Now when Pharaoh had let the people go, God did not lead them by the way of the land of the Philistines, even though it was near; for God said, “The people might change their minds when they see war, and return to Egypt.” If the Israelites were to take the shortcut, they would have to pass through the land of the Philistines, which means they would have to battle with them. So, God prevented them from having a battle.
Of course, if they had confronted them by faith, they must’ve been more than able to defeat even an army of ten million! But, the Israelites were lacking so much in faith. Of if there was no food, they made a fuss, saying that they were happier as slaves. If these people had been told to fight, not only would they have disobeyed but tried to return to Egypt. For this reason, God led them through the wilderness which was relatively safe.
Whenever they faced a trouble, God let them witness His power through Moses’ faith, thereby offering them opportunities to grow their faith. But entry into the Promised Land required the faith of the whole congregation because they had to march with faith, defeat the Canaanites and take their land. Suppose you were there with Moses. Would you be able to win the battles and conquer the land flowing with milk and honey?
Because you’ve witnessed numerous works of power, it’s only natural that you should be able to take the land of Canaan through perfect deeds of faith. If you find yourself falling short of this, I hope that this message inspire you to set your foot on the Promised Land indeed with faith. By doing so, I pray in our Lord’s name that you’ll take possession of the blessings from the Promised Land.
Brothers and sisters, now, the Israelites have arrived in Kadesh-barnea located right below Canaan. God instructed Moses to dispatch chiefs, one from each of the twelve tribes, and spy out the Land of Canaan. This was the beginning of the test required to enter the Land of Canaan.
For us to receive blessings, we should definitely prepare a vessel and make ourselves qualified. By passing a test, we have to prove ourselves to be a vessel worthy of blessings. As for Abraham, the father of faith, he came forth as a person proper for God’s will through trials. But God didn’t bless him without a reason. Only after he passed the test of offering his only son, Isaac, and demonstrated what kind of faith he had, did God blessed him to become the source of blessings.
Even though God knows all things, He gives us a test and blesses us only after we pass it. Otherwise, Satan would bring an accusation and He Himself wouldn’t be the God of justice. While we offer vowed prayer or fasting to receive blessings, we may encounter a trouble. Reflecting on ourselves, if we have nothing to repent of, we can just give thanks and rejoice and try to please God all the more.
Of course, if you find anything to repent of, you have to repent without delay. Then, your prayers will be answered quickly. It is God’s justice that people who’ve prepared the vessel receive the answer. Only when things are done according to the justice, there’s no accusation from Satan. Representing the whole congregation, the twelve spies were in a position to demonstrate their faith after spying out the land.
The twelve passed through the Land for 40 days. As expected, the land was flowing with milk and honey and its fruit was beautiful. But there was a problem. There was no way that such fertile and good land was empty without owners. Six gentile tribes were living in the land and they looked so strong and robust.
And, their cites were fortified and large and it seemed never easy to conquer them. Seeing this reality, ten of the twelve spies got discouraged. Coming back, they gave the people a negative report.
As the Bible says, Caleb quieted the people before Moses and made a confession of faith, “We should by all means go up and take possession of it, for we will surely overcome it.” Not relented by this, the ten spies confused the people with more evil words and fleshly confessions void of faith.
(Numbers 13:30)
31 But the men who had gone up with him said, “We are not able to go up against the people, for they are too strong for us.” 32 So they gave out to the sons of Israel a bad report of the land which they had spied out, saying, “The land through which we have gone, in spying it out, is a land that devours its inhabitants; and all the people whom we saw in it are men of great size. 33 There also we saw the Nephilim (the sons of Anak are part of the Nephilim); and we became like grasshoppers in our own sight, and so we were in their sight.” (Numbers 13:31-33)
Everyone, once we let in fleshly thoughts, they develop into more evil and negative words. When someone advises us with the truth, we would hate it when someone advises us with the truth and do more evil. To what kind of words are we paying attention? Are we happy to hear confessions of faith, goodness, and truth? Or do we love hearing words coming from fleshly thoughts, judgment, and condemnation and join others in saying such words? We have to check ourselves. The congregation listened to the confessions of the ten spies and agreed. So, they wept all night, resenting Moses and Aaron.
The Bible says, “The whole congregation said to them, “Would that we had died in the land of Egypt! Or would that we had died in this wilderness! 3 Why is the LORD bringing us into this land, to fall by the sword? Our wives and our little ones will become plunder; would it not be better for us to return to Egypt?” The Israelites complained, “Why is the LORD bringing us into this land?” But, actually, they themselves cried and asked God to save them from slavery.
Answer their plea, God sent Moses to bring them out. They also said they would fall by the sword and their wives and little ones will become plunder, but such things never happened But, they assumed that they were to happen for sure and wanted to return to Egypt. How frightening fleshly thoughts are!
As one thought led to another, they complained about what didn’t happen as it was their reality and outrageously said that it would have been better to die in Egypt or in the wilderness. According to their confession, God had them die in the wilderness. Here, we have to bear in mind the importance of the words of our lips.
The Bible says, “Death and life are in the power of the tongue, And those who love it will eat its fruit.” We should never utter words recklessly. We should get into a habit always speaking honestly and precisely. In doing so, honesty is planted deep in our heart. Then, we wouldn’t be trapped into tribulations by our words. But, even if we decide not to speak recklessly, while we have evil in our heart and we’re full of fleshly thoughts, we end up failing to control our lips.
After we say things carelessly, we cannot even remember our words. Because we cannot repent and the wall of sins remains, tribulations continue. Therefore, I urge you to control your lips and say only words of faith, goodness, and truth. Also, you have to know that your words can take away faith of your family members and fellow church members just as the ten spies’ confessions resulting from their fleshly thoughts and lack of faith led the people to commit sins.
God is the One who delivered them out of Egypt through the Ten Plagues and split the Red Sea so they could cross it as if they walked through dry land. In the wilderness, He fed them manna and quails, turned bitter water into sweet one, and made water spring from a rock. He guided them with the pillars of cloud and fire. Having been shown many signs, they were quick to resent God and Moses and even defied him, whenever they found their situation going against their benefits.
Their evil and lack of faith was just the same as it was when they first got out of Egypt. They even talked about appointing a leader and turning back to Egypt. Among the twelve spies, only Joshua and Caleb lamented for their deeds lacking faith, tore their clothes and appealed to them.
They said, “The land which we passed through to spy out is an exceedingly good land. 8 If the LORD is pleased with us, then He will bring us into this land and give it to us–a land which flows with milk and honey. 9 Only do not rebel against the LORD; and do not fear the people of the land, for they will be our prey. Their protection has been removed from them, and the LORD is with us; do not fear them.” But the people didn’t listen to this faithful confession of faith. Rather, they tried to stone them.
(Number 14:7-9)
Earlier, I mentioned that God told them to spy out the land and that this was a test of faith required to take the blessed land. The right answer was the confession of faith offered by Joshua and Caleb. Men of faith don’t look at the reality visible to their eyes. They only try to figure out what God’s will is and they march on with confessions and deeds of faith that if God is with them, they can ably fulfill His will.
The Bible says, “Delight yourself in the LORD; And He will give you the desires of your heart.” Another verse tells us, “And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.” From Genesis to Revelation, we find numerous cases where impossible things were made possible only by God’s power. All we have to do is please the almighty God through confessions and deeds of faith.
(Psalm 37:4)
(Hebrews 11:6)
Even though they’d experienced God’s works numerous times, except for Joshua and Caleb, all of them didn’t pass this test of faith. Enraged by this evil people without faith, God proclaimed that He would destroy them pestilence. Thanks to Moses’ earnest and sincere plea, they managed to save their lives, but the hope for Canaan was no longer there for them.
God’s promise of Canaan was handed over to their offspring who were younger than 20. God said that even they would spend 40 years in the wilderness for their parents’ sins and then enter the land. Also, the ten spies who negatively reported on the land after spying on it died of a plague before God. The Israelites who heard this message of God’s wrath and saw the deaths of the ten pies grieved with regrets. And they talked to Moses as we find in Numbers 14:40, “In the morning, however, they rose up early and went up to the ridge of the hill country, saying, “Here we are; we have indeed sinned, but we will go up to the place which the LORD has promised.”
They wanted to attack the cities of the Canaanites. But it was already too late. God was not with them. Knowing this, Moses earnestly deterred them from going saying that it wouldn’t be successful. He said, “Do not go up, or you will be struck down before your enemies, for the LORD is not among you.” For the Amalekites and the Canaanites will be there in front of you, and you will fall by the sword, inasmuch as you have turned back from following the LORD. And the LORD will not be with you.”
(Numbers 14:42-43)
Having heard this warning, they went up the hill where the Canaanites lived to attack them. Before, they refused to go when they had to go. At this point, they were told not to go. Still, they insisted on going. Regrettably, the outcome was a miserable defeat just as Moses told them. We cannot say that their attack on Canaan was a deed of obedience or faith. Let’s say a student failed the college entrance exam. But he’s found out the answers to the exam questions. Does this mean he can now enter the college? No way!
They have to study more, improve their scholastic abilities, and take the test with different questions. Only after they get those questions right can they prove qualified to enter the college. Likewise, just because they went up the hill where the Canaanites lived doesn’t mean they suddenly got faith which they didn’t have previously. They just pretended like they had faith. To recklessly charge into Canaan was not what they had to do.
They should’ve repented of their evil, indeed had spiritual faith, and resolved to unconditionally obey. Of course, if they had repented from their heart at least at this point, the situation could’ve changed. But, Israel didn’t charge into the Land of Canaan with a truly penitent heart. What they did was add another deed of disobedience to get away with their faults and avoid God’s retribution.
As a result, Israel suffered a painstaking defeat and their 40-year life in the wilderness began. Even in our life of faith, , when we pass a God-given test, we’re blessed. But if we fail it, we can suffer a trial for a certain period of time. It is just as a student has to study for one more year if he fails the SAT. After you go through a trial, when God allows you a test again, you have to pass it. If you fail it, then, a trial follows again.
That’s why some believers continuously suffer trials. They have a change of heart. Once we believe in something, we can just believe to the end without a change of heart and say Amen. Then, we can grow spiritually without a trial. If we face a trial, we can make it an opportunity to grow your faith. If we discover our shortcomings through trials, repent, and fix them, we become more than able to overcome the following test. Finally, we can confess that the trials have been a blessing. But, if we still complain amidst the trials and insist on ourselves, we may fall into temptation because of our evil. We shouldn’t be such foolish ones.
Still, the first generation of the Exodus neither repented nor turn from their ways even as they suffered the retribution of wandering in the wilderness. They didn’t cast off evil. Nor did they have faith. Due to their evil, the entire Israel once again suffered a disaster. This resulted from Korah and his followers’ rebellion.
According to God’s word, the Israelites entered the wilderness, and they became sick and tired of their life as they wandered for long. Meanwhile, Korah, one of the Levites deceived the people into opposing Moses. Biologically, Korah was Moses’ cousin. As Korah compared himself to Moses, he considered himself not falling short in any way. So, he was upset about only Moses and Aaron having the authority of priests as men of God. He deceived 250 leaders who were famous in the congregation into opposing Moses along with hm.
Korah and his followers said to Moses, “You have gone far enough, for all the congregation are holy, every one of them, and the LORD is in their midst; so why do you exalt yourselves above the assembly of the LORD?” But this is not true. When did Moses and Aaron go beyond the line and exalt themselves? It was God who exalted them and established them as leaders. When God first told Moses to become the leader to deliver the Israelites out of Egypt, Moses reacted like, “How could I bring them out of Egypt?”
For this reason, God demonstrated the evidences of Him being with Moses and guaranteed him so that the people would follow him. They also mentioned that all the congregation were holy and the LORD was in their midst. If the congregation had really been holy, they wouldn’t have sought their benefits in all affairs. They would’ve never complained or grumbled and opposed God. God was in their midst not because they were good but on account of Moses. The LORD God was with them because of Moses. If it hadn’t been for Moses, He wouldn’t have been with them.