Day 45, or February the 14th. How supportive
are you? Our thoughts today are rooted in Numbers
chapter 14, verse 11. The Lord said to Moses,
How long will these people treat me with contempt?
How long will they refuse to believe in me, in
spite of all the signs I have performed among
them? Now the big picture surrounding this verse.
At God's instigation, spies are sent into the
promised land. One spy came from each of the
tribes, twelve in all. They brought back conclusive
evidence that the land was truly a land of milk
and honey. But the people were unconvinced when
they heard that only two of the twelve spies
were urging them to believe God and claim the
land. This resulted in revolt in the camp, and
the whole nation was condemned to forty years
of wandering in the wilderness, during which
time that faithless generation would die. The
Israelites rebel against God, and Moses prays
for them to get another chance, and they are
duly pardoned. However, they would still wander
in the wilderness, due to their lack of faith.
And now today's action step. God tests Moses
by appearing to lose patience with the Israelites
and threatening to destroy his unbelieving people
and create a new nation through the descendants
of Moses. It was clearly a test, because there
was no way God would break his promises to Abraham,
Isaac, and Jacob. The reaction of Moses is very
interesting. He argues with God that if this
happened, other nations would lose respect for
the living God, who has done such marvellous things
for the Israelites. He begs God to forgive his
wayward people and give them another chance.
God's reputation was of paramount importance
to Moses. Do you defend God's reputation as vehemently
as this? The biggest area of failure can often
be within the church itself. We stain the name
of God by criticizing fellow Christians. We need
to stop. If we don't speak positively about our
God and His church, who will?