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Day 45, or February the 14th. How supportive

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are you? Our thoughts today are rooted in Numbers

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chapter 14, verse 11. The Lord said to Moses,

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How long will these people treat me with contempt?

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How long will they refuse to believe in me, in

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spite of all the signs I have performed among

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them? Now the big picture surrounding this verse.

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At God's instigation, spies are sent into the

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promised land. One spy came from each of the

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tribes, twelve in all. They brought back conclusive

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evidence that the land was truly a land of milk

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and honey. But the people were unconvinced when

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they heard that only two of the twelve spies

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were urging them to believe God and claim the

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land. This resulted in revolt in the camp, and

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the whole nation was condemned to forty years

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of wandering in the wilderness, during which

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time that faithless generation would die. The

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Israelites rebel against God, and Moses prays

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for them to get another chance, and they are

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duly pardoned. However, they would still wander

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in the wilderness, due to their lack of faith.

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And now today's action step. God tests Moses

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by appearing to lose patience with the Israelites

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and threatening to destroy his unbelieving people

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and create a new nation through the descendants

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of Moses. It was clearly a test, because there

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was no way God would break his promises to Abraham,

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Isaac, and Jacob. The reaction of Moses is very

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interesting. He argues with God that if this

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happened, other nations would lose respect for

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the living God, who has done such marvellous things

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for the Israelites. He begs God to forgive his

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wayward people and give them another chance.

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God's reputation was of paramount importance

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to Moses. Do you defend God's reputation as vehemently

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as this? The biggest area of failure can often

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be within the church itself. We stain the name

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of God by criticizing fellow Christians. We need

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to stop. If we don't speak positively about our

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God and His church, who will?