Again; Moses was faced with the task of leading a grumbling and ungrateful bunch of selfish people who did not recognize the signs proving they were being provided for and protected by The One Great God.
They had given lip-service to the lie that they would be faithful; but when it came time to prove the point and move out in faith; all they could see was their own great fears.
FEAR OWNED THESE PEOPLE
Fear is probably a big issue still holding back many Christians of today.
People fear being alone in their belief. They fear being different from others. Many fear believing enough to be healed, or to give testimony to what they have found to be true.
So many fears have been stumbled over for years stacked upon years, and generations of people have suffered from the fear factor.
Maybe that is why I love the Francesca Battistelli song called “The Breakup Song” that states: FEAR YOU DON’T OWN ME.
She gets it!
I’ll give you the link so you can sing it with her: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H0wpP5o7xpI
Let’s all heed the words of the song and reverse the actions of the Israelites in the desert and declare right now that fear is of the enemy and God’s people want no part of it.
It would be great if we all would just sing this song every day as we march outside to face the world.
Sing it like a battle song!
From our viewpoint today and looking back over the pages of history which have already transpired; it isn’t hard to see that fear might have always been the enemy’s most-used and most-successful weapon against God’s people.
The devil probably wakes up every morning and looks in the mirror and says “Who is on God’s side today – and what is their greatest fear? How can I use THAT fear to win them over to my side?”
Moses had to address the faults of this fear-driven people with God.
They too had forgotten their battle songs.
GOD DOESN’T RELATE TO FEAR
For a few moments God felt like giving up on them, wiping them off the map and starting over with new people.
Can you blame him?
Over and over again; Moses had been put into this awkward position of worshiping God and defending a sinful people at the same time.
Actually; he had no other choice.
Practically; he could do nothing else because when it boiled down to the facts; Moses was just another one of them.
If they were destroyed; he too would be destroyed. Fate had taken a terrible turn here. If they did not live up to the place of becoming God’s holy nation for the world; Moses’ whole life would have been lived in vain.
What a train wreck!
That day must have been one of the worst days in the life of Moses.
WE SERVE A MERCIFUL GOD
God loved Moses and took pity on him.
It appears that God didn’t see Moses as being “just another one in the crowd.” He recognized Moses faithfulness.
At first God offered to wipe the people off the map and make a new nation from the descendants of Moses.
Many men would have loved founding their own empire.
Not Moses.
He loved his heritage and his people; despite their terrible flaws.
I wonder if Moses even paused for one moment to consider such a thing?
It appears that he did not.
MOSES ANSWERS GOD
As much as he loved his people; Moses loved God more.
Hence; his answer to God was this:
“Then the Egyptians will hear about it! By your power you brought these people up from among them. And they will tell the inhabitants of this land about it. They have already heard that you, LORD, are with these people and that you, LORD, have been seen face to face, that your cloud stays over them, and that you go before them in a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. If you put all these people to death, leaving none alive, the nations who have heard this report will say, ‘The LORD was not able to bring these people into the land he promised them on oath, so he slaughtered them in the wilderness.’ Now may the Lord’s strength be displayed, just as you have declared: ‘The LORD is slow to anger, abounding in love and forgiving sin and rebellion. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation.’ In accordance with your great love, forgive the sin of these people, just as you have pardoned them from the time they left Egypt until now.” (Numbers 14: 13 – 19)
MOSES APPEALS TO GOD’S PROMISES
Wow! It must have taken a lot of nerve and courage for Moses to address God in this way.
But Moses knew the same message that I keep on preaching in this bible study; “God always keeps His promises.”
There had to be a way for God to forgive these people and allow His promises to Abraham to continue to be lived out.
One of the greatest things about the personality of Moses was his ability to humbly show respect and honor.
He simply reminded God of His own compassion for the people and the fact that they desperately needed to be forgiven.
Moses acknowledged many of God’s greatest attributes and waited on God to show mercy and forgiveness.
He wanted and sincerely desired, not only his own people, but the outsiders of the world looking in at them, to have the same honor and respect for God that He possessed.
MOSES REFLECTS THE LOVE OF CHRIST
Once again Moses stood between the people and God and pleaded for their sins to be forgiven.
This is what Jesus does for us.
The attitude of Moses at this time and the attitude of Jesus are exactly the same.
Every day without exception; Jesus does this for us.
I wonder if God ever answers Jesus in the same way that he finally answered Moses on that day long ago:
GOD’S FINAL ANSWER
“The LORD replied, “I have forgiven them, as you asked. Nevertheless, as surely as I live and as surely as the glory of the LORD fills the whole earth, no one of those who saw my glory and the signs I performed in Egypt and in the wilderness but who disobeyed me and tested me ten times – not one of them will ever see the land I promised on oath to their ancestors. No one who has treated me with contempt will ever see it. But because my servant Caleb has a different spirit and follows me wholeheartedly, I will bring him into the land he went to, and his descendants will inherit it. Since the Amalekites and the Canaanites are living in the valleys, turn back tomorrow and set out toward the desert along the route to the Red Sea.” (Numbers 14:20-25)
WHAT HAPPENED NEXT?
How do you think Moses took this answer?
What choice did he have?
God had decided what would be.
The people had disobeyed God and showed Him contempt at least ten times now; in spite of the fact that He had provided all that they had ever needed.
Did you catch that one part – the part that says “NO ONE who has treated me with contempt will ever see the promises?”
TODAY’S PROMISES ARE ALSO AT STAKE
I look at America when I ask this question.
How can we continually shake our fist in the face of God and expect Him to keep providing for us?
Our people cannot re-write the Holy Scriptures and expect God to honor our words instead of His own inspired word.
If we keep living in total disobedience; we will most likely enjoy the same punishment of those weary old Israelites; God will let us die in our own sins.
We will be given an alternate route; and only the very faithful believers will go on into the place of God’s promises being fulfilled.
THE DESCENDANTS OF THE FAITHFUL
The descendants of the faithful will inherit all of the promises; while the descendants of unbelievers will die in the wilderness of this world.
Again; that reminds me of yet another beautiful song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pxAYWoJZ9Ok
Hopefully; that song reflects all our “one day.”
Right now – we all still have a choice.
We are all still on the journey.
One day the end of the road will come.
Are you ready?