Faithful in Consequences

September 29, 2019 Background Scripture: Numbers 14:10b – 23 Lesson Passage: Numbers 14:10b – 20 Today’s lesson is a continuation of the text from last week’s lesson. Israel demonstrated an absolute lack of trust in God to provide them with what He promised. Although God had led them to the land He promised to give them, they did not trust Him to give it to them. They believed that God had led them into a situation of doom. They rejected God’s offer to occupy the land of Canaan and recommended stoning Joshua and Caleb for suggesting it. It was at this point that the glory of the Lord appeared inside the holy tent. God addressed Moses from within the holy tent. All of the miracles God performed for Israel was to engender in them a trust for Him. God had constantly led Israel into situations of need and provided everything to meet those needs. God’s provisions came through works of miracles: dividing the Red Sea, turning bitter waters into potable water, delivering water from a rock in the desert, and providing food (manna) Israel had never heard of. All of this demonstrated God’s power and His concern for the needs of Israel. In spite of the evidence God showed of His trustworthiness, Israel continued to lack trust in God. They behaved and spoke as though they believed the last thing God did for them was the last thing that God was going to do for them. God spoke to Moses of losing patience with them. God threatened to destroy Israel and to build a new nation from Moses’ descendants. Moses reminded God that He had established a reputation that the Egyptians were telling others about. Although Israel refused to see and acknowledge God’s ongoing provision for them, the other nations freely recognized it. Even the Egyptians were watching to see if God was going to do all that He promised He would do for Israel. Moses stated that God’s reputation among the other nations would be at stake if God did not preserve Israel and bring them into Canaan as He promised to do. A failure to do this would cause the other nations to question God’s power to deliver His people. God offered to make a nation out of Moses’ descendants but Moses saw this as too great a risk for God’s reputation among the people who only knew Him based on what they had heard. Moses asked God to demonstrate His power through His patience, mercy, and forgiveness. Moses did not ask God to ignore or remove Israel’s guilt. Rather, he begged God to pardon Israel in spite of their guilt. This would be a greater demonstration of God’s might to the other nations than destroying Israel because of their iniquity. Moses’ prayer demonstrates that he had indeed learned much about God’s character. God had offered to extend to Moses the same promise He made to Abraham and renewed in Isaac and Jacob. Moses declined God’s offer in favor of God demonstrating to the heathen nations the true essence of His character. Moses chose to defend God’s character rather than seek worldly fame for himself. God accepted Moses’ prayer and granted his request because Moses had shown that he was faithful to God in a time when the nation of Israel was facing dire consequences for their iniquity. God pardoned Israel’s iniquity but they still had to suffer consequences for their lack of faith. Robert C. Hudson September 13, 2019