Numbers 14:20-45 – Faith and presumption are not congruent

Incorrigible would be an appropriate word to describe these children of Israel at this point. First, they refused to go into the promised land despite the assurance of Joshua and Caleb that God’s favor was on them and they could inherit the land. Refusing to believe, they even wanted to stone the leadership. And now that God's anger had been kindled and Moses was told to take them by the way of the Red Sea, they wanted to go into Canaan by their own strength. Who were they trying to kid? If they felt they could not possess the land with the help of God, how ironic of them now to believe that they could possess the land without God. This is another reflection of the unbelief that was deeply entrenched in their heart.

Despite what God had said, verse 40 tells us that “In the morning, however, they got up early and went up to the ridge of the hill country, saying, ‘Here we are; and we will go up to the place which the Lord has promised, for we have sinned.’” Here we see a contradiction in their confession and action. They knew that they had sinned and yet they would act contrary to their belief. This suggests that they had not truly repented but were only giving mental consent to those words. Moses strongly urged them not to violate the commandment of God again, and that they should not go because God would not be with them to prevent them from defeat. He told them in no uncertain terms that “…the Amalekites and the Canaanites will be there to confront you, and you will fall by the sword since you have turned back from following the Lord. And the Lord will not be with you.” But adamantly and foolishly they went headlong into Canaan. They even went without the Ark of the Covenant and Moses leading them. The predictable happened, they were struck down by the Amalekites and the Canaanites and were scattered as far as Hormah.   

First, the children of Israel refused to act despite the assurance of victory, then they acted presumptuously though they were told they would not succeed. The folly of the children of Israel seen in Numbers 14 is a lesson for us. They chose to live outside of God’s covering by entertaining unbelief. Outside of His covering there will be no protection. In the earlier verses, their unbelief led them to despondency. Now in these seven verses, their unbelief led them to act presumptuously. From their experience, we see the importance of living in a vital connection with God, so that we will have His covering. When we are living in a vital connection with God, we will neither pander to despondency nor presumptuousness, no matter how bleak the future may look. Be vitally connected with God by trusting and obeying Him! There’s no other way!