Numbers 14:26-38 – The danger of unbelief

We all know how annoying the sound of a leaking tap can be. The persistent grumbling of the children of Israel was like the irritation of a leaking tap. God  Himself referred to their grumbling as evil. And we can tell that His response not to destroy them straight away was in deference to Moses’ plea for them. One swift act from the LORD and they would have been annihilated in an instant. But in concession to Moses, God would delay that. Since they would rather die in the wilderness, God would grant them their wish. They would all die in the wilderness. Since they wanted to return to Egypt, instead of marching forward toward Canaan, God told Moses to take them by the route of the Red Sea.   

The whole congregation from twenty years and above, those whom Moses had numbered in the earlier census, would all die in the desert. God decided that only their children together with Caleb and Joshua, who acted differently from the other ten spies, would enjoy the liberty of the promised land. God was determined to grant the rest of the congregation their wish to die in the wilderness. He would allow them to take a forty-year journey round the wilderness, one year for every day which the spies had taken to scout the land. As for the ten in the scouting party whose report had negatively affected the people, verse 37 said they died instantly in a plague before the presence of the LORD.

The children of Israel had crossed the threshold of divine endurance. Just imagine the patience of the patient God being tried to an unbearable point. Their inpatient grumbling was a sign of unbelief. Here the lesson is: be careful of the spirit of unbelief that will cause one to test the patience of God. This is the point of the author of the letter to the Hebrews. In chapter 3 and verses 16-19, he recalled what the children of Israel did to God in the wilderness. Even though they heard His voice distinctly, yet they chose not to obey, provoking Him to anger. Such that the whole generation died in the wilderness without entering the promised land. So in Hebrews 3:12, he warned us saying, “Take care, brothers and sisters, that there will not be in any one of you an evil, unbelieving heart that falls away from the living God.” Unbelief always leads to disobedience, but faith and trust always result in obedience. Don’t let unbelief stifle our trust in God and forfeit our divine inheritance. It is not worth it!