AS YOU HAVE SPOKEN

 Numbers 14:28

"‘As I live,’ says the Lord, ‘just as you have spoken in My hearing, so I will do to you:.."

Imagine if the breadth of your faith determined the thoroughness of your blessing. Now accept that that is your reality. In Numbers 14, God doles out two different realities to two different camps of people. They are each about to receive precisely what they believe. Camp one believes that God is an incapable leader, the believe that they would be better without Him. Their beliefs express that they wish to be free of Him. God grants their wish. The other camp believes that God is a capable leader, they believe that will be better with Him. Their beliefs express that they wish Him to remain with them. God grants their wish.

God had just instructed Moses to send men from each tribe to scout the promised land. They were freed from slavery in Egypt, in the midst of the wilderness, and the promised land was on the horizon. They had only to survey it. The report was good! The land God had promised was indeed fruitful. God's promises always are fruitful. But as each set of eyes surveyed the land, they believed different things about it. Yes it was fertile, productive land. They all believed that. 

But most of them saw a land unattainable, a promise sure to be broken. Camp one was faithfully-unable to see how the land could ever possibly be attained. They looked and saw that current habitants were large and strong and well settled. Able to fight and defend and repel.

But two sets of eyes looked at the land and beheld the glory of God. They looked and saw that their God was large and strong and well settled. Able to fight and defend and repel. The inhabitants of the land God promised them were corrupt. Their behavior had already lost them the land. God had already decided that, and therefore He brought the land's new inhabitants to its doorstep.

Not for thy righteousness, or for the uprightness of thine heart, dost thou go to possess their land: but for the wickedness of these nations the Lord thy God doth drive them out from before thee, and that he may perform the word which the Lord sware unto thy fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Deuteronomy 9:5

God takes a lot of flak, a lot of strong criticism, for His actions in the Old Testament. He is labeled as strict and even harsh. But honestly consider Numbers 14. God had done so much for the people at this point! They rejected him. They walked away from Him. He had already displayed ample evidence of His might, His ability, His love for them. Rescue from Egypt, the parted sea! Manna from Heaven, grown on the dew of the morning! Water from the rock, in the midst of a desert! And He heard them. They cried to Him from Egypt and He arrived (Exodus 3:7).  And yet, they had no faith. They were intimated so by the people of the land that they wished to die in the wilderness rather than face them. So, God granted their wish.

You must remember that God showed abundant patience and mercy with them before this. They disbelieved and complained throughout the journey. The questioned His ability to feed them, to quench their thirst. They then complained about the lack of variety in their diet... when before they had been slaves! Parents of infants the pharaoh of Egypt decreed to be killed at birth! Laborers in the hot sun without reprieve or basic human rights. God rescued them, and then they abandoned Him, built idols and worshipped them. They had more faith in lifeless figures than they did in the God who had given them life.

And though God graciously retained responsibility for their posterity, they allowed them their wish: to die in the wilderness. He paused His plan to give them precisely what they wanted. Does that seem harsh to you? Petty? It was neither. It was necessary. For two reasons. One, God does not force us to trust Him. We have free will and God allows us to wield it. We are allowed to go against His better judgement. Two, in their hearts, they did not trust Him and they would not walk into that land. We must walk into the places of God's plan because He is not stagnant. God is moving, and those who are with Him are moving, are walking with Him,...

"against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places." (Ephesians 6:12) 

Yes, those who are with God are walking with Him toward a river, a...

"pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding from the throne of God and of the Lamb. In the middle of its street, and on either side of the river, was the tree of life, which bore twelve fruits, each tree yielding its fruit every month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.  And there shall be no more curse, but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it, and His servants shall serve Him. They shall see His face, and His name shall be on their foreheads. There shall be no night there: They need no lamp nor light of the sun, for the Lord God gives them light. And they shall reign forever and ever." (Revelation 22:1-5)

God is the God of a kingdom. A kingdom which can only be reached by faith, by walking in faith, not by sight. It is simple. It is not a harsh or strict punishment. If someone is unwilling to walk in faith, they are unable to step into the kingdom. Because they would not move! How would any of the disciples become apostles if they had not moved? If they had not physically walked through life endeavoring to emulate Jesus, to spread God's word? How would they have generated the Christian body if they had not trusted God when He told them to walk into situations that would land them in prison or stoned to death by a mob? 

We have to believe God; we have to walk in faith, not sight (2 Corinthians 5:7) because often, when we survey the land, it will look impossible. We have to know God and trust God because if we do not, we will not understand that what is impossible for man is possible for God (Luke18:27). We must faithfully trust, as the apostle Paul trusted, that what happens to us is for the furtherance of the gospel (Philippians 1:12)! For a God who is moving, making waves, making ripples, a current through the waters, through the peoples.

Indeed, those unbelievers were allowed their unbelief because it was their right, and because if the furtherance of the gospel had been dependent on their faithless feet, it would not have moved. It would have withered and died in that wilderness and you and I would be a desolate people. Without purpose. Without plan. Without the character and commandments of God who perfects, establishes, strengthens and settles us (1 Peter 5:10). We would be without His love, which sustains us. We would be without His light, which guides us. We would be here one minute and gone the next, without the gloriously leap into eternity.

And so I encourage each of us to consider what we have spoken... with our lips and with our behavior. Is what we say done in faith? Is what we do done in faith? It's easy to be discouraged, and it is not a sin. God offers His whole self, faith is a full toolbox of the implements we need to overcome discouragement, sorrow, fear and any other emotion you cannot endure by yourself. What matters is that when we survey the land, our life, we believe that our God is stronger, smarter, and more able than whatever barrier exist between us and it. Because there will always be a barrier, that's easy enough to believe... but also, there will always be God. And He will always be God: able and willing. We require great faith to believe that.

THE LORD'S REPUTATION

COLOSSIANS 3:23
"And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men;..." 

If we are to be faithful, dutiful children of God, we must put His opinion before any other. It is His favor that we must seek. Honestly, that will sometimes put us in peculiar positions. It will often mean that we must go against-the-grain in order to do, say or be the thing that God would want us to be. It is not usually easy to be different; it requires courage. But God calls us to be holy, separate, for a purpose.

Living, speaking, and thinking in a holy, wholly separate manner than the rest of the world is the testimony of God that comes from our life rather than our lips. We either draw them toward the faith or push them away from it. It really matters to God whether people are drawn in or pushed away. God goes after the one lost sheep (15:4-6); the whole of heaven rejoices at one saved soul (Luke 15:7).

With all of that in mind, let's look at Numbers 13-14.

God has rescued His people. He has freed them from Egypt. He leads them through the wilderness, a cloud in the day and a fire in the night. He provides for them, sustenance and promises for the near and distant future. But by many, God's provisions are disregarded, and His promises are dismissed. They tire of his miracle-food, manna. They lament for their past life, lived in slavery, because they were able to eat meat. And then they complain about the attainability of the promised land.

In Genesis 17, God promised a land of milk and honey to Abraham's posterity. In Numbers 13-14 we are with them, right there, about to inherit it. And yet... they do not believe it can, or will happen. God instructs Moses to send a man from each tribe to scout the land. They return with their report: 10/12 report that the land is perfect! ... but out of their reach. But 2/10, Joshua and Caleb, report that the cause is not lost.

The irony is that the 10/12 were right, it was out of their reach. But Joshua and Caleb showed wisdom in faith and presented the actual truth. As Numbers 11:23 states, had the Lord's arm been shortened? The land was out of their reach, but it was perfectly within God's reach.

The majority were unconvinced, and it hurt, frustrated God. The very people He loved and rescued and led had only disdain for Him when He excitedly unveiled this years-long promise to them. They rejected Him, and God had it in mind to start with a new people. After all, God does not force us to love Him. The people rejected Him; He was free to move on, perhaps to find a people who would accept Him. And He contemplated doing so. But Moses stopped God from moving on; Moses reminded God of His reputation.

And now, I pray, let the power of my Lord be great, just as You have spoken, saying, ‘The Lord is longsuffering and abundant in mercy, forgiving iniquity and transgression;...’ Pardon the iniquity of this people, I pray, according to the greatness of Your mercy, just as You have forgiven this people, from Egypt even until now.” Numbers 14:17-19

So, God pardoned the people and remained with them. Think back to the beginning of this sermon; we talked about how scripture repeatedly tells us to put God's opinion of us above men. So why would God be concerned about His reputation with men?

Because He loves us.

God is confident in His character, His power, His plan. Our opinion of Him does not provide validation, because He does not need it. So what if the Egyptians see God scrap this batch and start fresh? He is omnipotent; omnipresent; they are mere men; their life is a tiny fraction of God's eternal life and then they are dust. God is not concerned about His reputation for His sake... He's concerned about it for theirs, for ours.

God is convinced by Moses to buckle down, to grin and bear the petulance of the people in order to steadfastly present to them the character of their/our God. God will remind us of Who-He-Is in effort to reinforce our faith over and over and over again because He loves us. Because our opinion of Him can save our lives, save our souls. God repeatedly presents His patience, mercy, and forgiveness until we get it through our thick skulls and become brave-in-faith enough to enter the promised land with humble gratitude rather than complaint.

So consider right now which camp you are in, in your life, in the situation you are living right now. Do you trust God? Can you endure your current wilderness, your difficult journey, because you trust God to sustain your body and spirit? Can you keep walking toward His promises in humble gratitude?

Or do you distrust Him? Are you filled with complaints? Do you lack the bravery-in-faith to keep going? Do you, like the 10/12, see the future and it looks bleak? Happiness unattainable? God has endured generations and generations of humanity's unjust behavior toward Him just so that you can see that He is dependable. He has fulfilled every promise, every part of His plan. And His plan includes you. It is truly a waste to be in the majority camp, the camp that does not realize the Lord's arm is long. You and all that you need is within His reach.