Recent at Cornerstone we have been doing a series on the Book of Numbers, also known as the Book of Wanderings. One thing that really struck me is the tragic state of faithlessness within the nation of Israel, even after God so powerfully delivered them from Egypt and provided for their every need. This issue is brought into sharp focus in Chapter 13
Numbers 13:1-2, 30-33
1 The LORD now said to Moses, 2 “Send out men to explore the land of Canaan, the land I am giving to the Israelites. Send one leader from each of the twelve ancestral tribes.” … 30 But Caleb tried to quiet the people as they stood before Moses. “Let’s go at once to take the land,” he said. “We can certainly conquer it!” 31 But the other men who had explored the land with him disagreed. “We can’t go up against them! They are stronger than we are!” 32 So they spread this bad report about the land among the Israelites: “The land we traveled through and explored will devour anyone who goes to live there. All the people we saw were huge. 33 We even saw giants there, the descendants of Anak. Next to them we felt like grasshoppers, and that’s what they thought, too!”
Even after God declares that He is giving them the land, 10 out of the 12 spies decide that it’s a bad job and that they should disobey God. This lack of faith then permeates the whole nation and ultimately leads to them spending 40 years wandering in the wilderness until that whole generation of unbelievers dies off.
May this form a strong warning to us against unbelief and it’s damaging effects. Afterall, Hebrews 11:1 teaches us that faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we cannot see. Place that faith in Jesus and watch what He does in your life!