Numbers 14:40-4540And they rose up early in the morning, and gat them up into the top of the mountain, saying, Lo, we be here, and will go up unto the place which the Lord hath promised: for we have sinned. 41And Moses said, Wherefore now do ye transgress the commandment of the Lord? but it shall not prosper. 42Go not up, for the Lord is not among you; that ye be not smitten before your enemies. 43For the Amalekites and the Canaanites are there before you, and ye shall fall by the sword: because ye are turned away from the Lord, therefore the Lord will not be with you. 44But they presumed to go up unto the hill top: nevertheless the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and Moses, departed not out of the camp. 45Then the Amalekites came down, and the Canaanites which dwelt in that hill, and smote them, and discomfited them, even unto Hormah. (Numbers 14:40‑45)
THE FORTY years wanderings in the wilderness had been announced by God Himself — a year for each day the spies had spent searching out the land. Then the people would be reminded all that time of the evil report those men had brought and that they themselves had despised the pleasant land God had so graciously given them.
However, these were not to be fruitless years to faith. None of the Lord’s ways with us are fruitless where there is the faith to trust Him. Our waywardness and disobedience bring down His chastening hand; but He makes all things work together for good to those that love Him and are called according to His purpose (Rom. 8:2828And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. (Romans 8:28)). He does not willingly afflict and even pain and sorrow bring their profit and reward.
The ten faithless spies who brought the evil report died from the plague before the Lord. When the people heard they were to turn back into the wilderness again, “they mourned greatly.” And now they would change their mind and would seek to escape the government of God. They say, “Lo, we be here, and will go up unto the place which the Lord hath promised: for we have sinned.”
We can see here how that the natural heart cannot submit to the will of God. Only by grace can we walk the path of obedience to Him. Such is the ruin wrought by sin in man’s shameful fall.
The people had refused to go up and take possession of the land at the first command of God, and now the rebelliousness of their nature appears in their refusal to turn again to the wilderness. Moses warned them against transgressing against God, and told them they would not prosper. “But they presumed to go up unto the hilltop: nevertheless the ark of the covenant of the LORD, and Moses, darted not out of the camp.” There was no movement of the cloud nor blowing of the trumpet for war heard on this occasion. They went up without God and their presumption ended only in shame and disaster. The Amalekites and the Canaanites came down and smote them and chased them all the way to Hormah.
In their presumption these men pleaded the promise of God as a sanction for their act; they said, We will go up unto the place “which the Lord hath promised.” How often do men, and sad to say even Christians, have their minds made up to take a certain course and plead the word of God as a sanction for their disobedience and self-will. Let us pray that the Lord might deliver us from undertaking anything without God or that would not be according to His blessed will.
There are times, dear young Christian, when we need to cry to the Lord to help us against ourselves — to deliver us from the pride and rebellion of our hearts; for it is only through Him that we can get the victory over our enemies — the world, the flesh and Satan. We need to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, “Without Me, ye can do nothing” (John 15:55I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing. (John 15:5)). Otherwise we are just as helpless as Israel. On the other hand when in the path of humble submission and obedience to the Lord faith can say, “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth Me.” Phil. 4:1313I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me. (Philippians 4:13).
ML-10/14/1973