It’s funny to write this second piece now, when I wrote the first piece on Numbers 14 before so many monumental events took place. Well, monumental isn’t really the right word, but before so many EMOTIONAL events took place. I’ve seen people I like and respect fall into a pit of despair, then soar to heights of joy, and then fall back down to despair. Focus on the eternal, and the small stuff falls into place. I promise.
So the crowd in the tent had wanted to elect a leader that would take them down to Egypt, into the sway of their demons. Moses and Aaron did try to stop them, and they were going to be stoned to death for it. Then Yaweh himself appears in the tent and mic drops. Now we are all caught up. You really should just go read the chapter, because there is a lot left and I’m going to summarize so I can make my point.
When the crowd wants to kill Moses and Aaron, God’s solution is to kill them all with a plague and make a new nation starting with Moses. Yup. He wanted to wipe the slate clean again. Did you ever heard that in Sunday school? Cause I didn’t.
Moses then speaks with the Lord and says “You saved us to show the Egyptians your power, and it’s working. They know you are here, and if you kill all these people they will slander you” Moses asks God to forgive them, just as he had forgiven them from Egypt till now. God agrees and forgives them.
Ok. Stop there and focus for a second. God was so angry he was going to wipe out Israel (again). He then hears our pleas, and forgives us. What does he do then?
Numbers 14:27-29 ““How long will this wicked community grumble against me? I have heard the complaints of these grumbling Israelites. 28 So tell them, ‘As surely as I live, declares the Lord, I will do to you the very thing I heard you say: 29 In this wilderness your bodies will fall—every one of you twenty years old or more who was counted in the census and who has grumbled against me.
He forgives the nation of Israel and spares them. Then he punishes them by giving them exactly what they accused God of. They were grumbling in the woods that God was leading them in endless circles and that they would die before the saw the promised land.
The Lord directs them back towards the Sea of Reeds (which means the chose to walk back towards Death by the way), but some of the people insist on pushing on towards the high ground they had been promised. However, since the Amelekites and the Caananites were living there, and God had removed his protection, they were soundly beaten in battle.
There were only two exceptions to this edict. Joshusa and Caleb were serving the Lord with their whole heart, and they were allowed to pass through to Israel. They (and their families) were allowed to see the Promised Land and not die in the Wilderness. Men, you are the head of your household, your conduct dictates how the Lord sees your family, but that’s a side note right now.
I just covered a LOT of chapter in plain language, go read it like 4 times till it really sinks in. First off, the love and forgiveness of God really is amazing. No matter how much time we spend reviling him, cursing him, or complaining about his bounty, he still forgives us. He still loved the people of Israel here. However, he knew that by allowing the spoiled grumblers into the promised land there would be only one result. The land of Israel would be infested with demon shrines in no time flat. The people were expressing over and over that they wanted back into the worship of demons DESPITE THE PHYSICAL PRESENCE OF GOD WITH THEM. God, in his infinite mercy and wisdom knew this would ensure nothing but suffering for his people. So like a stern father, he knew the best way to teach them a lesson was to give them exactly what they accused him of.
Why is this important now?
In my mind, millions of people that I would call my brothers in faith seem to be marching in the same pattern over and over. I see them acting as if they want to be able to solve the ills of the world all on their own without God’s help. They want to be able to vote, protest, storm the Bastille, go off grid in the woods or whatever particular thing they think will solve the day. Yet THEY want to do it. It’s some particularly modern American heresy to look out at this great land our prayerful ancestors were gifted from the demons and think we did it on our own. We idolize the “sweat of his brow” hard working man, but that man never kneels and prays for deliverance. He stands up to the slings and arrows of the world on HIS OWN.
Contrast that image of a hero with the image of David. David slew the Giant Goliath with a stone and a sling. Giant isn’t a metaphor here, Goliath was a huge and powerful Daemonkin. There is zero chance that David wins in a fight. David didn’t win in the fight, God did.
David didn’t win because he was powerful. He didn’t win because the people woke up and rose with him. He didn’t “get lucky” and have that one in a million lucky shot with his stone. He won because he was a vessel for God’s will and God delivered the giant for his people.
So how do we close the loop on that? So many of God’s people are grumbling in the tent again, and have been for decades. They accuse God of being silent, of abandoning us to the evils of this world. What if God IS silent, and has abandoned us to the evils of this world, because that’s what we kept grumbling about? The solution isn’t to double down and try to stand even taller without Him. Be Moses and Aaron and beg the Lord for his forgiveness.
Your cabin in the woods isn’t the answer. Your march in the park isn’t the answer. Your 5000 rounds of FMJ isn’t the answer. Humbling yourself in front of the Lord is the answer. Make public, unashamed, unabashed, loud, humble, vociferous prayer common again. Bring the light of God back into these unhallowed places and purify them with his presence. Then the world changes.
How do I know?
Because in this chapter, I’m Caleb and Joshua. I know, from personal experience, that God got a heck of a lot more present in my life when I quit grumbling about him and fell on my face in adoration and worship. All of these things that are whipping you into a frenzy barely show up in my life. I picked up my cross and followed the Lord, and lo and behold, he’s always been there. His love and faithfulness never falters, you just have to be humble enough to hear it.
None of this is because of me. This has all happened to me IN THE LAST YEAR. I was humbled and laid low in 2020. I was in a bad place for a while because I couldn’t figure it out. I spent too long obsessing over the miasma of this world and I was trying to fix it MYSELF. Yet the moment I laid back and surrendered to the Lord, I won. I’m a better man and husband for doing so, and it’s because of God. God shaped me into this.
I say in closing my brothers and sisters. I know not what hour we live in. Whether this is the final hour of the Dragon on earth, or whether this is the first 10 minutes of 1000 years of God. All I know is, there is still time to humble yourself and seek him. There is still time to beg for his forgiveness. Bring him into your life, into your home, into your towns and cities today. Nothing dark can stand against his light, but you have to seek it, and carry it. Do it now, and change the world.
God bless you all today brothers and sisters. I’ve read the end of the book. God wins.