A Lesson from Numbers about Self-Will

Today is Mother's Day, so first of all I would like to wish ALL mothers who read this blog a wonderful day of joy and thanksgiving! It would have been easy to choose a typical 'motherhood topic' for today's entry, but somehow I felt led instead to highlight the sin of self-will that so easily besets us - children as well as mothers. And often it's not even big things, but so many 'little' things in everyday situations. So please forgive me for this sombre topic!

Our little lession today comes from the book of Numbers. But BEFORE you read any further, please open your Bible to the book of Numbers and ponder chapters 12 to 14 (it won't take long but is too voluminous to print here in this blog :-)

In this portion of Scripture we read of a nation that spent forty years in the wilderness, serving time for their sin. Their circumstances were tragic and we may wonder how they could have done what they did. My circumstances are certainly different. I know that I am safe in Christ, and that positionally I am seated with Him in heavenly places. But each time I read the story of Israel’s self-will, it speaks to me anew and convicts me in so many ways…

God had done so much for His people, the nation of Israel, and still they complained and rebelled against Him. He had shown His strength through miraculous interventions. He had even produced ten plagues that proved His sovereignty over the gods of Egypt all the while keeping His own people safe. And then He had instituted the Passover for Israel, where the blood of lambs on the doorposts had saved the lives of their firstborn sons while those of the Egyptians had died.

But even though Israel had witnessed God’s power, they still did not trust Him as He lead them away from captivity. As soon as they noticed Pharaoh’s army pursuing them, they became afraid and started to murmur against Moses (and therefore against God). They complained that Moses should have left them in Egypt instead of letting them perish in the desert without a legacy of burial sites… Nevertheless, God was gracious and rescued them through a miracle. The Red Sea opened up for them, and after they had crossed it on dry ground, the Egyptians were drowned as they followed.

Then the people praised God. During their journey through the wilderness in order to reach the Promised Land, God preserved them from hunger, thirst and chaos. He even instructed them to make a special tent in which He would dwell with them personally. But after God had called Moses to the top of Mt. Sinai to give him the Ten Commandments, another crisis developed and showed their lack of real faith.

Moses’ absence took longer than the people had expected, and God’s providence was quickly forgotten. Israel did not expect Moses to return, so they persuaded their high priest Aaron to make them a golden calf. When it was finished, they worshipped the statue instead of God for bringing them out of Egypt. Consequently, God’s became very angry with them and intended to destroy the whole nation. Instead of persisting with these rebellious people, He would make a new nation from Moses. But Moses pleaded with God, and God relented. All those who openly declared their allegiance to Him before Moses were spared.

Finally, the nation arrived at the border to the Promised Land. God told Moses to choose twelve men to spy out the land. This he did, and Joshua left with Caleb and other tribal representatives to explore the land. But what they saw tested their faith. Returning after forty days they reported that Canaan was truly a land flowing with milk and honey. Food was plentiful and grapes were huge, but so were the giants they had encountered on their journey.

All but two of the spies were afraid and said, “There we saw the giants (the descendants of Anak came from the giants); and we were like grasshoppers in our own sight, and so we were in their sight.” (Numbers 13:33). Only Joshua and Caleb trusted God. They told the Israelites, “If the LORD delights in us, then He will bring us into this land and give it to us…Only do not rebel against the LORD, nor fear the people of the land, for they are our bread; their protection has departed from them, and the LORD is with us. Do not fear them.” (Numbers 14:8,9). But the congregation turned on them and wanted to stone them!

So once again God grew very angry: “How long will these people reject Me? And how long will they not believe Me, with all the signs which I have performed among them?” (Numbers 14:11). This was the second time He had in mind to eradicate them. He would strike them with pestilence and disinherit them, and then make a mightier nation of Moses instead. But Moses was a humble man. In fact, the Bible says that he was the most humble man that ever lived (Numbers 12:3). A less humble person may have rejoiced at the prospect of becoming head of a nation, but Moses had compassion for his people and focused on God’s glory rather than his own. He interceded for Israel and pointed out that their annihilation would damage God’s reputation among heathen nations.

As a result God modified his punishment. He vowed that those people who had seen the signs He had performed in Egypt and in the wilderness, and who had nonetheless disobeyed and put Him to the test ten times (!) since then, would not inherit the Land He had promised their fathers. None of those who rejected Him would ever see it. But their children, whom they had used as an excuse for not attacking when God had told them to do so, those children would enter the land. And so would Caleb and Joshua who had trusted God.

The eleven spies, whose lack of faith had invoked the national rebellion, were punished by God immediately. They were struck by the plague and died. The rest of the nation would bear their guilt in the wilderness, where they would spend one year for each day their representatives had spied out the land, i.e. forty years. They would experience God’s rejection and die in the desert, never entering the Promised Land. What an awful plight – and all of it due to SELF-WILL.

And here's a valid thought: how much is spoiled in our lives because of OUR self-will?

Happy Mother's Day and much Christinan love in the name of our Lord who is the giver of our bundles of joy and the awesome privilege (and responsibility) of motherhood.

Margaret