Trying Times (2)

Dearly beloved. I trust this finds you well and bubbling in the Lord. One of the things we need to be careful about all the time, and in trying times are the words of our mouth. The majority of people may say things carelessly or sincerely that are not life bringing for example, we will all die, I cannot get through this, etc. But as children of God we ought to remember that “Death and life are in the power of the tongue: and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof” (Proverbs 18:20, KJV). We see the example of the children of Israel, when ten of the spies brought a bad and discouraging report to them. They complained and grumbled saying it would have been better for them to have been left in Egypt? Ever wonder why they roamed for 40 years before? Read below the full account.

Numbers 14:26-33 (TLB) tells us that “Then the Lord said to Moses and to Aaron, “How long will this wicked nation complain about me? For I have heard all that they have been saying. Tell them, ‘The Lord vows to do to you what you feared: You will all die here in this wilderness! Not a single one of you twenty years old and older, who has complained against me, shall enter the Promised Land. Only Caleb (son of Jephunneh) and Joshua (son of Nun) are permitted to enter it. “‘You said your children would become slaves of the people of the land. Well, instead I will bring them safely into the land and they shall inherit what you have despised. But as for you, your dead bodies shall fall in this wilderness. You must wander in the desert like nomads for forty years. In this way you will pay for your faithlessness, until the last of you lies dead in the desert.”God said He had heard what they had been saying. Children of God, what have you been saying? We are light in this world and are cognizant of God’s ways of doing things. Keep your tongue. Watch what you say. Speak God’s Words to Him and words that bring life.

Prayer

Father, we thank You for Your Word. We thank You for the power of words to bring life. We pray that the words of our mouth and the meditation of our mouths would always be pleasing in your eyes in Jesus name, amen.

Supplementary Text

Numbers 13:25 – Numbers 24

²⁵ After forty days of exploration they returned from their tour. ²⁶ They made their report to Moses, Aaron, and all the people of Israel in the wilderness of Paran at Kadesh, and they showed the fruit they had brought with them. ²⁷ This was their report: “We arrived in the land you sent us to see, and it is indeed a magnificent country—a land ‘flowing with milk and honey.’ Here is some fruit we have brought as proof. ²⁸ But the people living there are powerful, and their cities are fortified and very large; and what’s more, we saw Anakim giants there! ²⁹ The Amalekites live in the south, while in the hill country there are the Hittites, Jebusites, and Amorites; down along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea and in the Jordan River Valley are the Canaanites.”

³⁰ But Caleb reassured the people as they stood before Moses. “Let us go up at once and possess it,” he said, “for we are well able to conquer it!” ³¹ “Not against people as strong as they are!” the other spies said. “They would crush us!” ³² So the majority report of the spies was negative: “The land is full of warriors, the people are powerfully built, ³³ and we saw some of the Anakim there, descendants of the ancient race of giants. We felt like grasshoppers before them, they were so tall!”

14 Then all the people began weeping aloud, and they carried on all night. ² Their voices rose in a great chorus of complaint against Moses and Aaron. “We wish we had died in Egypt,” they wailed, “or even here in the wilderness, ³ rather than be taken into this country ahead of us. Jehovah will kill us there, and our wives and little ones will become slaves. Let’s get out of here and return to Egypt!” ⁴ The idea swept the camp. “Let’s elect a leader to take us back to Egypt!” they shouted.

⁵ Then Moses and Aaron fell face downward on the ground before the people of Israel. ⁶ Two of the spies, Joshua (the son of Nun), and Caleb (the son of Jephunneh), ripped their clothing ⁷ and said to all the people, “It is a wonderful country ahead, ⁸ and the Lord loves us. He will bring us safely into the land and give it to us. It is very fertile, a land ‘flowing with milk and honey’! ⁹ Oh, do not rebel against the Lord, and do not fear the people of the land. For they are but bread for us to eat! The Lord is with us and he has removed his protection from them! Don’t be afraid of them!”

^10-11 But the only response of the people was to talk of stoning them. Then the glory of the Lord appeared, and the Lord said to Moses, “How long will these people despise me? Will they never believe me, even after all the miracles I have done among them? ¹² I will disinherit them and destroy them with a plague, and I will make you into a nation far greater and mightier than they are!” ¹³ “But what will the Egyptians think when they hear about it?” Moses pleaded with the Lord. “They know full well the power you displayed in rescuing your people. ¹⁴ They have told this to the inhabitants of this land, who are well aware that you are with Israel and that you talk with her face-to-face. They see the pillar of cloud and fire standing above us, and they know that you lead and protect us day and night. ¹⁵ Now if you kill all your people, the nations that have heard your fame will say, ¹⁶ ‘The Lord had to kill them because he wasn’t able to take care of them in the wilderness. He wasn’t strong enough to bring them into the land he swore he would give them.’

^17-18 “Oh, please, show the great power of your patience by forgiving our sins and showing us your steadfast love. Forgive us, even though you have said that you don’t let sin go unpunished, and that you punish the father’s fault in the children to the third and fourth generation. ¹⁹ Oh, I plead with you, pardon the sins of this people because of your magnificent, steadfast love, just as you have forgiven them all the time from when we left Egypt until now.”

^20-21 Then the Lord said, “All right, I will pardon them as you have requested. But I vow by my own name that just as it is true that all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord, ²² so it is true that not one of the men who has seen my glory and the miracles I did both in Egypt and in the wilderness—and ten times refused to trust me and obey me— ²³ shall even see the land I promised to this people’s ancestors. ²⁴ But my servant Caleb is a different kind of man—he has obeyed me fully. I will bring him into the land he entered as a spy, and his descendants shall have their full share in it. ²⁵ But now, since the people of Israel are so afraid of the Amalekites and the Canaanites living in the valleys, tomorrow you must turn back into the wilderness in the direction of the Red Sea.”

^26-27 Then the Lord said to Moses and to Aaron, “How long will this wicked nation complain about me? For I have heard all that they have been saying. ²⁸ Tell them, ‘The Lord vows to do to you what you feared: ²⁹ You will all die here in this wilderness! Not a single one of you twenty years old and older, who has complained against me, ³⁰ shall enter the Promised Land. Only Caleb (son of Jephunneh) and Joshua (son of Nun) are permitted to enter it.

³¹ “‘You said your children would become slaves of the people of the land. Well, instead I will bring them safely into the land and they shall inherit what you have despised. ³² But as for you, your dead bodies shall fall in this wilderness. ³³ You must wander in the desert like nomads for forty years. In this way you will pay for your faithlessness, until the last of you lies dead in the desert.

^34-35 “‘Since the spies were in the land for forty days, you must wander in the wilderness for forty years—a year for each day, bearing the burden of your sins. I will teach you what it means to reject me. I, Jehovah, have spoken. Every one of you who has conspired against me shall die here in this wilderness.’”

^36-38 Then the ten spies who had incited the rebellion against Jehovah by striking fear into the hearts of the people were struck dead before the Lord. Of all the spies, only Joshua and Caleb remained alive. ³⁹ What sorrow there was throughout the camp when Moses reported God’s words to the people!

⁴⁰ They were up early the next morning and started toward the Promised Land. “Here we are!” they said. “We realize that we have sinned, but now we are ready to go on into the land the Lord has promised us.” ⁴¹ But Moses said, “It’s too late. Now you are disobeying the Lord’s orders to return to the wilderness. ⁴² Don’t go ahead with your plan or you will be crushed by your enemies, for the Lord is not with you. ⁴³ Don’t you remember? The Amalekites and the Canaanites are there! You have deserted the Lord, and now he will desert you.” ⁴⁴ But they went ahead into the hill country, despite the fact that neither the Ark nor Moses left the camp. ⁴⁵ Then the Amalekites and the Canaanites who lived in the hills came down and attacked them and chased them to Hormah.”