Psalm 106:24-25

Psalm 106:24-25

They did not believe His promise

The Promised Land has been reached! The people are camping on the southern edge of the land, somewhere near the Dead Sea in what was called the Desert of Paran. A few miles to the north lies the ultimate destination, the goal of their travelling, the place that has been promised by the Lord. 

Moses picked twelve good men and true, all of them leaders of the people, and he sent them to explore the land of Canaan. When these spies returned their report was mixed; Canaan flowed with milk and honey and they brought back a branch with grapes and some pomegranate and figs to prove their point. However, the people living in Canaan were powerful, some were even giants, and the cities were fortified and very large. Two men, Caleb and Joshua, said that it was possible to take the land but the other ten were terrified, “We can’t attack those people; they are stronger than we are. All the people we saw there are of great size …. We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked like that to them!” Read Numbers 13.  

The negative reports caused the Israelites to weep aloud and to grumble against Moses and Aaron, “If only we had died in Egypt! Or in the wilderness! Why is the Lord bringing us to this land only to let us fall by the sword? Our wives and children will be taken as plunder. Wouldn’t it be better for us to go back to Egypt?”

How easy it is to read situations through our human eyes and understanding, to see only the difficulties and not the potential. How easy it is to make judgements based on human capabilities and experience when the Lord God asks us to look away from ourselves and to Him. That’s the problem with chasing after false gods and idols, they are powerless when compared with YAHWEH. Because they are limited, our beliefs are also limited. Those who look to the Most High are able to dream of the impossible. All God asked was for a group of people to believe in Him and then anything was achievable. Nothing has changed! 

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