Your Promise (The Word) (3)
BIBLE READING: HABAKKUK 2:3; NUMBERS 13,14
Last week I took time to explain that GOD AND HIS WORD ARE ONE, so His Word can never fail. The truth is, if we say we believe God and we do not believe His Word, we are lying to ourselves. If we say we believe God and are disobedient to the Word, we are also lying to ourselves. I mentioned last week that when we sin, we are living a lie, because what we are doing is in direct contrast to what the Word of God says. We reject God when we disobey Him. Every time we doubt God’s Word, we are responding positively to the devil’s question like Eve did when the serpent used those famous words “Did God really say….” (Quoting from Genesis 3:1 NLT). Her positive response to the serpent caused her and her husband to be banished from the Garden of Eden and introduced sin into the world. This is how dangerous doubt can be and why God hates it with a passion. Whenever we doubt the Word of God we allow the enemy manipulate us and we become more vulnerable to attacks, which may eventually lead us away from God, may that never be our portion in the mighty name of Jesus Christ Amen.
As I continued to meditate on this subject last week, I was reminded of the story of the twelve Scouts in the Book of Numbers. God told Moses to send out twelve men, each a leader representing the twelve tribes of Israel to go and explore the land of Canaan, which He was going to give to the Israelites. Remember God said He would give them the land and so the Scouts went out and came back with their report. All of them agreed the land was a very good land, fruitful, flowing with milk and honey. They all agreed the people there were powerful and their towns were large and fortified but they disagreed on one major thing, THE WORD GOD HAD GIVEN THEM.
While ten of the Scouts believed the Word of God (“Send out men to explore the land of Canaan, the land I am giving to the Israelites” Numbers 13:2a NLT)was a lie, two of the Scouts Caleb and Joshua believed the Word of God. The ten unbelieving Scouts managed to sow doubt and fear in the minds of the Israelites. After all the miracles they had seen God perform (the plague in Egypt, the cloud leading them by day and pillar of fire by night, the crossing of the Red Sea, feeding them with manna and Quail, keeping them from harm, bringing water from the rock, just to name a few) in the wilderness, they still believed in what their physical eyes could see and allowed fear take over. They saw the powerful men and instantly forgot the Most Powerful God with them and began to turn the Israelites against God. They did not believe God could give them the land, simply put they did not believe God’s Word. The Israelites began to grumble against God, asking why He took them out of Egypt only for them to die in the wilderness. They went as far as plotting to get a new leader who would lead them back to Egypt all because they did not believe the Word God had given them. Every time we doubt God’s Word this is how vulnerable we become and the enemy takes advantage and begins to convince us to come back to him (Egypt, our former life of compromise and lies). Moses, Aaron, Joshua and Caleb believed the Word of God and began to beg them not to sin against God by not believing His Promise (Word). I particularly liked what they said in Numbers 14:8 “And if the Lord is pleased with us, He will bring us safely into that land and GIVE it to us. It is a rich land flowing with milk and honey”I like this verse for two reasons first it confirms one of my very favourite Scriptures Proverbs 16:7 (AMPC) “When a man’s ways please the Lord, He makes even his enemies to be at peace with him.”It does not say I will not have enemies when God is pleased with me, it says I will have enemies, but their plans for me will not succeed. For me to call someone an enemy, it must be because they have tried to attack me, so they will try but God will make sure, they regret trying so much so, they will want to make peace with me. The second reason I love Numbers 14:8 is, it confirms there is nothing God impossible for me to get once God has said it is mine, because He is the One who will GIVE it to me. I don’t have to do anything, all I have to do is make sure He is pleased (that means I cannot doubt His Word) with me and He will give me all He has promised me.
The doubt the ten Scouts planted, made the Israelites rebel against God and brought a heavy punishment on the Israelites. This is what happens if doubt and fear are not checked. The devil using our senses (what we can see, hear, smell and feel), plants doubt in the Word God, he makes us believe the Word is a lie which invariable means we are indirectly calling God a liar, since the Bible says “The Word is God” (John 1:1b).The Israelites got punished for their rebellion. Everyone except Joshua, Caleb and those who were 19 years old and younger, died in the wilderness, they never saw the Promised Land. The Scouts explored the Promised Land for forty days, so for the punishment of their sin, God made them wander in the wilderness for forty years, a year for everyday, so they would discover what it felt like to be an enemy of God. All this happened because they disbelieved the Word of God.
The Word of God should never be doubted, make a commitment today to hold on to the Word no matter what you are facing.
UNDER GRACE UNDER MERCY