Dependence Over Disobedience
Numbers 14:40–42
"Early the next morning they set out for the highest point in the hill country, saying, “Now we are ready to go up to the land the LORD promised. Surely we have sinned!” But Moses said, “Why are you disobeying the LORD’s command? This will not succeed! Do not go up, because the LORD is not with you. You will be defeated by your enemies…"
Two wrongs don't make a right. Here we see disobedience spiraling downward and ends in the demise of some of the Israelites. Without God we simply cannot go and expect to succeed in His promises. This was a wild gamble without upside, it was suicide. What kind of obstinacy is this we might ask, this is precisely how we do as well at times, we do not seek God's presence and timing on things and we sometimes force our way through the things we desire, even sinful ones, such is the nature of sin in our lives that the apostle Paul makes clear in Romans 7:15-25 part of which he observes, "but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me (Rom 7:25)." Matthew Henry takes this episode with a thought: The way to obtain peace with our friends, and success against our enemies, is, to have God, as our Friend, and to keep in His love. Let us take warning from the fate of Israel, lest we perish after the same example of unbelief. Let us go forth, depending on God's mercy, power, promise, and truth; he will be with us, and bring our souls to everlasting rest. So, Our Lord said, "I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing (John 15:5)." Like St Paul we can exclaim, "what a wretched person I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death?" and yet we continue as he does, "thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord (Rom 7:24–25)!" And when we trust in God more than ourselves and others, He tells us we can do so much more: "Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in Me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father (John 14:12)."
"Early the next morning they set out for the highest point in the hill country, saying, “Now we are ready to go up to the land the LORD promised. Surely we have sinned!” But Moses said, “Why are you disobeying the LORD’s command? This will not succeed! Do not go up, because the LORD is not with you. You will be defeated by your enemies…"
Two wrongs don't make a right. Here we see disobedience spiraling downward and ends in the demise of some of the Israelites. Without God we simply cannot go and expect to succeed in His promises. This was a wild gamble without upside, it was suicide. What kind of obstinacy is this we might ask, this is precisely how we do as well at times, we do not seek God's presence and timing on things and we sometimes force our way through the things we desire, even sinful ones, such is the nature of sin in our lives that the apostle Paul makes clear in Romans 7:15-25 part of which he observes, "but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me (Rom 7:25)." Matthew Henry takes this episode with a thought: The way to obtain peace with our friends, and success against our enemies, is, to have God, as our Friend, and to keep in His love. Let us take warning from the fate of Israel, lest we perish after the same example of unbelief. Let us go forth, depending on God's mercy, power, promise, and truth; he will be with us, and bring our souls to everlasting rest. So, Our Lord said, "I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing (John 15:5)." Like St Paul we can exclaim, "what a wretched person I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death?" and yet we continue as he does, "thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord (Rom 7:24–25)!" And when we trust in God more than ourselves and others, He tells us we can do so much more: "Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in Me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father (John 14:12)."
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