“Then all of you approached me and said, ‘Let us send men
before us, that they may search out the land for us ..... The thing
pleased me and I took twelve of your men, one man for each tribe.” (Deuteronomy 1:22 NASB).
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| The giants were this big! |
The Lord had
just spoken to Israel to go in and take their inheritance. Unfortunately, we see no direction by the
Lord to send spies into the land. When
we add to the words or the plans of the Lord the results are never good.
It appears in Numbers
13: 1-2 that God did tell Moses to send out the spies, but in our above
mentioned scriptural reference it is clear the suggestion first came from the
people and not God. The Lord often allows
us to follow our own ways. Moses gave
them the God’s word (Duet
1:21-22) but the people wanted just a little more than God gave them. They thought they would make their own plans
because they didn’t trust God’s. It is
never wise to try and out-think God.
Before we put all the blame on the people we should take note of telling
little excerpt from Moses in v. 23, “The thing pleased me.” As a leader, it is generally good to be
inclusive of those you lead in making leadership decisions, but never when the
Lord has already spoken. Moses did not
follow his own instructions.
And we know the
rest of the story. The intelligence
gathered by the spies led to unbelief and disobedience. The ensuing result was that all Israel save
two men never had their feet touch the good soil of Canaan. The choices of man do make a
difference. They never negate the
redemptive plan of the Lord, but they do usher in a new set of characters to
enact the story. We should take note of the warning in the Book
of Revelation, neither add to nor take away from His Word.
Image used with permission by Microsoft.
Ken
Barnes, the author of “The Chicken Farm and Other Sacred Places”
YWAM Publishing
Email: kenbarnes737@gmail.com
website: https://sites.google.com/site/kenbarnesbooksite/
Email: kenbarnes737@gmail.com
website: https://sites.google.com/site/kenbarnesbooksite/
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