Numbers 14:9-10

Joshua and Caleb were here trying to turn their attention to the right things, to turn their assumptions on their head.

"These guys are saying good things. We've got to stone them because we want to feel bad. We want to complain, because it didn't work out exactly like we thought it would."

It is getting pretty bad. God was just about ready to wipe them off the face of the earth. And He would have, except Moses interceded for the people; so He did not kill them.

Their murmuring was rebellion, and the penalty was that they were going to fulfill their own prophecy. They were going to die in the wilderness. And their bones were strewn from one end of it to the other for forty years, because they complained.

Is it not true that even the most uncomplaining among us will complain, at times, about leadership? That is really what the crux of the situation was here. They were not happy with the way God was leading them through Moses and Aaron. It says that very clearly in verse 2. They were murmuring against Moses and Aaron. And if you murmur against His servants, you are murmuring against God! If those servants are generally the righteous kind, they generally do what is good. They generally follow God's commands. And they are trying their best to lead the people in a way that would please God. Then God takes it personally when a servant is attacked.

I think many of us think that we can lead better than our leader. And, you know what, that might be true, because sometimes God picks for leaders those who are not the best suited for it. They have to develop their leadership abilities over time. And they too have things to overcome. Sometimes they slip. But if they are chosen of God, you have to think of Romans 8:28—All things work together for good to those who love God and to those who are the called.

If we believe in God's sovereignty, we have to understand that—if God chose that leader—it was for a reason. And we have to make sure that we learn how to submit and follow that leader without complaining. We do not have to agree, all the time. But we do have to learn to submit without complaining.

Like I said, in this particular case the people murmured at Moses and Aaron, who were generally righteous men. Both of them sinned publicly a time or so. Aaron grievously sinned there at the foot of Mt. Sinai. He allowed the people to talk him into building a golden calf. Blatant idolatry! Aaron was specifically responsible for that. But, you know what? God still honored him as high priest. Could you imagine that?

Could you imagine someone of the stature of, let us say, Herbert Armstrong—leading a Lutheran service? And then God honoring him and still working through him as the leader of His true church? It is hard to imagine, is it not? That never happened, of course. But the point is that, the way God looks at it, there should not have been any complaints. God was working with that man and He would straighten him out. And He did!

You know what? Later on, Aaron himself rebelled against Moses—with Miriam, their sister. And it was for that second time that God told him that he would not enter the Promised Land. And then Moses himself rebelled when he struck the rock. In front of all Israel, he sinned—disobeyed God. He got angry and struck the rock, when God told him just to speak to it. And for that, he was not allowed to enter the Land. He was given the same punishment as the rest of the children of Israel, yet he would die there in the wilderness. But God still honored him as His chosen servant and continued to use him to lead the children of Israel. What a lesson!

Think of the heinous crimes of David—sins (not just crimes) such as adultery in the sight of all Israel. Murder of a righteous man, Uriah—a man who would not even go home but slept at David's doorway until he was needed. Quite a man! And then to publicly kill him, which is basically what David did. "Joab, put … . . .

Numbers 14:1-11

It would seem as though Israel had every evidence that God was with them, and that He was clearly powerful enough for them to trust Him. But that evidence—what He did to the Egyptians; the dividing of the Red Sea; His providing two million people plus with manna every day, with water as was needed, and even quails for them, clothing that did not wear out; and He even provided them with shade during the heat of the day—was not enough.

And their faith evaporated when fears (for their own safety, for the preservation of their flesh, and the satisfying of their appetites) overrode the trust of almost everyone. Their fear overcame whatever level of faith they had, and it motivated rebellion. It led directly to the death of everyone over twenty, except for Joshua and Caleb. Do you get the point?

Fear kills! That is its ultimate fruit.

This illustration here in Numbers 13 and 14 is clear evidence that these people were walking by sight. What they saw were giants, and it intimidated them—as if God was not bigger, greater, more powerful, smarter than giants. So God has to ask, "How long is it going to be before they believe Me?" It is like He says, "What can I do that might give them more faith?"