The Israelites in the Wilderness Refused Grace

“But the men who had gone up with him said, ‘We can’t attack those people; they are stronger than we are’ Numbers 13:31 

In this post, we will hopefully learn a little about why faith is so important. This passage refers to the 12 men who had spied out the land that God had promised the Children of Israel. If you want to read the whole account, you can find it here.

The Israelites Wanted to Escape the Wilderness

It’s not that the Israelites in the wilderness didn’t want to possess their inheritance. Of course, they did. Numbers 13:29 tells us the 12 spies went into the land and testified “it does flow with milk and honey!” “Here is its fruit!”

It was a good land, just as God had said. And there’s no question they wanted to escape the dead, dry, barren wilderness and possess that good land.

The problem was they didn’t think they could. In their own words: “we can’t attack those people; they are stronger than we are. . . the land, through which we have gone to spy it out, is a land that devours its inhabitants. . .” Numbers 13: 31, 32. The obstacles that stood in their way seemed to be too much for them.

And that is exactly the attitude many Christians have about our sins, addictions and lusts. We want to be set free of our bondage to lust, pornography, bad temper, unforgiveness, bitterness, out of control spending, eating, gossip, fill in the blank, more than anything. We want to enter that place of sweet rest and peace and abundance desperately.

Not Because They Couldn’t, But Because They Wouldn’t

The problem is, we are convinced, just as the Israelites were that “they are stronger than we are”. This is such an important point because the Israelites never made it to their promise land. Not because they couldn’t, but because they wouldn’t.

Faith is so important. It’s true the inhabitants of the land were stronger than they. And it’s true they couldn’t defeat them in their own strength. The fact that they acknowledged the power of their enemy, and their own inadequacy was not their downfall.

Their downfall was the fact they didn’t acknowledge God’s strength and adequacy to enable them to defeat their enemies. They didn’t take God at His word when He said He would give them the land.

In the same way, I wonder how often we end up being enslaved to our bondages and never get set free because we’ve given up the fight. We begin to excuse, justify and rationalize our sin rather than hate and strive against it.

If we still believed we could be set free, we’d continue the battle against it. We’d continue to resist in whatever way we know how.

Why is Faith Important? We’ll Get What We’re Believing For

But, as soon as we stop believing, we stop fighting. And when we stop fighting, we’ve given up on the inheritance Jesus died to give us. The Israelites never said, “we don’t want the promise land”. They said essentially, “we can’t have the promise land”. They didn’t believe God would fight for them and give it to them.

This is just what we say too when we begin to peacefully co-exist with our sin. We’re no longer believing God will set us free. And, if we’re not careful, we will get exactly what we’re believing for, just as the Israelites did.

Don’t stop believing! Don’t stop fighting! And don’t give up on the inheritance Jesus died to give you. You can overcome your sin and do what it takes to make it to your promise land. If you are a Christian who loves God, you have the power within you to do it.

Nobody said it would be easy. Even though God told the Israelites He was giving them the land, the reality is, they still had to fight for it. Faith that God will fight for us is so important. And, as the familiar saying goes, you haven’t failed until you give up.

To read another post similar to The Israelites in the Wilderness Refused Grace, see Why the Israelites Died in the Wilderness or Israel In the Wilderness: The Prerequisite.

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