MISSING GOD
Numbers 13-14
* Have you ever considered what it is that God wants for this world, this community, this church, or you? Now, not just a passing thought, but have you ever sat and meditated on it. We say that God wants the best for us and yet, do we believe it, do we live like it?
* It is no secret that this particular local assembly was born out of some difficult days, but if we are indeed a church of God, is it not fair to assume that “HE” has plans for us. For us, both individually and collectively.
* So the obvious question becomes “what is it that God wants us to be and do in this community?” It IS safe to say that since God is in the redeeming business He expects and desire us to be a “redemption center?” Redemption centers, by their nature, serve as a magnet for people. People who need redemption. Honestly, if the church is not a redemption center, we have missed God.
* Missing God. Exactly how does a people “Miss God?” If you have your Bibles turn to Numbers 13 with me and let’s see what we can learn from the children of Israel.
* I want to divide our thinking into 3 sections; the past, the present, and the problem.
1) THE PAST – As you look in the 13th chapter of Numbers, you read a very familiar story (to most of us). The children of Israel are now at Kadesh-Barnea on the brink of attaining everything they had been dreaming about. It began with:
a) The Promise of God - to a man named “Abram” later to be renamed Abraham. God made a covenant to make Abraham the “Father of many nations” and that “his seed would be like the star in the sky.” That was great except for one thing; Abraham and his wife were childless. Yet, Genesis 15 say Abraham believed God. Now, even Abraham stumbled in his journey but ultimately He trusted God’s hand and God honored that trust. God is always as good as His word. The Children of Israel at Kadesh gave lips service to believing this.
b) The Plan of God – God always has a plan! He does nothing in a haphazard way. The first time one reads the Bible and gets to the story of Isaac and His sons or Jacob and His sons, or Joseph in Egypt the casual reader might think “God has lost control.”
* While I’m make a case that these happening were not in God “perfect plan”, God took these events to work them to the good of His people. Now at Kadesh He has another plan, select a committee. (Read vs 1-16) How many of those names do you recognize? Only two. The two guys that ostensibly gave the minority report. But I’m getting ahead of myself. God is working among these people, do you know why? Because they are;
c) The People of God – These are the people God promised, planned for, and now were leading & loving. (The Children of Israel in the Old Testament are the parallel to the Church in the New Testament.) Just as sure as the Children of Israel stood looking into the Promised Land so the Church of Jesus Christ stands looking into the call of the Father. Let’s draw a picture.
2) THE PRESENT – Under God’s leadership, Moses chose the “committee” who would do some leg work for the people. They constituted the “Dream Team” as they were appointed to give some direction about the plans for future. As the “committee” was sent out, there was a great deal of anticipation in the air. (Read vs 17-27)
a) The Desire – At this point it would seem that the desire of the people is at an all time high. They have sent out the leaders of each tribe to gather information because they were going to finally get their promised home! They wanted it. They needed it. They deserved it. God had promised it to them and it was high time that they get what had been promised. Can you imagine the emotion in the million plus people who were listening? Up to this point, it would be the next thing to heaven.
* God was as good as His word and they were glad there was no fine print in the contract.
* Is that not exactly the way we are today in America? We desire to be blessed of God. We desire to be the recipients of God’s love, mercy, grace, and riches. We want it just like they did. We live in a land flowing with milk and honey. We know what it is to have food (both physical and spiritual) in abundance. We can show “fruit from this land”. But then, there is a little problem.. there always is.
b) The Distraction – While the first part of the “committee’s report” was unanimous, there was disharmony in the second part of the report. Watch this, the majority said “we can’t” – does that sound familiar and the minority said, “not only ‘we can’ but ‘we better’”. Let’s read it. Just as an observation; in my 30+ years of ministry how many times have I witnessed churches who have been at this very place. The legwork was completed, there was a victory to be won, a direction to go, God was leading, and some of the “leaders” said, “it costs too much”, “it’s too risky”, “the time isn’t right”, etc. More times than not the distraction drives the decision.
c) The Decision – How come we are so illogical when it comes to decisions for the Lord? Think about it. They have the promise of God, in the plan of God, and are identified as the people of God. They have seen the waters part, water from a rock, manna and meat for food, have witnessed the power and presence of Almighty God, and STILL they decision was not to follow through. Kind of like, you can take care of what is behind us, but not what’s in front of us. Watch this; they get distracted and they “complain”, “desire to go back”, and “finally, let get us a new leader and tell Him where we are going.” They weren’t just replacing Moses. They were replacing God.
3) THE PROBLEM – submit 3 problems to you.
a) Fear – Fear always focuses on the problem and not the promise. Fear causes us to see things in light of OUR Strength and not HIS power. Fear causes us to listen to the “negative” report. Fear freezes us to the point of non-activity and disobedience.
b) Foresight – They could not see themselves as victors in the battle to take the promise land. They were suffering from “hindsight”. While it is true that “hindsight” is always 20-20, it is equally true that living in the past is a surefire way to kill your future. As a general rule, our perception of the past is skewed by our personal desires. Watch this: “If only we had died in Egypt”
* Think about this; they would have never seen God provide manna and meet. They would have never drank the water from the rock. They would have never seen the waters parted. They would have been guided by the cloud in the day and the pillar of fire at night. They would have never witnessed the GLORY OF GOD in the Tabernacle. But still, let us go back. In those 400 years of bondage, it was comfy.
c) Faith – Their questions betrayed them; “why is the Lord bringing us into this land…to die…by the sword?” As long as God was doing all the work and giving handouts they were kool and receptive, but when He says “I’ll help you”, they say, NO THANKS. Why? It’s a faith issue. Abraham believed God and it was accounted to him…and Abraham demonstrated time and again both his FAITH and TRUST in God. He even trusted God when the Lord ask HIM to DO.
* The Children of Israel at Kadesh-Barnea sat on the precipice of doing something GREAT!!! It would have been great in the eyes of the world, the people, and the God. But they said, “it cost too much” – what did disobedience cost? Over 80 deaths per day every day for 40 years. Cost too much? “we can’t do it” – God said you not only can, you will and Caleb said “we must”.
* Consider this; A trip that should have taken the Children of Israel 2 weeks took 40 years and 1.2 million funerals.
* One of the saddest phrases I hear as a pastor is this; “the church is serve is only about 2 funerals from revival”. May God convict us so that we will not be the distraction and the bottleneck to know and doing God’s will.
* May we never “MISS GOD”.
