Do our congregations murmur against God or godly leadership? Can we expect God to bless us without faith in His word? Let’s look at Number 14.
Did Israel again murmur against Moses? Does gossip affect the atmosphere in our churches?
All the congregation lifted up their voice, and cried; and the people wept that night. All the children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron. The whole congregation said to them, “We wish that we had died in the land of Egypt, or that we had died in this wilderness! Why does Yahweh bring us to this land, to fall by the sword? Our wives and our little ones will be captured or killed! Wouldn’t it be better for us to return into Egypt?” They said to one another, “Let’s choose a leader, and let’s return into Egypt.” (Numbers 14:1-4 WEB)
Of the original twelve scouts, who were the only faithful two?
Then Moses and Aaron fell on their faces before the assembled Israelite community. But Joshua, Nun’s son, and Caleb, Jephunneh’s son, from those who had explored the land, tore their clothes and said to the entire Israelite community, “The land we crossed through to explore is an exceptionally good land. If the Lord is pleased with us, he’ll bring us into this land and give it to us. It’s a land that’s full of milk and honey. Only don’t rebel against the Lord and don’t be afraid of the people of the land. They are our prey. Their defense has deserted them, but the Lord is with us. So don’t be afraid of them.” But the entire community intended to stone them. (Numbers 14:5-10a CEB)
What did God intend to do with these rebellious people?
But just then, the Lord appeared in a cloud at the sacred tent. The Lord said to Moses, “I have done great things for these people, and they still reject me by refusing to believe in my power. So they will no longer be my people. I will destroy them, but I will make you the ancestor of a nation even stronger than theirs.” (Numbers 14:10b-12 CEV)
What did Moses pray on behalf of the nation of Israel?
But Moses said to the Lord, “Then the Egyptians will hear of it, for you brought up this people in your might from among them, and they will tell the inhabitants of this land. They have heard that you, O Lord, are in the midst of this people. For you, O Lord, are seen face to face, and your cloud stands over them and you go before them, in a pillar of cloud by day and in a pillar of fire by night. Now if you kill this people as one man, then the nations who have heard your fame will say, ‘It is because the Lord was not able to bring this people into the land that he swore to give to them that he has killed them in the wilderness.’ And now, please let the power of the Lord be great as you have promised, saying, ‘The Lord is slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, forgiving iniquity and transgression, but he will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, to the third and the fourth generation.’ Please pardon the iniquity of this people, according to the greatness of your steadfast love, just as you have forgiven this people, from Egypt until now.” (Numbers 14:13-19 ESV)
How did God respond to Moses’ prayer on behalf of his people? Will God still reward those who follow Him completely like Caleb?
The Lord responded, “I have pardoned them as you requested. Yet as surely as I live and as the whole earth is filled with the Lord’s glory, none of the men who have seen My glory and the signs I performed in Egypt and in the wilderness, and have tested Me these 10 times and did not obey Me, will ever see the land I swore to give their fathers. None of those who have despised Me will see it. But since My servant Caleb has a different spirit and has followed Me completely, I will bring him into the land where he has gone, and his descendants will inherit it. Since the Amalekites and Canaanites are living in the lowlands, turn back tomorrow and head for the wilderness in the direction of the Red Sea.” (Numbers 14:20-25 HCSB)
Is our church a wicked assembly of complainers? Could that keep us from the eternal promised land?
Then the Lord told Moses and Aaron, “How long will this wicked assembly keep complaining about me? I’ve heard the complaints of the Israelis that they’ve been murmuring against me. So tell them that as long as I live—consider this to be an oracle from the Lord—as certainly as you’ve spoken right into my ears, that’s how I’m going to treat you. Your corpses will fall in this wilderness—every single one of you who has been counted among you, according to your number from years and above, who complained against me. You will certainly never enter the land about which I made an oath with my uplifted hand to settle you in it, except for Jephunneh’s son Caleb and Nun’s son Joshua. However, I’ll bring your little ones—the ones whom you claimed would become war victims—into the land so that they’ll know by experience the land that you’ve rejected. (Numbers 14:26-31 ISV)
What did God say would happen to that complaining and faithless generation?
But as for you, your carcases, they shall fall in this wilderness. And your children shall wander in the wilderness forty years, and bear your whoredoms, until your carcases be wasted in the wilderness. After the number of the days in which ye searched the land, even forty days, each day for a year, shall ye bear your iniquities, even forty years, and ye shall know my breach of promise. I the Lord have said, I will surely do it unto all this evil congregation, that are gathered together against me: in this wilderness they shall be consumed, and there they shall die. (Number 14:32-35 KJV)
What happened to the ten scouts who brought out an evil report?
As for the men whom Moses sent to spy out the land and who returned and made all the congregation grumble against him by bringing out a bad report concerning the land, even those men who brought out the very bad report of the land died by a plague before Yahweh. But Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh remained alive out of those men who went to spy out the land. (Numbers 14:36-38 LSB)
What happened when some of them tried to enter the promised land against God’s will?
Now when Moses spoke these words to all the sons of Israel, the people mourned greatly. In the morning, however, they got up early and went up to the ridge of the hill country, saying, “Here we are; and we will go up to the place which the Lord has promised, for we have sinned.” But Moses said, “Why then are you violating the command of the Lord, when doing so will not succeed? Do not go up, for the Lord is not among you, to prevent you from being defeated by your enemies. For the Amalekites and the Canaanites will be there to confront you, and you will fall by the sword, since you have turned back from following the Lord. And the Lord will not be with you.” But they foolishly dared to go up to the ridge of the hill country; neither the ark of the covenant of the Lord nor Moses left the camp. Then the Amalekites and the Canaanites who lived in that hill country came down, and struck them and scattered them as far as Hormah. (Numbers 14:39-45 NASB)
What did Jesus bluntly teach about those who engage in gossip and slander?
Make a tree good and its fruit will be good, or make a tree bad and its fruit will be bad, for a tree is recognized by its fruit. You brood of vipers, how can you who are evil say anything good? For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of. A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in him. But I tell you that everyone will have to give account on the day of judgment for every empty word they have spoken. For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned. (Matthew 12:33–37 NIV)
Do our congregations murmur against God or godly leadership? Can we expect God to bless us without faith in His word? You decide!
