Scripture Daily

Context No. 3253 of 4322 · Numbers

Context · Reflection

Numbers 14:36-40: in context

36The men whom Moses sent to spy out the land, who returned and made all the congregation to murmur against him by bringing up an evil report against the land, 37even those men who brought up an evil report of the land, died by the plague before the LORD. 38But Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh remained alive of those men who went to spy out the land. 39Moses told these words to all the children of Israel, and the people mourned greatly. 40They rose up early in the morning and went up to the top of the mountain, saying, “Behold, we are here, and will go up to the place which the LORD has promised; for we have sinned.”

The ten spies who spread the fearful report die by plague, and only Joshua and Caleb are left alive. When the people hear that their generation is now sentenced to the wilderness, they mourn deeply, and then, saying we have sinned, they rise early and try to march up and take the land after all, as though repentance could simply undo the consequence on their own terms.

Their we have sinned was real grief, but it was presumption more than obedience. God was no longer with them in the venture, and Moses warns them not to go, yet they go and are beaten back. They tried to seize by sheer will, on their own timing, the blessing they had refused when it was offered. True repentance submits to God's word going forward; it does not try to force a past opportunity, marching ahead of God to grasp what he has now withheld. Sorrow for sin is not the same as walking again in step with him.

When I have sinned, does my repentance truly submit to God's word going forward, or do I try to force my own way, presuming on a blessing I am no longer walking in step with him to receive?

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