Day 59: Numbers 11-13

Welcome to five minute Bible your daily guide for your daily reading. Today's February the 28th. And we'll be looking at numbers 11 through 13. Now today's reading marks the beginning of a spiritual Unraveling.

The people have left the mountain of Sinai the cloud is moving and the camp is ordered and the promises seem like they're in sight. But numbers 11 through 13 shows us how quickly Gratitude can erode into complaint and how confidence in God can dissolve into fear.

Complaint, Grumbling, and the Quail in Numbers 11

Now the wilderness does not create the unbelief. But it does expose it and in that way numbers 11 opens up with the people of Israel grumbling. They complain about their hardships and then they crave meat to eat and then they begin to romanticize each of speaking about their slavery as if it was somehow better than the freedom that God had given them at least because the Menu there felt more familiar.

They forget their whips and they forget their chains and all they can do is remember the fish. Now God responds by sending quail in overwhelming abundance. But the gift becomes a kind of judgment because it's demanded and not trusted they receive what they want.

But they don't receive it through faith. Now at the same time Moses breaks under the strain of leadership and the burden feels too heavy for him and God answers not by removing the Responsibilities of leadership, but by multiplying the help.

There's 70 elders who are appointed at this point. The spirit rests upon them and the leadership is divided and shared and that's how numbers 11 ends. Then numbers 12 narrows down into the crisis. Miriam and Aaron speak against Moses and then jealousy surface and then authority is questioned.

God himself has to intervene in order to affirm Moses as uniquely faithful and Speaking with him face-to-face. In this way leadership is not self-appointed. It is divinely assigned and God comes to the defense of Moses.

The Spies, the Land, and the Test of Faith in Numbers 13

And then in numbers 13 is the decisive test for the people of God. Will they have faith in Yahweh or will they continue to devolve into? Disunity and grumbling and everything else.

Well.

12 spies are sent out and sent into the promised land and they See all kinds of abundance and they see fruit so large that it requires two men to carry a single cluster of grapes and They also see fortified cities with very large warriors and ten out of the twelve spies are gripped by Total fear but two of them which is Caleb and Jonathan Return gripped by the promises of God.

They say that the land is good and the question is whether they can trust in God. And the two Spies Caleb and Jonathan say yes, we can and the other ten say no. We can't the men are too big and we will never make it now as you read today I want you to ask the following question.

Will I? Interpret the obstacles that I face in my life through fear or through the promises of God. Well, I see the goodness of God and the promises of God or will I see the bigness and badness of my circumstances and situations.

Complaint, Unbelief, and the Cost of Fear

Numbers 11 through 13 shows that perspective actually determines direction. The unifying pattern across these chapters is this. Complaint will eventually mature into unbelief. Complaint begins small a little grumble here a little grumble there.

Dissatisfaction with food a little frustration over the Circumstances a little weariness with the leadership, but complaint unchecked actually distorts your memory. Egypt began to look attractive to people who were enslaved for 400 years.

Slavery becomes a kind of nostalgia. The present feels so unbearable that they'd rather go back to the past and the future feels so threatening that they would rather turn back. And go home. Now by the time the spies return fear has so fully formed in the people that they can't even think straight anymore.

The Giants are real, of course, and the walls are strong. Yes, and amen, but the promise of God is bigger and stronger and they can't see it. Unbelief in that way doesn't always deny God outright. It simply weighs the things going on around us more heavily and more Powerful than the invisible faithfulness of the promises of God.

And this is deeply relevant to our life today because we do the same thing. We measure the Giants in our world and we count the risks and we rehearse the worst case outcomes and we do the cost versus reward matrices.

And then slowly and quietly we kind of begin to doubt when Obedience would have been worth it and the wildernesses that we go through in our life actually expose what we are trusting in. Are we trusting in God or in our Circumstances.

Christ, Joshua, and the Greater Promise

And in that way numbers 11 through 13 also and totally finds its fulfillment in Jesus. Because where Israel longs to return to Egypt Christ is the one who set his face towards Jerusalem and for the joy set before him endured the cross even though he knew it would be painful even though he knew it would.

Be hard hard as an understatement. Obviously where the people complain about their provision Christ trusts the father even in hunger and in hardship. Where Israel fears giants Christ confronts the greatest giant of them all which is Satan sin and death and he does not shrink back crushing Satan on the cross.

Joshua's name literally means the Lord saves and he stands firm when others tremble and he becomes a faithful Witness that the promise can be trusted but he also foreshadows Jesus because Jesus's name in Aramaic is Joshua and Jesus is the true and greater Savior.

Where Israel falters in their faith Christ remains faithful. Where Israel refuses to enter into the land Christ secures the ultimate promise for his people and that he has won the world and Instead of retreating from the battle like the Israelites of old he pressed forward and he conquered it.

He will continue to conquer it until he has conquered all now. As you read numbers 11 through 13 today I want you to feel the tension rising the land is within their grasp. The promise is there and available if they'll simply believe it and tomorrow we're gonna see what happens when fear wins the day and how a Single decision will shape the next 40 years of wandering.

But with that read your Bible carefully Devotionally and joyfully and may the Lord use his word to sanctify you completely and we will continue our journey tomorrow. God bless you.