ESOCS Devotional 2 June 2023
MEMORY VERSE: “And the Lord said unto Moses, How long will this people provoke me? And how long will it be ere they believe me, for all the signs which I have shown among them?” Numbers 14:11
TEXT: NUMBERS 14: 11- 25
And the Lord said unto Moses, How long will this people provoke me? and how long will it be ere they believe me, for all the signs which I have shewed among them?
12 I will smite them with the pestilence, and disinherit them, and will make of thee a greater nation and mightier than they.
13 And Moses said unto the Lord, Then the Egyptians shall hear it, (for thou broughtest up this people in thy might from among them;)
14 And they will tell it to the inhabitants of this land: for they have heard that thou Lord art among this people, that thou Lord art seen face to face, and that thy cloud standeth over them, and that thou goest before them, by day time in a pillar of a cloud, and in a pillar of fire by night.
15 Now if thou shalt kill all this people as one man, then the nations which have heard the fame of thee will speak, saying,
16 Because the Lord was not able to bring this people into the land which he sware unto them, therefore he hath slain them in the wilderness.
17 And now, I beseech thee, let the power of my lord be great, according as thou hast spoken, saying,
18 The Lord is longsuffering, and of great mercy, forgiving iniquity and transgression, and by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation.
19 Pardon, I beseech thee, the iniquity of this people according unto the greatness of thy mercy, and as thou hast forgiven this people, from Egypt even until now.
20 And the Lord said, I have pardoned according to thy word:
21 But as truly as I live, all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord.
22 Because all those men which have seen my glory, and my miracles, which I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and have tempted me now these ten times, and have not hearkened to my voice;
23 Surely they shall not see the land which I sware unto their fathers, neither shall any of them that provoked me see it:
24 But my servant Caleb, because he had another spirit with him, and hath followed me fully, him will I bring into the land whereinto he went; and his seed shall possess it.
25 (Now the Amalekites and the Canaanites dwelt in the valley.) Tomorrow turn you, and get you into the wilderness by the way of the Red sea.
Read Yesterday’s ESOCS Devotional here
Recall that in our devotion yesterday, we dwelt on “The Power of Faith’’ and we emphasized that without faith, it is impossible to please God (Heb. 11:6). Today, we shall look at the other side of the coin, “The Dangers of unbelief”.
Unbelief is simply defined as refusal to trust God, refusal to believe His Christ, and or say, nothing having faith. Our salvation package in John 3:15-16 harps on “Believe” as the passport to eternal life and everlasting life, while verse 18 records that “he that believeth not is condemned already.”
This is the sin for which the Lord threatened to disinherit and kill Israel with pestilence (v 12) in the wilderness but for Moses’ intercession (vs. 13-19). And though the Lord hearkened unto Moses and pardoned them and did not wipe them out, yet that generation was prevented from entering into the Promised Land (vs. 23).
Unbelief is the great sin (1 Jn. 5:10) at the root of the provocation (Heb. 3:8) because by it they rejected, reproached, despised and disbelieved God. This also was the 10th time they provoked God since leaving Egypt (v 22).
One clear lesson from this people in the wilderness is that miracles do not produce true faith in a people which have decided not to believe. They saw the miracles of the 10 plagues against Egypt, they crossed the red sea on foot while Pharaoh’s host perished in the same sea, they saw the bitter waters of Marah changed to sweet water, drank from the rock, saw their rebellious kindred perish by fire at Terebah, yet they believed not the Lord. If miracles alone could build faith, Israel in the wilderness had enough.
Unbelief had catapulted them into a vicious cycle from which not even Moses’ powerful intercessions could deliver them. The folk at Nazareth having heard of the miracles that Jesus did in other cities, and having heard his sound teaching witnessed to his gracious words (Lk. 4:22) yet they could not believe him but thrust him out of the city and attempted to push him down from Mount Precipice (Lk. 4:29). Caleb and Joshua (men of faith) entered into the Promised Land. Other spies died in the wilderness.
- Resolve to believe God, cast away all fears and doubts, believe in Jesus Christ and his ministry, so you shall prosper.
- Almighty God I beseech thee, deliver me from every spirit of unbelief. Help me by thine own spirit to trust you, to believe you and Christ Jesus my Saviour at all times.
FURTHER READING: Mark 6:1-6; Heb. 3:7-19
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ESOCS Devotional 2 June 2023
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