Every time I read this portion of scripture I wish the ending would turn out differently.
I want Joshua and Caleb to convince the people to trust God!
I want the people to remember all the miracles God had already done for them - the twelve plagues, parting the Red Sea, daily manna, quail from the heavens - and count on God's faithfulness once again.
I want the people to remember all the consequences they had already experienced for their sins of complaints, unbelief, and rebellion; and to fear the consequences of unbelief more than the giants of the land.
I want the 70 elders to speak up and declare God's faithfulness and might, and to turn the tide of unbelief.
But they don't.
And the consequences are huge! They are banned from entering the Promised Land. All the miracles that came before, that brought them to the edge of what they were promised, and because of their unbelief they can go no further. Instead, they wander the desert until they begin to die off one by one.
(I realized that Joshua and Caleb would've been around 20 years older than the next youngest people by the time they entered the Promised Land. That must have been very strange, particularly after enjoying the wisdom of Moses - who was about 40 years older than them.)
May we not make the same mistakes!
May we be purposeful about remembering God's faithfulness in the past - both to ourselves personally, and to those around us, or even Biblical events.
And may we be determined to trust in God's faithfulness now, no matter how dire the circumstances may seem.
Tomorrow's Bible In a Year Passage: Numbers 15:17-16:40, Mark 15:1-47, Psalm 54:1-7, Proverbs 11:5-6
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