True & Beautiful Things About the Bible--Old TestamentSample

Numbers: The Shocking Reason

The book of Numbers is about what happened to the children of Israel after they escaped from Egypt on the way to the land God promised them. It’s called “Numbers” because it’s book-ended by a census, how many left Egypt and then how many arrived in the Land, 40 years later.

Spoiler alert: the people who left are not the same people who arrived. The reason is quite convicting. The people who didn’t make it died because they complained about everything. Yes, you read that right. They died because of their attitude. They especially whined about the food that miraculously appeared for them every morning. “Our soul loathes this manna.” (Numbers 21:5)

This complaining prompted one of the most shocking things God ever did. He sent the whole generation of His own children back to the wilderness for the rest of their lives. He loved these people; He had rescued them. Sad, but true, no matter what He did for them, they flat out refused to stop complaining. They doubted He had their best interests in mind. They refused to trust Him and refused to thank Him.

So they died in the desert; every one of the original five-million-member band except Joshua and Caleb.

Most Christians don’t plan on doubting and complaining as a lifestyle. Life simply catches us off-guard. Hard things change everything. We start by wondering if God will come through and slide easily into refusing to believe He will.

That’s the way it was for these runaway slaves in the wilderness. Hardship led to doubt and doubt took them to disbelief.

Just a little bit of gratitude and faith would have changed history. This event is talked about throughout the Bible—in the Psalms, in the prophets, in the gospels, in the epistles and Hebrews. Everyone remembers when God had the last word.

Our lesson from Numbers is timeless: don’t let your questions overwhelm you. All God wanted was for Israel to remember what He had done for them in the past and trust Him with the future. But with each new challenge, their memory got worse. Just trust Me, God said. But they forgot Him instead.

God will go a long way to show up for someone who is willing to believe Him. You can’t rightly understand God and ever be disappointed with Him.

Next: Love God tomorrow.