Numbers 13:31–32, 14:1–4 (HCSB)
“But the men who had gone up with him responded, ‘We can’t go up against the people because they are stronger than we are!’ So they gave a negative report to the Israelites about the land they had scouted…. Then the whole community broke into loud cries, and the people wept that night. All the Israelites complained about Moses and Aaron, and the whole community told them, ‘If only we had died in the land of Egypt, or if only we had died in this wilderness! Why is the LORD bringing us into this land to die by the sword? Our wives and little children will become plunder. Wouldn’t it be better for us to go back to Egypt?’ So they said to one another, ‘Let’s appoint a leader and go back to Egypt.’”
The majority is not always correct. There is a common tendency to believe the negative report. Mark Twain said, “A lie can travel halfway around the world before truth has even got her boots on.” Rumors and negative reports sure travel quickly.
The Israelites paid a heavy price for their faithlessness. They said, “If only we had died in this wilderness!” God gave them exactly what they requested—they died in the wilderness.
We can spend the whole of our Christian lives wandering in the wilderness of spiritual immaturity. It takes bold, believing steps of obedience to enter the Promised Land. Hebrews 4:9 tells us that there is a Sabbath rest for God’s people. There is a rest in His grace—we are no longer working our way into heaven but we are trusting in His grace to take us there. But there is also a rest of faith for the child of God, a promised land of spiritual accomplishment through His Spirit we may enter into. We walk by faith, and not by sight—trusting in His Spirit, not struggling in the energy of our flesh to get through.
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