Promises…

Thursday 24^th August

Read Numbers 13:1-16

“The Lord said to Moses, ² ‘Send some men to explore the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the Israelites. From each ancestral tribe send one of its leaders.’

³ So at the Lord’s command Moses sent them out from the Desert of Paran. All of them were leaders of the Israelites. ⁴ These are their names:

from the tribe of Reuben, Shammua son of Zakkur; ⁵ from the tribe of Simeon, Shaphat son of Hori; ⁶ from the tribe of Judah, Caleb son of Jephunneh; ⁷ from the tribe of Issachar, Igal son of Joseph; ⁸ from the tribe of Ephraim, Hoshea son of Nun; ⁹ from the tribe of Benjamin, Palti son of Raphu; ¹⁰ from the tribe of Zebulun, Gaddiel son of Sodi; ¹¹ from the tribe of Manasseh (a tribe of Joseph), Gaddi son of Susi; ¹² from the tribe of Dan, Ammiel son of Gemalli; ¹³ from the tribe of Asher, Sethur son of Michael; ¹⁴ from the tribe of Naphtali, Nahbi son of Vophsi; ¹⁵ from the tribe of Gad, Geuel son of Maki.

¹⁶ These are the names of the men Moses sent to explore the land. (Moses gave Hoshea son of Nun the name Joshua.)” (NIVUK)

We begin the fourth and most heinous of the rebellions of God’s people against Him. Later biblical writers point to the golden calf (Exodus 32) and this failure to enter the promised land as the lowest points in their history. It is worth pausing to consider why exactly it is called the promised land. When Abraham and Lot separated the Lord spoke to Abraham and told him to look in all directions from where he stood and promised him and his descendants everything he could see. “I will make your offspring like the dust of the earth, so that if anyone could count the dust, then your offspring could be counted. 17 Go, walk through the length and breadth of the land, for I am giving it to you.’” (Genesis 13:16-17) (NIVUK).

Now the people stand at the threshold. Half the promise fulfilled, they are as numerous as the dust of the earth, now they must claim the gifted land. The instruction from God makes this clear. “‘Send some men to explore the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the Israelites.” (v2). Why on earth would they not obey and enter?

We may not think we are as foolish as these Israelites. We may think that we claim the promises given to us Jesus optimistically and often, but I suspect we too are impoverished and not a little rebellious. Consider Jesus’ shocking story of the shameless demands made of a friend (Luke 11:5-8). A story about the nature of prayer that we rarely use an example – despite it coming immediately after He teaches the Lord’s prayer! He goes on to plead with His disciples to be bold and familiar with our Father, like children make demands of their parents. Children make shocking demands because they believe implicitly that their parents love them and have promised them good things. Is this how you pray?

‘So I say to you: ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. ¹⁰ For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. ¹¹ ‘Which of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead? ¹² Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? ¹³ If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!’” (Luke 11:9-13) (NIVUK)