To all those folks who have cared for a small child ever in your life may remember an experience like this:

Me: don’t do that/touch that ~you will get hurt.

Child: I wanna anyway.

Me: I said don’t do it. You will get hurt. Step away.

Child: (thinking to self) I don’t believe you. Looks at adult with wide eyes innocence.

Me: I mean it. Don’t do it or you will also be in trouble.

Child: (of course) does it and (of course) gets hurt.

Me: dang it. Now there has to be a consequence, too, for the disobedience.

Why didn’t you just listen child??

I am reading the book of Exodus and an interesting part of the story of the Israelites jumped out at me.

Remember the part where the spies all sneak into the Promised Land of Canaan at the command of the Lord through Moses?It’s in Exodus 13 if you feel like doing a little light reading!

Within the group of spies, there was Joshua (Moses’s right hand man who rarely left the Tabernacle of the Lord) and Caleb (from the tribe of Judah).

Upon returning to the Wilderness of Paran, the spies were to tell of their findings. The majority of the spies were terrified of the people who inhabited the land promised to them.

They had also forgotten the mighty works of God that rescued them from Egypt…you know- the plagues, the parting of the Red Sea, provision of manna, water from rocks, quail from nowhere, oh~and the presence of God that appeared as a cloud over the Tabernacle and led them as a cloud of fire by night.Just a few things….

In their fear, the spies lied and said the land was not all that great anyway and that the people living there would surely kill them all if they tried to advance.

Joshua and Caleb were like WHAT?!That land is flipping great and those people are no concern to us because we have the Lord on our side.

IF GOD SAYS THE LAND IS OURS THEN HE WILL MAKE IT OURS.

Period.

No more argument.
Let’s move, people, and take it.

The people, however, were like (get your best whiney-voice ready) “oh no…we’re never gonna make it. God obviously brought us here to die after doing all those amazing miracles. We never should have left the slavery and oppression in Egypt.”

WHAT?!

Needless to say, God was not pleased.He told them to do something..to trust Him and to do something…and all these people do is complain and say I can’t.

That’s where God decided to not let that complaining generation into the Promised Land (except for Caleb and Joshua). Once the last of the complainers had died, then the next generation would be allowed access to Canaan.

In 40 years.

Ok…so, here is the point~Exodus 14:40-45 tells us this next act of disobedience.

God: you can’t go in there.

People: He doesn’t really mean that.

Moses: uuuhhhh ..yes, He does.

People: no way… we’re His chosen people and that’s the land He promised us. We said we’re sorry…that makes everything all better.

Moses: uuuhhhhh….no, it doesn’t. Don’t you do it. You will be in big trouble if you do it….

People: Let’s go for it!

Verse 44- In their arrogance they dared to go up the ridge of the hill country;however, neither the ark of the covenant of the Lord nor Moses left the camp.

Guess what happened?

The Amalekites and Canaanites who lived there came and struck them and scattered them as far away as Hormah.

And the rest of that generation still wandered for 40 years as the Lord had previously decreed.

Those poor folks died for nothing.

We do that too, don’t we?

We are told to do something and either disobey entirely and not do it or do it on our own merit or time table…without God.

Perhaps we do something when we have been specifically told not to. We think- I won’t get hurt; I won’t get in trouble…

And then we are surprised when we do get hurt or get in trouble.

Why on earth is that?

The beauty of the story of the Israelites and Moses is the faithfulness of God through it all.

They complained- He provided.

They rebelled- He protected.
They chose idols over Him- He continued to reveal His glory to them.

In those years of wandering, in the time of “punishment”, God protected them, fed them, kept them from tiring, and would not even allow for their shoes to wear out.

That is what a good Father does…He holds to the consequence but loves the child all the way through it.

We are forgiven if we wander and disobey…but there is no promise of an easy road from that point on just because we are now sorry.

True repentance means to turn from the sin and to live a transformed life…including humility to accept the consequences when needed.

That’s a good story- The Exodus…I would recommend reading it often and see what little nuggets you can pull out to reflect on…