Numbers 14:34. “After the number of days in which ye searched the land, even forty days, each day for a year, shall ye bear your iniquities, even forty years, and ye shall know my breach of promise (altering of purpose).”
BREACH OF PROMISE. Negative voices giving negative opinions influence actions whether we like it or not. Trust in men of negative advice leads to despair – sounds of defeat. Sounds of fearful people are voiced everywhere. Perspective is lost – emotions of the moment take over. Forgetting the character of God – all the way by which He led. Energy wasted in going backward – going forward, it could have led to joy. A cry of despair – then ten – then millions – how sad – how defeating. After all this way – why, O why stop short of the goal!
Turning away – stopping their trust in God – fear has such power over weak men. The sounds of sorrow – tearing of clothes – men who could see by faith; They tried to turn the tide of negative voices – of complaints – of fear. “The Lord… He will bring us in…He will give…” but no, people reached for stones. Negative voices, fear, despair, leads to murder in the hearts of many. Two respected men with confidence in God – give advice – remember the promise. Rather than evaluate the advice – compare it to what God had promised – to His Word. They rejected it – quickly – without consideration – they did not enter, said “No” to God.
God is powerful – creating all things by the word of His power. God is longsuffering – immensely patient – suffering their manners in the wilderness. God is of great mercy – His love is a promise we can always rely on. God is forgiving – again and again He forgives iniquity and transgression. God is just – there is no way sin can be overlooked as if it didn’t matter. God is a pardoning God – His grace extends to the darkest recesses of human experience. God is unchanging – His character and actions are consistent in every age. God knows the spirit of man that is in each person – and judges accordingly.
Ten times His people had failed to trust and obey Him – at the Red Sea: fear took over. At Marah – complaining over bitter water; complaining in the wilderness of Sin; Not satisfied with the quota of manna, but collecting more than enough in their greed. Going out on the Sabbath to collect manna when they had plenty to gather the day before. Complaining over the lack of water at Rephidim; Engaging in idolatry in making and bowing down to the golden calf. Complaining at Taberah; complaining about manna and over the lack of Egyptian food. Listening to an evil report and failing to enter the promised land.
The promise to the nation is altered – the children will go in but not the complainers.
The next generation – but not those who failed to trust and obey. Forty years – a year for a day – they would wander about in the wilderness. Close but not in – they tried in the flesh, and lost to Amalek – the flesh wins. Failure to trust God, leads to greater problems than we originally imagined. We are destined to wander without aim if we do not trust and obey. God’s “breach of promise” doesn’t mean He goes back on what He said. It means if we do not “trust and obey”; He will find someone else who will.
“I am enjoying this land of Beulah, O God of longsuffering and great kindness. It is in this land of promise I find great delight on every bush and under every tree. Each place I go and each job I do, gives a sense of God at work - and fulfilling all the promises You have made. I worship sitting here at this desk as I think on the way You have lead me – from Egypt, and the promise of the blood, to this place and the promise of the Word. In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, Amen.”