Recently, I missed the opportunity to obtain two items that I had really wanted because of my own procrastination. The first was a ceramic giraffe, and when I saw the sale posting, I knew exactly where this giraffe was going to go. In my mind, I could already see it on top of my bookshelf, by the canvas of a giraffe my daughter had painted for me. However, I did not want to make a special trip to pick it up, so I waited, thinking I would just get it in a few days when I would be in that area. A couple of days later, it was time for my errands, so I was going to stop and purchase my giraffe. However, the post was already marked sold. The space on top of my bookshelf remains vacant. The second item, or I should say items, was a set of commentary books that someone had posted as free. They were older books and a bit tattered, but nonetheless, they were Bible commentary books filled with information that I really wanted. However, it was late in the evening, and I did not want to go out that late. I decided to message and go to get them first thing the next morning. An hour later, the books were gone. Even though I had wanted the giraffe and the books, I had wanted to get them on my terms, which led to me not getting them at all.
When we delay in our responses, we can miss out altogether. In Numbers 13 and 14, the children of Israel decided to trust in God a little too late. Here is a brief retelling of the story.
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God had told Moses to send one man from each of our tribes to check out the land that He was giving to us. God had rescued us from slavery in Egypt, parted the Red Sea to get us to safety, destroyed those who pursued us, and provided for all our needs in the wilderness. And He had promised us as the children of Israel that He was leading us to a special place flowing with milk and honey. After the twelve men were chosen, they left to search out the land of Canaan. Forty days later, they returned with their report, telling of a prosperous land with fortified cities. They described the inhabitants as strong… much stronger than us. They called them giants, saying we were like grasshoppers compared to them. Caleb was ready to enter and take the land, and Joshua encouraged us, reminding us that because God was with us, we had nothing to fear… but the other ten men were so negative. We all became convinced of our defeat and, for some reason, believed going back to Egypt to a life of slavery would be better.
When Moses told us that, because of our disbelief in God’s power and promise, God said our generation would not be allowed in the land… with the exception of the faithful two, Caleb and Joshua… we were sad and mourned. The next morning, we rose early and went up to the mountain, telling Moses that we knew we had made a mistake by not believing. But now, we were ready to go take the land. Moses informed us that it was too late. He said that, because we had turned away from God, God would not be with us.
Moses was right. We tried but were defeated. We should have trusted and believed when we had the chance. Now those of us who turned away would never enter the promised land. (See Numbers 13-14).
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God had proven His faithfulness to the Israelites again and again. They had seen the miracles and received His blessings, but they chose not to believe.
Yet, we have even more. They didn’t have God’s entire written Word. Through His Word, we have an intimate view of God’s character. We see the perfect plan that He had from the beginning unfold step by step as He is faithful in every promise and prophecy after prophecy is fulfilled. He begins with a creation in perfect peace in Genesis that He brings back into perfect peace in Revelation. But to enter that eternal kingdom of perfect peace, we must have put our trust and faith in Jesus as our Savior. We cannot enter the kingdom on our own terms. We cannot earn entrance. Only through a relationship with Christ can we access the kingdom of God. In 2 Corinthians 6:2, we are given the call to action as the scripture says, “…behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation” (KJV). Not one of us knows how much time we have left on this earth or when Christ will return. We must heed the warning in Hebrews 3:15, “…To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts…”(KJV), because there will be a time when it will be too late. Just as the Israelites lost access to their promised land because they waited until morning, if we have not placed our belief in Christ and confessed Him as Lord of our lives, we will not be allowed in His Kingdom. We will be forever separated from Him in darkness and torment.
Jesus said, “Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh” (Matthew 24:44 KJV). Are you ready? If not, don’t delay. Today is the day.
Such a great story of how we can defeat ourselves by deciding our own timeline to do what God tells us to do. We must put all our faith and trust in God. When He calls us to do something He expects us to be faithful and do what He is leading us to do on His timeline not ours. Remember we can do whatever He has requested us do do and be successful because He is always with us.
Now if we refuse to do what He calls us to do then we will surely fail. Look at Jonah and the whale. Look where running from God got Jonah.
We must believe God has a plan for each of us and we need to trust Him to lead us where we need to go on His timeline and plan for us.
Thank you Farrah for the fabulous story that points out our trust and faith in God and His plans for each of us.