Faith Breaks

Yet you were unwilling to go up; instead you rebelled against the command of the LORD your God; and you grumbled in your tents and said, "Because the LORD hates us, He has brought us out of the land of Egypt, to hand us over to the Amorites to destroy us." - Deuteronomy 1:26–27

Moses, recalling the disobedience of the Israelites, spoke some final closing words as he faced the end of his earthly life. As the nation of Israel prepared to enter Canaan, he reminded them of all of their previous failures and in his convicting words I see two "faith breaks" that had occurred in their journey.

First, though God had already promised the land to Israel, they "spied it out" before they entered it. The ultimate result was that God's vision "died in committee" and Israel wandered in the desert for 40 years. God's command to enter and conquer should have been enough.

Second, "they grumbled in their tents." God's desires for Israel were not initially met because those who lacked the faith to move forward refused to leave the comfort of their former lives. It is always safer to grumble in our "tents" and let others live on the edge fulfilling God's purposes. If we choose to oppose a faith-filled plan, at least let it be from the front of the pack.

Israel's exodus is replete with stories of faithless followers. When your history is written, how will it read?

Faith is to believe what we do not see, and the reward of this faith is to see what we believe. - Augustine