In this week’s lesson, Joshua and Caleb tell the congregation that God will deliver that land to them “if the Lord delight in us.” And for telling the Truth they nearly get stoned.
Had they not been honest and delivered a report that kept the congregation appeased, they would have been denying God. Imagine the consequences for them as individuals, and for the children of Israel as a whole, if they had been anything less than honest and faithful to God.
Joshua and Caleb weren’t worried about being nice, or humanly good. They didn’t fear—they knew God was with them—so they were honest. I am grateful that the practitioners constantly stress how important it is to strive toward doing God’s will and avoiding human harmony.
Fairlie
94 posts
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04/28/2014 16:19
Re: Trust in the Lord a stoning offense
As Paul warns in Hebrews 10: "hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering," That is the continual challenge, which the children of Israel did not meet when they should have obeyed the word of Joshua and Caleb instead of rebelling, so they never reached the promised land, only their children.
Gary
431 posts
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04/28/2014 21:18
Re: Trust in the Lord a stoning offense
And for their rebellion (against God, really), they went for 40 years through what must have seemed to them to be everlasting punishment!
Pretty sobering when I ask myself if I am rebelling in any way against the authority of God's law. Am I resisting God's requirement to grow spiritually? To come out from the material world and be separate? To heal the sick, cast out demons and preach the gospel to the poor? If I rebel against any of these requirements (and I do), I am just as guilty as the Israelites who rebelled against Joshua! Kind of brings it all home.
