Walking the Line

Numbers 14 to 28, Psalm 95

The people.

Always about the people.

They forgot all the miracles the LORD had done,

They despised His mercies

And spurned His might.

In their ingratitude

They preferred death.

Said the NIV notes.

Really?

So much grumbling, murmuring, rebellion, jealousy, opposition.

And the strong bend of God toward wrath?

Like He runs out of patience with His Beloved Chosen people.

He punishes them

And sentences them to 40 years.

40 years of wandering

At various points in these chapters

The people come to Moses

And glorified their time in Egypt

From prison to paradise.

Brought out into the desert now to die.  

And God does just that!

Closing the borders of the Promised Land to them

To a whole generation

That will perish in the desert

Moses and Aaron and Miriam included.

These stories that we have heard so many times.

That always have us rooting for the people

To see what was right in front of them

And make a different, better choice.

Pictures in our children’s Bibles.

Of water from the rock.

But not the ground swallowing people

and their tents and little children.

Violent images of a jealous God

With Moses straddling a very thin line

Between God and His People.

Under constant personal attack

And challenge to his leadership.

Constantly approaching God’s Mercy Seat

To beg for the lives of the People.

People dying left and right

For their arrogance and rebellion.

With Psalm 95 nestled in the readings.

Summing it all up.