When We Lack Faith
Lately, as I’ve re-read books in the Old Testament, I’ve asked God to reveal Himself through His Word, to help me learn more about Him and who He is so that I can apply it to my life. While reading the story of the twelve men who were sent out by Moses to spy on the land of Canaan, I believed He answered my prayer as I had new insight into how important it is to keep the faith, rather than live a faithless, fear-filled life.
Let me recap the story here: God told Moses to send twelve men (one from each tribe) to spy out the land of Canaan. When they returned, they reported to the entire congregation that the land was just as God had promised – flowing with milk and honey, however, it was occupied by big, scary giants and the cities were greatly fortified. Not all of the men though agreed with the report. Caleb spoke up and said they could take over the land. The other men disagreed (except for Joshua) and explained how they are like grasshoppers to the supersized occupants of the promised land. The congregation freaked out and started yelling at Aaron and Moses. They lamented leaving Egypt, even going as far as suggesting selecting a leader to help them return to Egypt. Aaron and Moses fell on their faces in front of the congregation, while Joshua and Caleb tore their clothes and tried to calm the crowd by reminding them of God’s faithfulness and protection. They also encouraged the raging mob to remain faithful and not rebel against the LORD. The mob didn’t want to listen. In fact, they wanted to stone them. At this point, the LORD spoke to Moses and said: “How long will this people despise me? And how long will they not believe in me, in spite of all the signs that I have done among them?” (Numbers 14:11, ESV)
God asked how much longer His people would despise Him even though He had done numerous signs and wonders, including the numerous miracles He performed to free them from Egypt, the parting of the Red Sea to protect them from Pharaoh and his army, and going before them in a pillar of fire. That made me pause in my study. How many times have I despised him when I lacked faith? I never considered my faithlessness as a way of despising God, but now I see it.
Let me explain. When we are faced with a difficult situation in life, we can either respond with faith or without. When we respond in faith, we are saying to the LORD we trust Him and His plan for our lives. We have looked at the situation, and though it may be unknown, difficult, and scary, we know He is still in control and that He works all things for the good of those who love Him (see Romans 8:28).
When we respond in fear and become faithless, we are telling God that we don’t trust Him. We also imply we can handle the situation better than He can, especially if we try to control the situation, which is pride. Here’s a fact though, you never have control of the situation. You may think you do, but you really don’t. I can’t tell you how many times I thought I had a handle on a situation only to have something unexpected thrown in and knock me to the ground.
The original Hebrew word for “despise” is “Na’ats” and it means “spurn, despise, abhor” (Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance). Responding in fear and lacking faith means we despise or abhor God. Faithlessness causes us to turn away from God, to forget everything He has done for us, and to seek our own solutions. We show contempt and a lack of gratitude to our LORD, even though we have no idea of the plans He has for all of us (see Jeremiah 29:11).
When we live faithlessly, we will not see the promised land He has for us, which is my second revelation. The consequences of being faithless are dire. The men who lacked faith were unable to enter the promised land. Now, before you think God punished them for this one offense, He didn’t. He had been patient with them. Numbers 14:22-23 says “…not one of those who saw my glory and the signs I performed in Egypt and in the wilderness, but who disobeyed me and tested me ten times – not one of them will ever see the land I promised on oath to their ancestors. No one who has treated me with contempt will ever see it.”
God told the Israelites they would have the promised land, but the men who spied out the land and reported negatively on it, played upon the fears of the people by exaggerating the situation. The people chose to believe the men rather than believing God, who had a plan for them to have victory over the occupants of the land. As a result, they were unable to enter the Promised Land.
The Israelites complained about their journey in the desert, even to the point of wanting to return to Egypt. They even discussed selecting a new leader to take them back to Egypt. Here is my third revelation. They tried to take control of the situation, rather than trusting God. But what would happen if they returned? More than likely, they would become enslaved again. And that’s what happens to us when we don’t trust God. We become enslaved to our old ways and our old fears.
Fear is a normal response to something unknown. We have a choice though. We can either choose to have faith or to not have faith. When we live a life of faith, we trust our Creator and He leads us to the land He has promised to us. When we lack faith, we show contempt for God and never enter the land He has promised us. When we lack faith, we choose to be enslaved to fear and pride. When we lack faith, we place ourselves above God. When we lack faith, we despise God and His authority.
