"Yet you would not go up, but rebelled against the command of the LORD your God. And you murmured in your tents and said, 'Because the LORD hated us he has brought us out of the land of Egypt, to give us into the hand of the Amorites, to destroy us.'
Deuteronomy 1:26-27
A selfish stream of thinking led to a miserable and dangerous theology and that brought about God's judgment that defined a generation in Israel. The Exodus generation had so much promise, so much potential to believe God. They experienced so much directly from the hand of God. You'd think it would have strengthened their faith. They had been slaves in Egypt under awful treatment. They saw God defeat a political superpower while they did not lift a finger. God secured their freedom. God literally fed them in the wilderness. He led them visibly. They received His law... a document unique to them. But they ended up believing that God was the exact opposite of Who He was. That was a problem... a big problem.
The result of their tent rebellion was that God saw it, was angered, and acted (Deuteronomy 1:34). And an entire generation was cursed to depend on Him solely in the wilderness for the next forty years. They were spiritual toddlers who would die never having really matured in their faith, but nurtured by God nonetheless. That was the result of a theology that disbelieved God's love and refused faith. It disobeyed God and would not follow Him.
Fruitlessness and judgment follow in the wake of disobedience. Even if that disobedience still has some kind of belief in God. These Israelites believed there was a God. They did not believe what He revealed about Himself. The result is very tragic and is painful to read. But God still loved Israel. He prepared a new generation during that 40 year time period. That new generation would boldly and gladly claim His promise.
- Posted with my iPad. The Apple Kool-Aide tastes fine.
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