As we close out Numbers and begin Deuteronomy, the people of Israel are at the border of the Promised Land. It was a journey that is typically eleven days but has taken the nation of Israel forty years (Deuteronomy 1:2). They had no idea they were only eleven days away from their destination. All they could see was what was in front of them. Their unbelief and rebellion had prevented an entire generation from seeing the Promised Land. They had rebelled repeatedly against the God who had created them, provided for them and had sustained them every step of the way.
Deuteronomy opens with Moses recounting all of these things – their unbelief, their rebellion and most importantly – God’s faithfulness even in the midst of their unfaithfulness.
For the LORD your God has blessed you in all the work of your hands. He knows your going through this great wilderness. These forty years the LORD your God has been with you. You have lacked nothing.
Deuteronomy 2:7
The only thing the people of Israel saw was what was right in front of them, but God knew the whole plan. They saw only what they lacked but failed to see all that God had provided.
We are no different.
Have you ever wondered how long you may have needlessly struggled with something because of your unbelief? I know I have. We so often tend to look at the here and now, rather than fixing our eyes on the future glory we know we have in Christ. Israel was no different. They knew what had been promised, but when what they were able to see didn’t match up – they faltered in their faith.
In 2 Corinthians Paul tells us,
So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.
2 Corinthians 4:16-18
Israel was looking to the transient things that they could see. They failed to look to and have faith in that which was unseen. They failed to see that God was preparing them for the fulfillment of his promises, and rather focused on that which was in reality a light momentary affliction.
We do the same thing.
As those who are on this side of the cross, we should be a people whose eyes are fixed on the eternal weight of glory that is before us. We should be a people who look to the things that are unseen. What would happen if we were diligent in the reading, studying, and meditation of the Word of God, people of intentional prayer, and in humility and grace poured ourselves out for the service of others?
We would not lose heart.
We would glorify God rather than doubt him.
We would be lights shining in a dark world as those who are set apart.
We would those, as it was said of Paul and others in Thessalonica,
…who have turned the world upside down…
Acts 17:6
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