Consequences

March 25

Numbers 26

Psalm 37:14-22

Proverbs 8:34-36

Luke 1:57-80

Consequences

“Not one of them was among those counted by Moses and Aaron the priest when they counted the Israelites in the Desert of Sinai.  For the Lord had told those Israelites they would surely die in the wilderness, and not one of them was left except Caleb son of Jephunneh and Joshua son of Nun.”  Numbers 26:64-65 NIV

In Numbers 14:27-35, God told Moses that not one of the Israelites who were 20 years or older at the time would enter the promised land except for Caleb and Joshua.  They did not trust God to take care of them and bring them into the land He had promised them.  He told them that they would have to wander around in the desert for forty years, one year for each of the forty days they explored Canaan.  In today’s passage we find the fulfillment of that promise by God.  At the end of forty years of wandering, they took another census and found that not one person included on that earlier census was still alive except for Joshua, Caleb, and Moses.  We know that Moses was not allowed to enter the promised land because of his disobedience in bringing the water out of the rock.  There are consequences for our sin.  Sometimes the punishment is swift and complete and at other times the consequences last for years.  Unfortunately, as the Israelites found out, sometimes we are not the only ones who have to suffer the consequences for our actions.  The Israelite men and women had to wander in the desert for forty years, but their children also had to wander in the desert.  They would eventually get to enter the promised land, but only after years of wandering and watching their parents die in the desert.  If their parents had trusted God, they could have spent those years living in the land flowing with milk and honey and experiencing God’s blessings.  Whether we are the one who has brought the consequences of our actions onto others, or we are the one who is living with the consequences of someone else’s actions, we can be assured that if we turn to Him, He will use those consequences to bring about good in our lives.  He will use them to train us and teach us and to give us the joy of ministering to others who are facing similar circumstances.  God used their experiences in the desert to prepare the children of Israel to enter the promised land and He will do the same for you.  You can’t do anything about the past, but you can go forward committed to obeying God now.