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Faithfulness vs Disobedience

Bible story: Spies in Canaan Numbers 13:1-3,17-33, 14:1-11

Theme Verse: Numbers 14:41

Being faithful includes being obedient. We cannot say, “I am faithful to God,” when, at the same time, we disobey His commands. That is what we are studying this week: the fight of “Disobedience” against “Faithfulness.” Disobedience is often seen as when we do something we should not do. For example, if your mother says that you cannot go to your friend’s house to play today, but you go anyway, you are being disobedient. She said NO, but you disobeyed and went. Many people in churches have this definition of disobedience. For example, if Christians believe that they are not allowed to smoke a cigarette, but they do it anyway, that means they are disobedient. This is true. If we are told not to do something, and we do it anyway, we are being disobedient.

There is another kind of disobedience that we must also watch out for. If your mom tells you to go to the store to pick her up some onions for dinner, and you do not go, this is also disobedience. If God tells us to do something, and we choose not to do it, we are being disobedient. This is what happened in today’s Bible story.

The people of Israel were saved from their slavery in Egypt and traveled across the desert toward the beautiful land that God promised. When they got near, God stopped them. He asked Moses to send 12 leaders as spies into the promised land. These 12 men went into the land and spied on the people, the cities, the buildings, and the crops. They went to see if the land was good or bad. Up to this point, the Israelites had obeyed everything that God asked them to do. They sent the 12 spies just as God asked. However, when the spies arrived home, they disagreed. All 12 reported that the land was great, flowing with milk and honey. They brought back a huge bunch of grapes to show the people about the fabulous agriculture possibilities. But 10 of the spies said that the people were too large and the cities too fortified, so they should NOT go take the land. Only 2 of the spies said that although the people were large, they should still go. The Israelites all listened to the negative report of the 10 spies and didn’t want to go. God became sad and frustrated because the people were discouraged. They wanted to disobey God, refusing to go into the land.

It is very easy for us to get discouraged and sad in our hearts when we see something impossible. Sometimes the TV news discourages us or comments from others make us sad. But God wants us to have faith in Him and trust Him. If God asks us to do something, we need to be willing to step out in faith and obey God. Joshua and Caleb were the two spies who believed God, and encouraged the people that it was possible.

Will you be like Joshua and Caleb, willing to obey God and protect your hearts from getting discouraged? With practice, we can win the match fight of disobedience against faithfulness!

Questions:

When was the last time you were discouraged and sad in your heart? How did you get encouraged?

Has God ever asked you to do something that seemed impossible or too difficult?

Do you see yourself as obedient to God?

Life Application:

Choose two assignments from God to do this week. The first being something God asked you NOT to do, and the other is something God asked you to do. Obey God in both items to win against disobedience.