Numbers 14:40-45 “And they rose up early in the morning, and gat them up into the top of the mountain, saying, Lo, we be here, and will go up unto the place which the LORD hath promised: for we have sinned. 41 And Moses said, Wherefore now do ye transgress the commandment of the LORD? but it shall not prosper. 42 Go not up, for the LORD is not among you; that ye be not smitten before your enemies. 43 For the Amalekites and the Canaanites are there before you, and ye shall fall by the sword: because ye are turned away from the LORD, therefore the LORD will not be with you. 44 But they presumed to go up unto the hill top: nevertheless the ark of the covenant of the LORD, and Moses, departed not out of the camp. 45 Then the Amalekites came down, and the Canaanites which dwelt in that hill, and smote them, and discomfited them, even unto Hormah.”
When God told the Israelites to go up into the Promised Land, they were afraid and did not want to go up. They rebelled against the Lord and refused to go up. When God told them that they would wander in the wilderness for forty years because of their rebellion, then they decided to go up without the Lord’s blessing. Their efforts were resisted, and they failed because the time had passed and God was not with them.
We can learn some valuable lessons from their mistake. God has a plan, and God has a time. We need to make sure that not only are we doing the right thing, but also that we are doing it at the right time. There is a time for everything, and we need to be sensitive to the Lord’s leading and the Lord’s preparing. In Acts 16, Paul is wanting to preach the gospel everywhere he can, but there are some placed that God tells him no and others that He says Yes. He was forbidden to go to Asia (v.6). They wanted to go into Bithynia, but the Holy Spirit would not let them (v.7). Then God led them through a dream to go to Macedonia (v.9).
I don’t think that God primarily works today through visions, dreams, and extra-biblical revelation, but I do believe that He has a plan, He has a time, and He has a will for our lives. We need to be daily in His Word, regularly under the preaching of the word, frequently in contact with wise counsellors, and constantly in prayer, so that we will be sensitive to the Lord’s will and to the Lord’s time.
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Right Idea, Wrong Time
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