By Jon Courson
Numbers 14:41-45 And Moses said, “Now why do you transgress the command of the Lord? For this will not succeed. Do not go up, lest you be defeated by your enemies, for the Lord is not among you. For the Amalekites and the Canaanites are there before you, and you shall fall by the sword; because you have turned away from the Lord, the Lord will not be with you.” But they presumed to go up to the mountaintop; nevertheless, neither the ark of the covenant of the Lord nor Moses departed from the camp. Then the Amalekites and the Canaanites who dwelt in that mountain came down and attacked them, and drove them back as far as Hormah.
When God said, “Go,” His people refused. Yet now they’re saying, “We’ve learned our lesson. We’re going to do it now.” But God had already spoken. He had already told them they would wander forty years in the wilderness until the entire generation died.
There can be a presumption that looks like faith but in reality is folly. What’s the difference between faith and presumption? Simply this: God’s Word. Are you launching out because you’re trying to prove your spiritual prowess, or because of some fantastic fantasy, or do you have God’s Word on the matter? Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God (Romans 10:17). Therefore, it is the promise of God found in the Word of God upon which we are to stand.
I pray that you and I would be a people that learn to obey God and His word. We are to be a people that do God’s will and walk with Him day by day. In Jesus name!
By His Spirit,
Pastor Bill