No, this isn’t a political post. It has nothing to do with that.
This has to do with my quiet time this morning.
I’m still in the book of Numbers and learning anew about disfunctional leadership and followership. Today it was both. The situation (Cliff Notes version) was that Moses sent out 12 spies to ‘scope out’ the promised land (which is interesting in and of itself since God told them the land was already theirs—but that’s another post for another time) and 10 came back with a thumbs down while 2 returned—thumbs up!
Thumbs Down Camp — These 10 spies tried to make an argument for backing off and either setting up a permanent residence in the desert or returning to slave status in Egypt. They reasoned that the locals (who looked like action hero bad guys) would be more than a match for the whiny little desert nomads. Their argument struck a nerve.
Thumbs Up Camp — These 2 spies (Joshua and Caleb) were much more liberal saying, “Let’s go for it!” Well, not in those exact words but that was the gist. They were pushing hard to go full steam ahead in spite of massive armies, bigger warriors and fortified cities. In fact, they were so pumped up about stacking out their new river front homes that even a sea of Sherman tanks and thousands of missile launchers pointed straight at them wouldn’t have made a bit of difference. They had something bigger and more powerful on their side—they had God.
Alas, the “Thumbs Downers” prevailed and immediately saw the error of their ways as God doomed them to wander in the desert for 40 years until every last one of the disobedient, frightened little Israelites died off. And though the conservatives begged and begged for a second chance, God was not listening.
It’s not that God is not a God of second chances—I’ve found Him to be a God of second, third, fourth and one thousandth chances. No, it was that the God of second chances is also a God who demands straight up obedience. No compromise. The “Thumbs Downers” thought they could shift the blame to God and maybe even get him to clear the way via some of His now famous Egyptian style plagues but God had more of a team approach in mind for this one. They thought they could fool God by sounding practical and sensible and “conservative.” Interesting. They may indeed have been thinking more conservatively than Joshua and Caleb but God saw it for what it really was…
Conservative Disobedience.