Part one was more than a week ago—sorry about that. But you need it for this to make sense. So, click HERE for part one.
So, what got so bad with an entire generation of Israelites that God had to stick’em in the desert furnace until an entire generation of fat was burned off?
Disobedience.
Let me back up a bit because some of you might be thinking, “I’m not always obedient to God and He hasn’t given up on me. Why was He so brutal to them?”
Think of it this way, Luke 12:47-48 in the Message says this, “47-48“The servant who knows what his master wants and ignores it, or insolently does whatever he pleases, will be thoroughly thrashed. But if he does a poor job through ignorance, he’ll get off with a slap on the hand. Great gifts mean great responsibilities; greater gifts, greater responsibilities!”
The more God gives to His followers—the more He expects out of them. That’s one reason fewer of us should keep begging God for greatness—most can’t handle it! But that’s another post for another day.
That generation of Israelites may very well have seen more mighty works from the hand of God than any before or since. When talking about being “given much” they would be tough to match—they had it all. Yet how did they respond to God?
Most often with a sense of entitlement and grumbling rather than being thankful and reverent. In fact, the more God did—the more ungrateful they became. They even got to the point where their sacrifices were nothing more than going through the motions—their heart just wasn’t in it. And the more God did—the more He showed them—the more they complained. Seems they crossed a line as an entire generation and God knew they would never be able to go into the promised land and make the kind of impact He called His people to make.
So they settled in to the desert
And lived out their days in the land of “Woulda, Coulda, Shoulda”
How sad! Have you ever met that guy? The woulda, coulda guy? (Yes, I intentionally left off ‘shoulda’). Because they always have an answer that explains in detail how they “woulda obeyed God if only…” And they always come armed with a plethora of “coulda” options at the ready… “I coulda easily done this or that… ‘if only.’
Want to know a response God hates even more than woulda or coulda?
“If only.”
God doesn’t want to hear our excuses for disobedience—the truth is, there exists no excuse good enough to justify disobedience—no “if only” scenario that makes God empathize with our disobedience and accept it. God says in His word…
“…Has the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to listen than the fat of rams.” ( I Sam 15:22)
So, no more, “woulda’s, coulda’s,” or, “if only’s” They only lead to regret and the painful realization one day when it’s far too late that we just…
“Shoulda.”