This account of Israel’s failure to trust the Lord is a sad tale. Out of all the leaders sent to spy out the land that God had promised them, only Caleb and Joshua demonstrated that they had the kind of faith needed to really take hold of God’s promise.

In fact, not only did the people lack any faith in God’s promise, they went as far as preparing to choose a new leader who would take them back to Egypt. They would rather go back to brutal slavery than trust the Lord. It’s almost impossible to imagine that they could even consider doing this.

Only after the Lord had explained to them the terrible consequences of their unfaithfulness – that none of the adults who left Egypt would ever see the Promised Land – did they suddenly have a change of heart. Then, like a child trying to escape a punishment after the deed is done, they made a foolish and doomed attempt to enter the land anyway. It was all too little, too late. Instead of marching in triumph into the land that God had promised to give to them, they faced a miserable, defeated trek back into the wilderness.

God’s people suffered from unbelief. They simply did not believe in what God had promised, despite all that he had already done for them. They viewed the situation with human eyes, relying on their human capabilities, instead of viewing it through God’s eyes, relying on his supernatural intervention. Because of their unbelief, they lost out on the wonderful promise of God.

Lack of true belief in the promises of God holds God’s people back from entering into those promises. When Jesus met a man whose child had a mute spirit (Mark 9:14-29), he said, “If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes.”

The man’s response reminds us that the solution to our own problems of unbelief is found in our gracious God: “Lord I believe. Help my unbelief!” May this be our prayer every time we find ourselves unable to completely rely on the promises of the Lord.

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NEWBOLD COMMUNITY CHURCH