The dynamics at play in Numbers 13 and 14 are many. A pivotal account of a generation on the border (literally) of God’s blessing and the fulfillment of promise . . . and they come up short . . . but not as short as they could have come up . . . had it not been for one man’s encounter with God.

The story’s pretty familiar . . . the nation of Israel arrives at the edge of Canaan . . . God says, “Send out 12 men to check out your new homeland which I am giving to the children of Israel (Num. 13:1).” It was never intended to be a “pro / con” analysis . . . or a “realistic assessment” of how their armies might fair against the armies of the Canaanites . . . instead, they were to get an understanding of what God was about to deliver into their hands and to confirm that, indeed, it was a land flowing with milk and honey. But, after 40 days spying out the land, things go south in a real bad way.

The vote is 10 to 2 . . . “No way, no how. Too big, too strong. Too dangerous, too impossible.” So, the majority party wins . . . and the people lose . . . and God’s pretty much done with them, “And the LORD said to Moses, ‘How long will these people treat Me with contempt? Will they never believe Me, even after all the miraculous signs I have done among them? I will disown them and destroy them with a plague. Then I will make you into a nation greater and mightier than they are!’ ” (Num. 14:11-12 NLT).

They had cried out to God in Egypt . . . and they had repeatedly complained since leaving Egypt. Despite God’s obvious hand upon them . . . besides the miracles they had seen . . . besides the cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night . . . somehow, in every new challenge, they couldn’t help but focus on themselves . . . and, in so doing, they rejected God and showed contempt for His ability to deliver on what He had promised. They wouldn’t hear the voice of the minority, the voice of Joshua and Caleb, “The land is a good land . . . If God delights in us, He will bring us into the land and give it to us . . . Only do not rebel against the LORD . . . for the LORD is with us” (Num. 14:8-9). Through unbelief they reject God . . . and God is about to reject them . . . enter the mediator Moses.

So Moses steps into the breach . . . the people’s advocate . . . but he doesn’t plead their case from a perspective of their worthiness . . . instead he pleads from a protectiveness of God’s glory . . . and he bases his plea on what he knows to be true of the character of God,

“And now, please let the power of the Lord be great as You have promised, saying, ‘The LORD is slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, forgiving iniquity and transgression, but He will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, to the third and the fourth generation.’ Please pardon the iniquity of this people, according to the greatness of Your steadfast love, just as You have forgiven this people, from Egypt until now.” (Num. 14:17-19 ESV)

I recognize those words . . . they are the same words revealed to Moses back in Exodus 34 when Moses was huddled in the cleft of the rock and allowed to see the glory of God pass by . . . the glory intimately associated with God’s name and God’s character. Moses’ intercession on behalf of a rebellious people is based on what he had experienced concerning the nature of God. Had it not been for Moses’ mediation, God might have started over with a new “chosen people.” “But,” Moses said, “Lord, You can’t . . . for by Your very nature You are longsuffering, abundant in mercy, and forgiving.” And so the people of God remain the people of God . . . though they’ll have a 40 year detour in the desert before they inherit the land of promise.

Joshua and Caleb knew their God . . . and so believed that what He had promised He was able to deliver. Moses knew His God . . . and so was able to intercede for the people based on the character of God. And I’m thinking, that pursuing an intimate, experiential, knowledge of God is kind of important for the Christian. Pursuing Him through His revelation of Himself in the Word of God . . . pursuing Him through His revelation of Himself as I yield control of my life and trust Him to direct my paths . . . taking me into the land . . . despite the giants around me.

O’ that I might know Him more deeply . . . that I might believe His promises more unreservedly . . . that I might behold His glory more fully. Amen?