Devotional: Don’t Delay to Obey

Deuteronomy 1:21-28 “Behold, the LORD thy God hath set the land before thee: go up and possess it, as the LORD God of thy fathers hath said unto thee; fear not, neither be discouraged. 22 And ye came near unto me every one of you, and said, We will send men before us, and they shall search us out the land, and bring us word again by what way we must go up, and into what cities we shall come. 23 And the saying pleased me well: and I took twelve men of you, one of a tribe: 24 And they turned and went up into the mountain, and came unto the valley of Eshcol, and searched it out. 25 And they took of the fruit of the land in their hands, and brought it down unto us, and brought us word again, and said, It is a good land which the LORD our God doth give us. 26 Notwithstanding ye would not go up, but rebelled against the commandment of the LORD your God: 27 And ye murmured in your tents, and said, Because the LORD hated us, he hath brought us forth out of the land of Egypt, to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites, to destroy us. 28 Whither shall we go up? our brethren have discouraged our heart, saying, The people is greater and taller than we; the cities are great and walled up to heaven; and moreover we have seen the sons of the Anakims there.”

In Deuteronomy, God through Moses is rehearsing the history of the nation of Israel and reviewing the law of Moses again to remind them of what it says.  In chapter one, we find something that is not mentioned in the previous account in Numbers 13.  It was the idea of the people to send men in to spy out the land.

On the surface, it does not seem like a bad idea or an unusual request.  Moses is pleased with the idea, and the Lord even tells him how to fulfil their request by appointing one man from ever tribe to go search the land.  But, if you look closely, spying out the land was not part of the original command.  God’s original command was, “Behold, the Lord thy God hath set the land before thee: go up and possess it, as the Lord God of thy fathers hath said unto thee: fear not, neither be discouraged.”

Obedience to this command would have been to go up and the Lord’s word and to not search the land.  Though spying out the land might make sense to the human mind; God’s wisdom is far greater than ours.  When we don’t understand the commands of God, our responsibility is to obey His commands not understand them.

Have you been trying to understand when you are commanded to obey?  Does everything have to make sense before you will go and do what God wants you to do?  Delaying to obey could lead to fear, disobedience, and rebellion against God.  Don’t hesitate; do God’s will today!

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