Moses partnered with the Lord in going to Pharaoh and telling him that God wanted His people out of Egypt. After a series of plagues, the Lord brought the Israelites out of Egypt, and he guided them by cloud durning the day and by fire at night.
And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “Send men to spy out the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the children of Israel; from each tribe of their fathers you shall send a man, every one a leader among them.” Numbers 13:1
Now the partnership between the Lord required a greater number of people to believe God and step into faith! Moses sent twelve spies out and only two of them returned with a good report. Because of unbelief, they chose not to cooperate and partner with the Lord, and therefore, they did not enter the land of Canaan for years to come. I wonder if the Lord sent the spies, so they can get excited about the blessings He was about to give them. However, the majority focused on the size of the Canaanites rather than on the power of God to deliver this land into their hands.
Sometimes we choose not to follow God’s plan because it doesn’t make sense or it seems impossible. If we don’t do our part, we will begin to move into grumbling, false worship, and cover up.
Grumbling
When we don’t step into what the Lord has for us, we can grow bitter towards God. We blame Him because He promised us something, but we haven’t seen its fruition in our lives. We begin focusing on God’s part, but we neglect that we haven’t done our part to stay in step with what God required. When the Israelites doubted God’s plan, they ended up staying in the desert. This caused them to grumble and complain and become resentful at God and Moses for bringing them out of Egypt.
False Worship
Some will choose to put their energy and worship into something else. When Moses went up the mountain to talk to the Lord for forty day, the Israelites decided to make a golden calf and began to worship it (See Exodus 22).
Cover Up
We will try to do spiritual things to cover up our disobedience to the Lord. God told Saul to destroy everything after attacking the Amalekites, but Saul chose not to do it. He spared the king and some of the best sheep (See 1Samuel 15). Instead of obeying the Lord, he brought sacrifices to the Lord.
Is there anything the Lord has asked you to do that you have neglected to do your part? The first step is always to repent. Then begin doing your part. He is faithful to do His part, but He waits for us to come along and do our part!
