Daily Devotion | Numbers 14:39–45 | 2026 May 08

Title: Daily Devotion | Numbers 14:39–45 | 2026 May 08

Scripture: Numbers 14:39–45 (ESV, reference only)

Date: 2026 May 08

Speaker: Rev. John Chen

Transcribed, translated & edited by: Joseph Wang (Yufan)

Alright, dear brothers and sisters, peace be with you. We thank the Lord for His grace in bringing us into a new day to study our daily spiritual nourishment together. Today our passage is Numbers chapter 14, verses 39 through 45. Let us pray.

Lord, we thank and praise You for Your grace in bringing us before this passage, so that within it we may learn the lessons that we ourselves ought to learn. Lord, we thank You for treating us with such kindness and mercy, allowing us to live watchfully and to listen to Your will. We pray in the name of Christ, Amen.

Alright, let us now look at the final section of chapter 14. I have said before that Numbers chapter 14 is an extremely important chapter. The content is also rather extensive, and the transitions between events are quite large. Almost every section is an entirely new event. The reason we are going through it slowly is so that everyone may really experience the significance that each event has for us.

In this final section of the passage, we see a group of Israelites who have completely lost their bearings. What does it mean to lose one’s bearings? God had previously led them to go attack the Canaanites, but because of the evil report brought by the spies, they refused to go. Then God struck and punished those ten spies, and declared that the people would wander in the wilderness for forty years. Yet at this moment, they now seem to repent. But when I say “repent,” I put quotation marks around it. They now say they want to go fight the Canaanites. They say, “We will go now.” But in the end they fail.

So although this passage is not very long, the inner process of the people, the intention of God, and the actions of man are actually not simple at all. Therefore we must think carefully about it.

Think carefully about these Israelites. They were facing God’s punishment: forty years in the wilderness, dying in the wilderness. Do you think they believed this judgment or not? If they completely did not believe it, then there would not have been the so-called repentance afterward. They could simply have said, “Whatever God says, I’ll still do whatever I want.” But actually, in a certain sense, they did believe what God said. Otherwise, after hearing it, they would not have gone up to attack Canaan.

So you see that they are entirely confused and unstable. You cannot even clearly say whether they believed or did not believe. If they had completely disbelieved, then they could simply have stayed where they were and ignored God’s words altogether. Yet they believed God’s punishment, and therefore they decided to go attack the Canaanites. But in the end, of course, they were defeated.

So here we need to identify the key issue. That is: when God’s people interact with God, what exactly should we pay attention to? Should we pay attention to God’s word, or should we pay attention merely to the event itself? I think this is extremely important for us as well. Very often, when God’s people interact with Him, we fall into this kind of contradiction.

“God, didn’t You tell me to do this? Then now that I’ve done it, why are You still not pleased?” But actually, that is not the right way to think. Whenever we do anything, we must consider two or three things. I have mentioned this before: principle, circumstance, and motive. Principle, circumstance, and motive — this triangle gives us wisdom when dealing with all questions of Christian ethics.

Why is it that the very same action is sometimes something that provokes God’s anger, while at other times it is something that pleases Him? For example, attacking Canaan. Forty days earlier, that was something pleasing to God, and they certainly would have won the battle. So what happened in those forty days that suddenly made it wrong for them to go?

If we place this matter inside the triangle of principle, circumstance, and motive, then we can understand their experience very well. Otherwise, we ourselves may feel confused. We may think, “Weren’t they repenting? Wasn’t it a good thing for them to go fight?”

If we were parents, for example, and we told a child to sweep the floor, but the child refused, then we might say, “If you still refuse to sweep, I’m taking away your allowance this month.” Then the child hears that and quickly goes to sweep the floor. And we as parents might say, “Alright then, since you did it, I’ll still give you the allowance.” That is often how we interact with children. But God’s interaction with His people is completely different.

So I think it is important for us to place these introductory thoughts first. Then when we return to the passage itself, we will already have a framework for understanding how to look at this matter.

Now let us look at the text. Moses told all these words of judgment to the people of Israel, and they mourned greatly. Then early in the morning they went up toward the top of the mountain. Their going up the mountain was probably not to go to Moses, but rather to attack the Canaanites. Yet what they said was, “Here we are. We have sinned. We will go up to the place that the Lord has promised.”

So when you look at verse 40, it really does seem at first glance as though the Israelites had repented, right? “You say we will die in the wilderness for forty years? Fine, then we are willing to repent and go fight.” Doesn’t that seem like a good thing?

But then verse 41 says that Moses replied, “Why now are you transgressing the command of the Lord? This will not succeed. Do not go up, for the Lord is not among you, lest you be struck down before your enemies. The Amalekites and the Canaanites are there before you, and you shall fall by the sword. Because you have turned back from following the Lord, the Lord will not be with you.”

Clearly, Moses did not accept their repentance. Or we might say, God did not accept this repentance. Moses said that now God was no longer with them. If they went up now, it would only lead to death.

And what did they do? They stubbornly went up toward the mountain anyway. They went to fight by themselves. The ark of the covenant did not go with them, and Moses did not go with them. This means the entire matter was carried out according to their own will. In the end, the Amalekites and the Canaanites defeated them and drove them back as far as Hormah. Their attack failed completely.

I think this is something we especially need to meditate on. What is repentance? What kind of repentance does God accept? Weren’t they already going up? Why was that still not acceptable?

Now let us return to the model we mentioned earlier. Did God intend to lead them into Canaan? Yes. God had promised that they would enter the land of Canaan. That belongs to the category of principle. Entering Canaan was indeed the correct principle.

But where was the problem? The problem was in their earlier corruption. They listened to the spies who brought the evil report, and they had already decided not to go. That was the circumstance. Their actions had already revealed and manifested their unbelief. This was what they themselves had already done. Therefore God punished them there. God struck them and declared that they would wander in the wilderness for forty years. That became the circumstance.

Now within this circumstance, did these Israelites believe or not? In one sense, yes, they believed the punishment. If you think about it that way, they really did believe they would die in the wilderness, and therefore they began this so-called repentance — again, repentance in quotation marks.

But their motive was wrong. What was their motive? Their motive was that they did not want to die in the wilderness. Their motive was self-preservation. In reality, their motive was not to obey the command of the Lord. Do you see that? Their motive was already wrong. Their action came out of themselves. It was self-initiated and self-driven. In terms of motive, they were trying to preserve their own lives. They had not placed their lives under God’s protection. So their motive was wrong.

Do you see it now? The principle was not wrong — entering Canaan was still right. But the circumstance had changed, and the motive was wrong. Therefore this time they failed.

I think Christians really need wisdom here. Otherwise, if you get trapped inside this passage, you cannot untangle it. You may end up thinking, “What exactly is God doing here? Didn’t He tell them to go? Now they are going, so why is He causing them to fail?” It is because in the end they were not following God’s word. The circumstance had changed, and the motive was wrong, and therefore they were wrong.

So what was God trying to train within them? Brothers and sisters, remember this carefully. God was training the Israelites to believe His word in everything. Someone may say, “But didn’t they already believe? They believed the punishment of forty years in the wilderness, didn’t they?” Yes, but their so-called belief still ended with them trying to save themselves by their own method. They went to fight the Canaanites by themselves. That was wrong.

The correct response would have been for them to submit to God’s arrangement, to continue repenting and confessing their sins, and to say, “Lord, we truly have little faith. Please lead us. We are willing to submit ourselves under Your discipline and chastisement.” That is what pleases God.

So I do not know whether I have explained this clearly enough, but when God’s people interact with Him, this triangle of principle, circumstance, and motive must be understood clearly. The principle was that they were indeed supposed to enter Canaan. The reason they failed now was because the circumstance had changed and the motive had become wrong. Therefore God allowed the Canaanites to defeat them.

And what was God’s purpose? God’s purpose was to train them to obey His word completely and to entrust themselves wholly into His hands.

From the perspective of sinful man, however, these Israelites really seemed trapped with no way forward. If you look at it through the eyes of sinners, you might think, “If I didn’t go before, God punished me. Now I go, and He still causes me to fail. So God just seems unreasonable.” Have you noticed this pattern? When they interacted with God, they completely lost their bearings. Left was wrong, right was also wrong.

“Back then You told me to go, and I didn’t go. Now You tell me not to go, but either way You are against me. In the end, You just do not want good for me. You are trying to harm me.” That is the thinking of sinners.

But God’s intention was not like that. God’s intention was that they should obey His commands in all things. When He tells you to go, then you go. When He tells you not to go, then you do not go. And meanwhile, you completely entrust your life into His sovereign hand. That is what pleases Him. This is what it means to trust in the Lord. This is what it means to confess with your mouth and believe in your heart. This is what it means to call upon the name of the Lord.

Brothers and sisters, although this passage may seem short, the spiritual meaning within it is actually very deep. It concerns the way we ourselves should interact with God.

If we speak according to sinful human thinking, then people may say, “This God is impossible to please. When I refused to go, He punished me. When I went, He struck me again. So in the end, should I go or not?” But the issue is not merely whether to go or not go. The issue is that when God tells you to go, then you go. When God tells you not to go, then you do not go.

Therefore the focus is on God’s word. The focus is on listening to God’s command. In every circumstance, we must entrust ourselves to God and look to Him. Otherwise our faith will also become confused and unstable.

Now let us connect this to Christians today. Christians today often interact with God in exactly the same way — confused, unstable, and uncertain. We do not understand God’s will, and then we complain, saying, “God cannot be seen or touched anyway,” and so we simply live according to our own way, completely ignoring God’s law.

I have personally seen Christians like this. Because they do not truly understand God’s intention, and they do not really know how to obey God’s law in daily life, they simply live however they want. They think, “I’ll just do whatever I want. I’ll live however I choose.” In the end, they merely comfort themselves by saying, “As long as I go to heaven in the end, that’s enough.” So they live an entirely God-separated life, because they do not understand God’s will.

Then there is another kind of person — the more mystical type — who constantly seeks “God’s leading.” “How is God leading me? What guidance is He giving me now?” But I would say both approaches are wrong. We must still place everything within this triangle: principle, circumstance, and motive.

God’s word and God’s law are the principle. Then in every circumstance, we are to follow God’s word rather than looking merely at the environment around us. Whether we lose our job, whether we are persecuted, whether people despise us or mock us — in all circumstances we are to obey God’s law.

And what should our motive be? Our motive should be that God’s name would be hallowed, that we would faithfully obey His commands, and that we would always listen to His word and love both God and neighbor. If you have these three elements, then your entire way of living will become correct.

Otherwise, you truly may end up completely confused — wrong whether you turn left or right. So the reason I want to explain this model clearly is so that all of us may use it in practical life and ask ourselves: how can I live in a way that is pleasing to God?

If I fear government persecution, if I fear the ridicule of others, if I fear losing my job, if I fear physical suffering — all these fears are not from God. Therefore, in every such circumstance, what should you do? You should firmly look to God’s promises and obey His statutes and commandments. No matter how great the temptation may be, no matter how corrupt the environment may become, no matter how severe the persecution may be, in every circumstance you must continue to obey God’s law.

At the same time, your motive should not be pride or self-righteousness, nor should it be justification by works. Your motive should be love for God and love for people. Then your entire life will display an entirely different kind of character. That is the model we are talking about.

Now let us continue speaking about repentance. These Israelites, when facing God’s judgment, appeared to repent. But their repentance was false. Why was it false? Because in the end their repentance still relied on their own works. They were still trying to save themselves. They were not trusting that God Himself was the One saving them.

To say it even more plainly, after they heard God’s judgment through Moses, what they should have done at that moment was not to run up the mountain to fight. Rather, they should have fallen prostrate before the Lord and pleaded for His mercy and forgiveness. That is what they should have done. That would have shown that they truly believed.

First, they would have shown that they truly believed they deserved to die in the wilderness. Second, they would have shown that they truly believed God is merciful and full of lovingkindness. Third, they would have shown that they were willing to place their lives entirely into God’s hands. That would have been true repentance.

“Lord, during these forty years, I am willing to humble myself before You. I am willing to follow You. Everything You say is good for me. Everything You say is righteous and good. Lord, please have mercy on me. Please lead me. Please forgive my sins. I am willing to follow You. Even if I die, then I die.” That would have been genuine repentance — hating their former sins.

But do you see what happened instead? Within this so-called repentance, the Israelites did not actually hate their sins at all. Their entire relationship and interaction with God had already become distorted.

And in a similar way, many Christians today also fall into this same kind of distortion in the way they interact with God. This is very dangerous. Because our relationship with God has not yet entered into a truly God-pleasing pattern, we become confused about what we should do. “Should I do this? Should I do that? Should I go or not go?”

But the central issue is not simply whether to go or not go. The issue is: did God tell you to go? And when did He tell you to go? Those things are determined by God, not by you. Once you understand this clearly, then your interaction with God will begin to become normal.

In practical life, we ourselves also constantly face these kinds of struggles and confusions. This is absolutely true. So what should we do? We should entrust ourselves to God in all things and look to Him.

Now regarding these Israelites, we have already spoken about their false repentance. But there was another problem as well. How were they thinking about this situation? They believed they only had two choices: either die in the wilderness or go fight the Canaanites. In other words, they were calculating according to the logic of choosing the lesser of two harms. “If we are going to die in the wilderness anyway, then we might as well go fight.”

Do you see? Their whole line of thinking before God had already become completely inverted. They were entirely walking by sight. They were judging according to their own works and according to their own strength.

They saw the ten evil spies struck down by plague. They heard Moses declare forty years in the wilderness. Then they began calculating: “If I listen to Moses, I will die in the wilderness anyway. So why not take one final gamble? Maybe if we fight the Canaanites, we can still win.”

Look carefully at the Israelites’ way of thinking. Everything revolved around themselves. God Himself was not at the center of their thinking at all. Therefore no matter what they did, they remained completely unstable and confused.

This story also reminds me of another person — Judas, who betrayed Jesus. Betraying the Lord was of course an extremely serious sin. But what did Judas’ repentance look like? Again, it was a repentance in quotation marks. He went and hanged himself.

Think about these two situations. One was Judas betraying the Lord. The other was Peter denying the Lord. In terms of seriousness, Judas’ sin was certainly worse. But Peter’s sin was not light either. One betrayed the Lord, and the other denied the Lord.

So why did Peter later become an apostle proclaiming the gospel, while Judas perished? The difference lay in how they responded to their sin.

What was Judas’ response? He said, “I have betrayed innocent blood.” Of course, he still did not truly recognize Jesus as the Messiah. He merely thought Jesus was a righteous man. So he thought, “I betrayed a righteous man. What should I do? I will repay life with life. I will kill myself.”

Do you see that? His model is exactly the same as the Israelites in today’s passage. He hanged himself because he was still trying to save himself through his own method and his own ability.

Judas thought, “I killed a righteous man, so if I kill myself, then I have somehow paid back that life.” But Peter was different. Peter came before God in confession and repentance. He acknowledged his own helplessness. He acknowledged that he had no power to wash away his own sins. He acknowledged that he completely needed God’s grace. And therefore Peter became an apostle.

That is why I say the Israelites’ correct response should have been to fall before God, confess their sins, follow the Lord, and leave themselves entirely under God’s hand — even if He chose to discipline them. Perhaps then God might relent in mercy.

But instead, the Israelites completely lost their bearings. A person trapped inside himself truly does not know what to do. In the end everything becomes merely choosing the lesser harm. “I might as well go fight. Maybe I can still win.”

This is an entirely wrong way of interacting with God. I think today’s passage is especially precious because it teaches us how we are supposed to interact with God and how we are supposed to follow Him.

We must not keep our eyes fixed merely on the event itself — “Should I do this thing or not do this thing?” Very often, we must consider the circumstance and the motive as well. Only then can our actions become pleasing before God.

May God help us, through this passage, to receive the lessons we ought to learn. That will be all for today’s sharing. Thank you, everyone.