The Counsel of the Lord

Author: Joseph

Date: January 6, 2019

God instructed Moses to ascend a mountain where he would see the land of promise from afar, but reminded him that he would not enter the land. Moses was told he would die upon the mountain because of his disobedience in dishonoring God before Israel by striking the rock for water.

"Moses goes to God..."

Moses, knowing his death is coming soon, knew that someone would have to take his place to lead Israel into the land of promise, so he went before God about the matter. Moses goes to God and requests, “May the LORD, the God of the spirits of all flesh, appoint a man over the congregation, who will go out and come in before them, and who will lead them out and bring them in, so that the congregation of the LORD will not be like sheep which have no shepherd” (Numbers 27:16-17).

God responds by instructing Moses to appoint Joshua, the son of Nun, as the leader of Israel. Moses then does all that God commands him in order to properly commission Joshua over the people of Israel.

There are many reasons Joshua seemed like a good choice, even by God’s standard. He followed Moses closely most of the journey through the wilderness and was a ready aid to help him. He was an experienced and courageous fighter, going to battle many times against Israel’s enemies in the wilderness. Joshua also was faithful to God, having great trust in His ability to bring them into the land of promise, even when all of Israel was afraid of the inhabitants.

But these reasons were not enough for Moses to make the decision on his own. Only God could decide who He wanted to lead Israel and Moses understood this well.

When we make important decisions, we should also seek God’s guidance instead of trusting our own reasoning. What if Moses had Joshua in mind but God chose someone else instead? Although this was not what happened, Moses understood that even with our best intentions, making decisions without God’s guidance is unwise and can lead to dire consequences. Moses himself was not allowed to enter the land of promise because he disobeyed God and went against His guidance to speak to the rock for water; Moses struck the rock instead. With this next decision in mind, Moses knew that instead of repeating his sin in doing what was right in his opinion, he had to seek God in the matter and trust His judgment.

Moses learned from his sin, but would not enter the land of promise because of it. When we do not seek God, but do what is right by our own justification, we also sin and will bear the consequences of our sin. Do not make any decision apart from seeking the will of God and letting Him provide you with an answer to what you are seeking. Doing what God instructs will never result in guilt, but disobedience and bad counsel will. Listen and wait for God’s guidance.

Bible Passage: Numbers 27:12-23

Scripture quotations taken from the New American Standard Bible® (NASB). www.lockman.org