When the Lord brought His people out of slavery in Egypt, He promised to bring them up to Canaan – the “Promised Land.” But before they were ready to step into their inheritance, they had to spend time in the Land Between – the wilderness where God wanted to develop and mature them so He could display them to the world.
However, after two years in the Land Between, they had yet to learn to trust and depend on God. They whined and complained about food, so God gave them manna. But soon, they whined and complained about that!
We need to understand that they weren’t just whining about the food being served. This was a rejection of God Himself. They were saying, “God, we were better off back in Egypt…without you!”
So, when they started to whine and complain that they had no meat, God said, “Fine. I’ll give you meat! So much meat it will come out of your nose!” (Nu. 11:19-20)
God literally blew quail into their camp. Tens of thousands of birds! The Israelites were thrilled! They gathered up so much meat they spread it out in the sun to dry for future meals.
But the quail started to rot, and soon, disease began to spread through the camp. And at God’s hand, in an act of severe discipline, people died. Why?
Before we talk about that, let’s talk a bit about discipline in general.
First of all, wise parents know that discipline is not the opposite of love. Rather, it is a function of love.
Proverbs 13:24 says, “A refusal to correct is a refusal to love; love your children by disciplining them.” (MSG)
We sometimes forget our goal is not to raise happy children. It’s to raise mature adults. Wise parents recognize that as painful as discipline may be to administer and for that child to receive, failure to discipline can be costly in the long run. Love requires discipline.
Could it be that when God disciplines us in ways that seem harsh or difficult to bear, He is actually trying to rescue us? To save us?
If so, what could God have been trying to save his people from back in Numbers 11?
Perhaps that answer is found a few chapters later in Numbers 13. The Israelites are at the border of the Promised Land. Moses sends 12 men into the land to spy out the situation. They came back with a mixed report. Joshua and Caleb said that it was everything God had promised! A land flowing with milk and honey. But the other 10 spies were filled with fear, not faith. They saw the walled cities and giants in the land and said, “We can’t conquer this land!”
After two years in “trust school,” God’s people had failed completely. He was ready to be done with them. Wipe them all out! But Moses pleaded with God and He relented. Instead, He handed down a harsh discipline. They would wander in the wilderness until every one of that generation perished (except Joshua and Caleb). Only their children would enter the Promised Land.
Could it be that the discipline of Numbers 11 was God’s last-ditch effort to rescue this generation? A loving Father’s attempt to get His children’s attention and teach them to trust Him?
I believe it was. Sadly, they didn’t learn that lesson.
The Land Between can be a place where God can discipline you – correct your self-destructive behavior, and keep you from something far more painful. It can be a place of growth… if we will let it.
Text: Nu. 11, 13, 14
Originally recorded on October 27, 2013, at Fellowship Missionary Church, Fort Wayne, IN
[MUSIC PLAYING] Welcome, friends. It's so good to have you along with us for the word for everyday disciples with Dave Disselm. My name is Gwen Disselm, and I'm looking forward to sharing this time with you as we explore God's word together and find ways to put it into practice in our everyday lives. Bringing us the word is our teacher, Dave Dissel. Dave spent over 40 years in pastoral ministry and was the founding senior pastor of a church called Fellowship in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Currently, he is the executive director of Dave Disselm Ministries, offering help and hope to everyday pastors through coaching and other resources. You can find out more about us at davedesselmministries.org. You know, as we go deeper in our faith, there are certain topics that we love to talk about, some spiritual truths that we naturally gravitate to and make us feel good, like God's amazing grace, which is love talking about God's grace, or his infinite love, or his boundless forgiveness. I love those things. But there are other aspects of who God is and how we grow into maturity as disciples that are a little less fun to talk about. But every bit is important. We're going to talk about one of those hard topics today, because we're going to talk about how our loving heavenly father uses discipline to grow and shape his children. Let's join Dave now as we wrap up our series called The Lamb Between and talk about discipline and growth. Let's take our Bibles in hand, shall we, and open them up to the Old Testament Book of Numbers one more time. We wrap up a three-part teaching series today called The Lamb Between. Once again, I want to give final credit to a guy named Jeff Mannion, whose ideas really sparked my thinking for this teaching series. And the essence of it, by way of quick review, is that the time's going to come when every one of us finds ourselves in the wilderness. You're moving along through life to what you think is going to be a preferred future. And then in a moment, boom, comes the assault, comes the accident, comes the arrest. There comes the diagnosis, there comes the divorce, there comes the death, and boom, everything changes. Everything changes. You find yourself in a place that is confusing and frustrating and frightening. Welcome to The Lamb Between. And here's the deal. Every single one of us in this room will face it multiple times. You'll get the phone call. You'll get the knock on the door. You'll get the note. And you will find yourself there. And whether your future unfolds or folds up, will it be dependent upon how you navigate the land between. I've received multiple letters and emails from FMCers who've processed these teachings over these weeks, so many of them sharing with me about their pain and their struggle, but as well, their growth and development. And with his permission, I give you the words of one man who emailed me this week. Here's what he said. "As I've wanted the wilderness, the land between through the past three years, God has reached down into my brokenness and written with deep imprints of His fingertips into the dust of my heart. The words forgiveness, grace, peace, and hope. Now I'm discovering my value and worth as defined in the light of His love for me as His child. After years of searching for it in unfulfilling promises, this world offers in distraction." Look at this conclusion. "My heart belongs to Christ, and He is all I need. Beyond the land between, there is hope. I remind that of the Tolkien quote, "You only come to the morning through the shadows." I'm wondering, though you didn't write that note, how many of you here could have written it? You could have said, "I know what it is like to have gone through the land between with tears, with pain, and to come out not bitter but better, such as your pilgrimage as well." But the thing is, while the land between can be a greenhouse for growth, it can also be a place where faith goes to die. And that's why I've been studying this illustration of the Old Testament about the children of Israel. For in them, in Numbers 11 and following, we have a negative example of how not to navigate the land between. I don't know how much you're a student of the Old Testament narratives, but I would highly recommend them to you. They either give you pictures of people to emulate as models, or they give you pictures of people to avoid as negative examples. This is why Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians, chapter 10, "These things happen to them as examples, and were written down as warnings to us. If for no other reason, you should become a student of the Old Testament because you're gonna find so many potholes you can avoid in seeing how others hit them. And as such, you do well to take a look at it. To orient us in the study, we've been using this familiar map of the Eastern Mediterranean. By now you're familiar with the fact that to the lower left is Egypt with the Nile River feeding it, the delta making it quite green and fertile. Behind the word here is Canaan, modern day Israel, the Promised Land. And in between is the Sinai Peninsula, the desert, the wilderness. God had told his people, under Moses' leadership, I will take you up out of Egypt to the Promised Land. This is gonna be great. He did not say anything to them about the land between. He didn't tell them that they were gonna face it, or how long they would be in it. But the land between was exceedingly necessary. It was there that God knowing that one day he wanted to display his people, he had to first of all develop his people. God knew he wanted to do something through his own, but before that he had to do something in his own. Thus it was, they spent two years in the land between hopefully learning to trust God, but as that we've discovered, discovered, they flunked, trust school. They didn't learn. Now it was sending all of God's miracles. They did not learn. And in Numbers chapter 11, verses four to six, we see one more reminder of, and this is after multiple illustrations of it, yet once again, deep nearly two years into this, look at their response to the challenge. Numbers 11, four, the rabble, with them begin to crave other food. And again, the Israelites started wailing and said, "If only we had meat to eat." We remember the fish we ate in Egypt at no cost. Notice they conveniently forgot that they had been slaves back then. Also the cucumbers and the melons, the leeks, the onions and the garlic. But now we have lost our appetite and we never see anything but this manna, down to verse 10, Moses heard the people of every family wailing at the entrance of their tents, mark the next phrase well, "The Lord became exceedingly angry." Why? This wasn't just a little complaint about the menu. This was an accusation about the one who had given them the menu. They weren't just frustrated with the food, they were frustrated with God. And they were saying in effect, we were better off without you. We're better off without you intervening in our lives. I don't want you, I don't need you. You can see that God was not pleased. As a result, they're crying out from meat. Look what happens in verse 18 of chapter 11. Tell the people, consecrate yourselves in preparation for tomorrow when you'll eat meat. The Lord heard you when you wailed, if only we had meat to eat, we're better off in Egypt. Now the Lord will give you meat and you'll eat it. You'll not just eat it for one day, or two days, or five, or 10, or 20 days, but for a whole month until it comes out, you're in nostrils. And it's in the Bible. Guys, that's gonna come out your nose and you loathe it because look, you have rejected the Lord who was among you and have wailed before him saying, why do we ever lead in Egypt? The meat's gonna come in and like gangbusters. Where'd the meat come from? Down to verse 31, verse 31. Now a wind went out from the Lord and drove quail in from the sea. There's some study in this this past week. There were annual quail migrations from Western Europe and Western Asia, whereby the birds annually would come down to winter in Africa. That wasn't the miracle. The miracle was that God stirred up a huge wind and drove the quail in by tens of thousands in where his people were camped. Tens, perhaps hundreds of thousands of birds. They're disoriented. They're floundering around, verse 32. All day, well, let me finish verse 31. It scattered them up to two cubits deep. That is, they're only three feet off the ground. You can knock them down with a tennis racket. Three feet all around, and then deep all around as far as a day's walk in any direction. Picture the camp. You can walk a day, north, south, east, or west, and there are still quail everywhere. Well, these people think it's Christmas and they just start killing the quail and eating the quail. It's this great, great thing there. It says the next verse all day and all night, the next day, the people went out and gathered quail. No one gathered less than 10 homers. That's 60 bushels. So they're eating quail. They're as excited about as kids at an Easter egg hunt. This is wonderful. Here comes the meat. We're getting this kind of stuff. And then it says, then they spread them out all around the camp. What's that mean? Now they're drying the birds for future use, but there's a problem here. So much quail has come in that now they begin to rot, continuing on. The meat was still between their teeth and before it could be consumed, the anger of the Lord burned against the people. And He struck them with a severe plague. Therefore the place was named Kibraath Hatavah because they buried the people who had craved other food. That's amazing. People died. How many were not told? But enough people died that they named the place in honor of the dead. God killed people. Anybody trouble with that? I mean, you think the complaint is kind of a misdemeanor. This is a capital offense. That God's hand people died. Why? I would suggest to you, and I think I can prove it to you, that this was a severe discipline. God was doing this because He had to, lest it get worse, discipline. I want to spend a few moments talking to you about discipline in general. Every parent who is here knows that discipline is not the opposite of love. It's a function of love. Is that not true? You discipline your children, not because you don't love them, but because you do love them. Proverbs 13, 24 says, "A refusal to correct is a refusal to love. Love your children by discipline them." You're standing in a checkout lane and a war is taking place before you. A mother is pushing a shopping cart in which sits a three-year-old little girl. That three-year-old has decided that she wants the cookies that are in the cart. Mommy, I want a cookie. No honey, her mother logically says. Those cookies are for after lunch. We'll go home, have lunch, and then you can have a cookie. And the child says with great gratitude and grace, "Thank you, mother." Now what makes sense to me? Is that what happens? No, what you're about to witness is a full-blown hostage situation. The child begins to whine and cry, and now she's pounding her dainty little feet on the shopping cart, screaming for cookies. It's a hostage situation where she says in effect, "Either my demands will be met in a number of seconds or you're gonna have the mother of all meltdowns right here." People's heads are turning, everyone's attention is gained. You're standing behind and you think of yourself, "Don't do it, don't do it, mom." And mom, what does she do? She caves. And trying to negotiate, she says, "Okay, but just one." And you think to yourself, "Lady, you are raising a three-year-old who's gonna be in control of your house before you know it." Because the mother did not have the courage to do the hard discipline. See, here's the deal. You are not raising children. You're raising adults. You are not raising compliant kids. Your goal is to raise adults who will one day be at the place where they will recognize the world does not revolve around what they want. And here's the deal. The purpose of hard discipline is to correct while the stakes are relatively low. A temper tantrum in a checkout lane. Proverbs tells us, in 1918, "Discipline your son while there is hope. Do not desire his death." When a child is defiant and disobeys, if you do not weed out that character flaw young and early, it will become ingrained and mark my word. You will face a teenager who shakes her fist in your face because she has not learned the importance of obedience. Why is parents recognize this? Why is parents will administer discipline when it's hard, when it's costly? Because they realize it's a greater hardest and a greater cost you have to come. Why is coaches realize this? Some of you guys coach, some of you guys coach. I appreciate so much I watch college football a bit on Saturday. Every week along the crawler at the bottom, it'll say this, so and so did not make the trip or is it eligible for a game because of a breaking of team rules. Have you seen this? And I find myself thinking, good for you coach, good for you, better to lose the game than to lose the kid. Better to pay a small penalty now than to see a narcissistic kid with a gift to the athleticism, never faced the implications of behavior. We read this past week of a young man named Ronnie. Ronnie was a basketball player 10th grader full of potential. He led the junior high, the junior Varsity team in rebounding and scoring. Six foot six and could jump out of the gym. Amazing character. In this situation, rapid growth, which is often accompanied by this gangly awkwardness, wasn't seen in Ronnie. This kid was a Greyhound, he was amazing. Partway through the season, the coaching staff was grappling with whether or not they should bring him up to Varsity. Rarely had they seen such promise in a sophomore. Basketball seemed to come so naturally to him and he was such a dominating force that he didn't even have to work at it. That was the problem. He didn't have to work at it. Behavior issues with Ronnie were becoming increasingly a concern. He'd routinely show up for practice 15 minutes late when the coaches would try to correct him. He'd roll his eyes or smirk. One day after missing a mandatory team meeting, he was called in the coach's office. He was surprised to see the Varsity coach there as well. Ronnie have a seat, his coach said. Son, you're an outstanding player with incredible potential, but your actions are simply not acceptable. They are in fact poisoning our team. I've decided to bench you for the next two games. Whether we're winning, whether losing, you will dress and you will warm up, but you will not play. Son, your talent is without question, but you need to hear something loud and clear. Either your attitude changes or you're no longer gonna play for my team. To wish the head coach said and you'll never play for my team either. Now, what can Ronnie have thought? You're ruining my future. You're destroying my career. Is that what they were doing? No, they were making his future and they were giving birth to his career. It wasn't they were against that kid. They were for that kid. This is what good discipline does. Good discipline will hurt so that it can help. - You're listening to the word for everyday disciples with Dave DeSelm. Dave will continue his message in just a moment. If you're enjoying this podcast, please take a minute to leave a review and give us a five star rating on Apple podcasts. And if you haven't done so yet, be sure to subscribe so you never miss an episode. Then help others find us by sharing this podcast with their friends and family. You can also support us in this ministry by giving a gift to DDM. Just go to our website, DaveDeSelmMinistries.org and click on the donate button. Dave DeSelmMinistries offers resources for everyday pastors so they can equip the everyday people they lead to become everyday disciples. One of the ways that we do that is through the everyday pastor blog. In each post, Dave offers practical insight and personal experience born of over 40 years of pastor leadership. This blog covers topics everyday pastors and leaders need to strengthen their skills, sharpen their vision, pay care for their souls. You can find the everyday pastor blog on our website, DaveDeSelmMinistries.org. Now let's return to Dave and the rest of today's teaching. - Good discipline causes minimal pain now that it will not cost you maximum pain one day. You say, what does all this have to do with numbers 11? Because of numbers 13. Clance over in your Bible is the number 13, I wanna ask you something. As you look over there, does your Bible have a little heading above the number 13? Does it say a couple words in your Bible? What does it say in your Bible? Exploring Canaan, that's what it says in my Bible as well. Exploring Canaan. Question I wanna ask you. Could it be that God took the lives of some people in chapter 11 to keep something worse from happening in chapter 13? Exploring Canaan. Interestingly now, after two years, they are at the border of the promised land. They're getting ready to step in. Moses as a great commander in chief recognizes he needs to do some reconnaissance. He sends out 12 scouts or spies. Tells them to go check the land out before everyone crosses the border into the land. Verses 17 to 20 of numbers 13. When Moses sent them to explore Canaan, he said, go up through the Negev and into the hill country and see what the land is like. And what are the people who live there are strong or weak, few or many? What kind of land do they live in? Is it good or bad? What kind of walls they live in? Are they unwalled or fortified? How's the soil? Is it fertile or poor? Are there trees in it or not? And do your best to bring back some of the fruit of the land. It was a season for the first ripe grapes. So off they go, 12 spies, one from each tribe. And they bring back a report. We begin picking it up in chapter 26 of the same chapter. They, that is the spies, came back to Moses and Aaron and the whole Israelite community at Cateish in the desert of Peron. There they reported to them in the whole assembly and showed them the fruit of the land. They gave Moses this account. We went into the land to which you sent us and it does flow with milk and honey. Here is its fruit. But the people who live there are powerful. The cities are fortified and very large. We saw the descendants of Anak there. There'd be giants. The Malachites were there in the Nagav, the Hittites, Jebusites and Amorites live in the hill country. The Canaanites live near the sea and along the Jordan. Then Caleb, and we can infer that Joshua as well. These guys give the minority report. The 10 say basically, can't do it. Caleb and Joshua silenced the people before Moses and said, we should go up and take possession of the land. We can do it. Has he learned something in the land between? Yes, God's able, God's able, we can do it. Come on, let's trust. But the men who'd gone up with him, the other 10 said, uh-uh, we cannot attack these people. They're stronger than we. So they spread among the Israelites, a bad report about the land they'd explored. They say the land we explored devours those living in it. All the people we saw there of great size, we saw the Nephilim there, the descendants of Anak come from the Nephilim. We see them like grasshoppers in our own eyes and we looked the same to them. What happens? Who gets the vote? Majority or minority? Chapter 14. That night, all the members of the community raised their voices and wept aloud. The Israelites grumbled against Moses and Aaron and the whole assembly said to them, "If only we died in Egypt or in the wilderness." Why is the Lord, do you see the accusation here? Why is the Lord bringing us to this land to only let us fall by the sword? Our wives and children will be taken as plunder. Wouldn't it be better for us to go back to Egypt? And they said to each other, let's choose a leader and go back to Egypt. Moses and Aaron fell face down in front of the whole Israelite assembly gathered there in Joshua, son of Nun and Caleb, son of Jefneh who were among those who would explore the land tore their clothes. And they said, the entire Israelite assembly, the land we pass through and explored is exceedingly good. If the Lord is pleased with us, he'll lead us into that land, a land flowing with milk and honey. He'll give it to us. Do not rebel against the Lord. Don't be afraid of the people of the land because we'll devour them. Their protection is gone, but the Lord is with us. Don't be afraid, but the people talked about stoning them and the glory of the Lord appeared at the tent of meeting to all their lights and the Lord said to Moses, how long will these people treat me with contempt? How long will they refuse to believe in me in spite of all the signs I've performed among them? Next verse who's God says, I'm going to kill them all. Moses amazingly intercedes, don't do it, God. Don't do it. It'll hurt your reputation, don't do it. And so God relents from killing them all, but notice what the compromise is down in verse 17. Now, may the Lord strength be displayed as you declared. Now, the Lord is slow to anger, abounding and forgiving and mercy. He does not leave the guilty unpunished. He punishes the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation. In accordance with your great love, forgive this in these people. Moses is interceding now, just as you've pardoned them for the time they left you, but the Lord said, watch this. I have forgiven them as you ask. I'm not going to kill them. Nevertheless, as surely as I live and as surely as the glory of the Lord fills the whole earth, not one of those who saw my glory and the signs that performed in Egypt and the wilderness, but who disobeyed and tested me 10 times, not one of them will ever see the land I promised on oath to their ancestors. No one who has treated me with contempt will ever see it. And then he says, only Joshua and Caleb get to go in. They were at the threshold, the border. They were forced to turn around and for 38 years, they walked through the wilderness until every adult died and then God took their kids in. Question. Could it be that the plague in chapter 11 was a warning shot to preempt chapter 13? Could it be that God chose to discipline severely taking a few lest he have to ultimately take them all? I think this is a picture of God severely disciplining his people to get their attention lest something worse come their way. This idea of discipline of God is alluded to in the New Testament. So, sliding now back to the end of your New Testament, about an inch from the end is the book of Hebrews. And in Hebrews chapter 12, look what the writer here says about God's discipline of his children, Hebrews chapter 12 verses 5 to 11. My son do not make light of the Lord's discipline. Do not lose heart when he rebukes you because the Lord disciplines those he loves and he chases everyone he accepts as his child. In their hardships as discipline, God is treating you as his children for what children are not disciplined by their father. If you're not disciplined and everyone undergoes discipline, then you're not legitimate children at all. Moreover, we all had parents who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the father of spirits and live? Our parents disciplined us for a little while as they thought best. God disciplines us for our good that we may share in his holiness. No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who've been trained by it. Discipline, if it is received, can keep you from something far worse. And I'm convinced that that is why God disciplines us. Some of you right now are experiencing his discipline. And I'll tell you why. He sees what you're doing. He sees where you're headed. He understands what is going on in the dark where no one else sees it. And he understands, if you do not deal with that now, one day it will destroy you. And if I have to let you get caught now, if I have to nail you now, it is because one day, if I don't, it'll destroy you. You got a little one who gets picked up for shoplifting. The police officer gives you a wink, puts handcuffs on her and sits her down in his police car. And if you're a parent, you think to yourself, what? Good. I'd much rather her face that than not face it someday when she's arrested for grand theft. Your child has a fender bender while texting. Though you're ticked off at him, part of you says what? Good. 'Cause there are too many kids who are being killed while texting while driving. I'd much rather pay for fender bender than bury my son. Are you with me? This is the disciplining power of God. I have a good friend who has experienced this in a profound way. This young man was the classic workaholic. He worked long hours to claim the letter of success and he was paid well for it. The thing is, his body paid for it as well. In a very young age, he had a heart attack. Five stints were put in. I just talked to him a couple of days ago. He looked at me and smiled and said, "Dave, that happened 10 years ago." I said, "I know, I saw you in the hospital." He said, "Yes, you did." He looked at me and he said, "This. "Apart from the day I gave my life to Christ, "that was the best day of my life. "If I had not had that heart attack, I'd be dead." He totally refocused his life. He right-sized his work. He dedicated himself to that which mattered more than money and right now he stands as an extraordinary leader who was healthy as a horse. The boy did God discipline him. Friends, God still does. Not because he doesn't love, but because he does. The land between. It's fertile ground for complaints and trust you choose. The land between. It's fertile ground for a meltdown, but also for intimate prayer you choose. The land between. It's a place where God can and will discipline you. And you can grow if you choose to listen. Thank you so much for joining us for the Word for Everyday Disciples with Dave DeSalm. If you'd like to let Pastor Dave know how this message has blessed you, send him an email at Dave@davedesalmministries.org. Then join us next time as we look to God's Word for help and hope as we follow Jesus every day. (upbeat music) (upbeat music) You [BLANK_AUDIO]
When the Lord brought His people out of slavery in Egypt, He promised to bring them up to Canaan – the “Promised Land.” But before they were ready to step into their inheritance, they had to spend time in the Land Between – the wilderness where God wanted to develop and mature them so He could display them to the world.However, after two years in the Land Between, they had yet to learn to trust and depend on God. They whined and complained about food, so God gave them manna. But soon, they wh...
