Contemplative Bible Reading

Numbers 14:44-45 (New Living Translation)

44 But the people defiantly pushed ahead toward the hill country, even though neither Moses nor the Ark of the Lord’s Covenant left the camp. 45 Then the Amalekites and the Canaanites who lived in those hills came down and attacked them and chased them back as far as Hormah.

defy: verb, openly resist or refuse to obey.

This is part of the (hi)story of the people traveling from Egypt to the land promised to them by God. They stumbled along the way. These verses are about the time when they smacked themselves in the forehead and said, “Well, of course we can take the land. God promised us.” Of course their realization was at the wrong time and for the wrong reasons.

They defied God. They openly resisted God and refused to obey God.

The results were predictable and predicted. They were routed and chased and humiliated and everything else bad. It was a costly mistake.

And this still is a mistake. I can defy God. Yes, I can. Boy, that makes me feel big and strong. Foolish. Just as a two-year-old (or 22 or 32 or 42 or…) can defy gravity and take that leap of foolishness, defying God has the same result. I may not feel the pain this minute or this day, but it will come—just as sure as jumping off the roof of the house towards that swimming pool that looks so close but isn’t—it will come.

But I defied God. I am powerful. No, I am only foolish. God, help me in my unbelief.