In the Meantime: God’s Right

[podcast]http://www.revkwon.com/podcast/meantime-god_right.mp3[/podcast] The title of today’s message is, “God’s Right.” When you focus on what’s wrong, you lose sight of what God makes right. There’s something important you have to keep in mind: your idea of doing something right may not be God’s idea of doing something right. When you realize and accept this truth, it changes everything. We have so much to cover in the Bible today so let’s just open it up and start right away. ¹The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ² “Send men to spy out the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the people of Israel. From each tribe of their fathers you shall send a man, every one a chief among them.” ³ So Moses sent them from the wilderness of Paran, according to the command of the Lord, all of them men who were heads of the people of Israel. (Numbers 13:1-3) There were 12 spies. I’m not sure if you’re familiar with this story. But the Israelites are in the wilderness and they are sending in spies into the promise land so that they can figure out how to conquer it. Amongst the 12 were two guys whose names were Joshua and Caleb. At the time they were about 40 years old and the leaders of their tribe. What’s more interesting is where they are currently in the story. In the story that we’re reading, we see that the Israelites are in the wilderness of Paran. The wilderness of Paran is important because there’s a lot of history that happened in this great expanse of land. But let me tell you why it is called the wilderness of Paran. It is called that because this area of land wasn’t that good, but I believe the translation is something like this—place of unripe figs or land of many caves. It’s really your choice. I can make the argument for both. The reason I’m making the argument for both is because figuratively and literally, this place is mentioned to tell the stories of the lives of people at critical junctures. For instance, Abraham sends Hagar and Ishmael to Paran and Hagar meets God and God takes care of Ishamael in the desert here. In this case, it is not until Ishamael and Hagar get to the wilderness, after they are kicked out of the tent by Abraham, that they understand the purpose of what had happened to them. One day, they were kicking it in Abraham’s tent and the next, they are out of water, and they have nothing to eat and are ready to commit murder-suicide, then God meets them and gives them a purpose to life. David comes to Paran after the prophet Samuel dies and he’s living in the caves, hiding from Paul. It is here that he meets Abigail, his future wife. Moreover, the Israelites spend 38 years in Paran. We know Miram is buried here and so is Moses and most of the first generation of the people coming from Egypt. So keep in mind that this place is important. I want you to see what happens, let’s go to verse 25. ²⁵ At the end of forty days they returned from spying out the land. ²⁶ And they came to Moses and Aaron and to all the congregation of the people of Israel in the wilderness of Paran, at Kadesh. They brought back word to them and to all the congregation, and showed them the fruit of the land. ²⁷ And they told him, “We came to the land to which you sent us. It flows with milk and honey, and this is its fruit. ²⁸ However, the people who dwell in the land are strong, and the cities are fortified and very large. And besides, we saw the descendants of Anak there. ²⁹ The Amalekites dwell in the land of the Negeb. The Hittites, the Jebusites, and the Amorites dwell in the hill country. And the Canaanites dwell by the sea, and along the Jordan.”  I want you to notice something here in verse 27 and 28. Whoever is talking says, “It flows with milk and honey, and this is its fruit… However, the people who dwell in the land are strong, and the cities are fortified and very large.” Don’t you hate that word, “however”? I hate that word. It’s good, however… It’s like a really bad fine print clause in the contract. “I love everything about you, however, I could love you more…” Who talks like that? I know you know what’ I’m talking about when I say this. You’re qualifications are perfect for the job, however…. It’s so dreaded. It’s so wrong. Don’t you feel sometimes that you go and spy what’s coming next in your life and you see that it’s so good, however, there is a great challenge that needs to be overcome in order to obtain it. In the case of the Israelites there were these really big people with their really big cities. This is our meantime moment isn’t it? We do everything God asks us to do and then BAM—there’s a giant in our way. If we pass the giant then that’s great, but if we don’t well, that would be horrible. Let’s keep reading. ³⁰ But Caleb quieted the people before Moses and said, “Let us go up at once and occupy it, for we are well able to overcome it.” ³¹ Then the men who had gone up with him said, “We are not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we are.” ³² So they brought to the people of Israel a bad report of the land that they had spied out, saying, “The land, through which we have gone to spy it out, is a land that devours its inhabitants, and all the people that we saw in it are of great height. ³³ And there we saw the Nephilim (the sons of Anak, who come from the Nephilim), and we seemed to ourselves like grasshoppers, and so we seemed to them.” (Numbers 13:25-33) I’ll tell you all right now, if you act like Caleb believes, then you have the right attitude. But if you’re like the other spies and only see the bad and negative aspects of a situation then you will be stuck in Paran, in the caves, or like an unripe fig, either way, it sucks. You have to give it to Caleb, he is a believer. He believes that his life was meant for more than what it is now. He’s in Paran and he’s ready to believe and act in faith that there is more coming because the God he believes in is stronger than any opposition that may stand against him. Some of us today need a little more faith like Caleb’s today. He sees that he is qualified, he sees that he wants to get to the goal. He sees that there is a force that is great and strong; however, he sees that his God is greater. If your meantime is opposition like you’ve never known or ever wanted to face, you need to open your eyes and take a look at God. You are in the meantime for a reason. You’re in this Paran to meet God and make a choice between trusting your God or trusting your version of what you think is “right.” You may be afraid, your assessment may be grave, but God’s always right. His right is purposeful. He wants you to see the opposition so that you can believe when it’s all over, it wasn’t you, it was Him. There was a reason God waited until Sunday to resurrect Jesus from the grave. It wasn’t because He couldn’t do it a minute after Jesus died. It was because by the third day, a dead body in the Middle East should be somewhere between fertilizer and a raisin and everybody knew it. You can’t deny Jesus’ death if you’re resurrected when your body should be decomposing. This is exactly why God wants you to see what’s ahead of you in your meantime. This is how He shows us that He’s right. God knows what He is doing. He places exactly the obstacles that lay ahead of you so that you can’t accomplish it on your own, so that while you’re in Paran you will realize that when you walk out of that cave, you’re going to need to lean on God. Let’s keep reading.  ¹Then all the congregation raised a loud cry, and the people wept that night. ² And all the people of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron. The whole congregation said to them, “Would that we had died in the land of Egypt! Or would that we had died in this wilderness! ³ Why is the Lord bringing us into this land, to fall by the sword? Our wives and our little ones will become a prey. Would it not be better for us to go back to Egypt?” ⁴ And they said to one another, “Let us choose a leader and go back to Egypt.” Do you see the solution to their problem? Is it right? Does it sound like a good idea? Let’s go back to the place we were slaves, at least we won’t die by the sword there? They are okay with dying by whip? Sometimes, our ways are stupid. Why would you go backward? Sometimes we go backward don’t we? We go backward thinking that it is a better alternative than going the way God has us to go. But it’s not a good idea. If you don’t know what happened, all of the Israelites died out slowly in the meantime, never seeing the realization of why they left Egypt in the first place. Let’s keep reading in verse 5. ⁵ Then Moses and Aaron fell on their faces before all the assembly of the congregation of the people of Israel. ⁶ And Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, who were among those who had spied out the land, tore their clothes ⁷ and said to all the congregation of the people of Israel, “The land, which we passed through to spy it out, is an exceedingly good land. ⁸ If the Lord delights in us, he will bring us into this land and give it to us, a land that flows with milk and honey. ⁹ Only do not rebel against the Lord. And do not fear the people of the land, for they are bread for us. Their protection is removed from them, and the Lord is with us; do not fear them.” ¹⁰ Then all the congregation said to stone them with stones. But the glory of the Lord appeared at the tent of meeting to all the people of Israel. (Numbers 14:1-10) Verse 8 is important here in chapter 14. I want you to underline or circle it in your Bible or take notes. You all got to take notes, you can’t get this anywhere else. Look at how Caleb or Joshua is speaking, “IF the LORD delights…” I’m going tell you right now, that is not a question for anybody who believes in Jesus Christ as their personal Lord and savior. When you believe there is no reason to ask “if,” you know. The reason Jesus died on the cross and then was raised for the grave was so that whenever somebody would believe in Him to be the sacrifice and justification of his or her sin, that that person will be the delight of God. Meaning, if you believe Jesus as your savior and you are one with Him, just as God delighted at Jesus during his baptism, so when the blood of Jesus baptized you in the faith, God delighted at you. Somebody say, “Amen.” The promise you were given by God, to be the person He created you to be, it’s coming, but you have to be willing to take a risk and go. God is with you, do not fear the obstacle that lays ahead of you. All of you have met with me over the last few weeks and have agreed to start on a journey out of Paran and into your promise land. It is not faith when we talk about our promise land as a place that only the Israelites obtained. It is faith when we believe in a God who is greater than our obstacles and start marching with Him toward the prize He wants to award us. Let’s see how Caleb’s story ends, Joshua 14. ⁶ Then the people of Judah came to Joshua at Gilgal. And Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite said to him, “You know what the Lord said to Moses the man of God in Kadesh-barnea concerning you and me. ⁷ I was forty years old when Moses the servant of the Lord sent me from Kadesh-barnea to spy out the land, and I brought him word again as it was in my heart. ⁸ But my brothers who went up with me made the heart of the people melt; yet I wholly followed the Lord my God. ⁹ And Moses swore on that day, saying, ‘Surely the land on which your foot has trodden shall be an inheritance for you and your children forever, because you have wholly followed the Lord my God.’ ¹⁰ And now, behold, the Lord has kept me alive, just as he said, these forty-five years since the time that the Lord spoke this word to Moses, while Israel walked in the wilderness. And now, behold, I am this day eighty-five years old. ¹¹ I am still as strong today as I was in the day that Moses sent me; my strength now is as my strength was then, for war and for going and coming. ¹² So now give me this hill country of which the Lord spoke on that day, for you heard on that day how the Anakim were there, with great fortified cities. It may be that the Lord will be with me, and I shall drive them out just as the Lord said.” ¹³ Then Joshua blessed him, and he gave Hebron to Caleb the son of Jephunneh for an inheritance. ¹⁴ Therefore Hebron became the inheritance of Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite to this day, because he wholly followed the Lord, the God of Israel. ¹⁵ Now the name of Hebron formerly was Kiriath-arba. (Arba was the greatest man among the Anakim.) And the land had rest from war. (Joshua 14:6-15) The conclusion of Caleb’s story is simple—he conquered because he trusted God to lead him. But I want you to see his life unfold. Caleb had to spend 40 years in the meantime to get what he knew God had promised him. The worst part of it all was that if it were up to him, he would have gotten out of the meantime 40 years prior. But life works in an interesting way sometimes, doesn’t it. Sometimes we’re living up in caves like unripe figs because other people stop us and keep us from believing what God tells us to believe. We sometimes lose hope because of this. Sometimes we’re in the meantime because we believe God can’t do what He promises us. So we try to stay where we are and live there until there is another way. Caleb will tell you that there is no other way. There is God’s way or death. In this season of life that we are in, we can call our place the meantime, or we can call our place the “Paran” whatever we want to call it. I know one thing for sure, God’s way to get you out is the right way to get out if you want to live to see what you were created to do. Let’s pray. Next week we are starting a brand new series called, “Death to the selfie” and I actually just thought it up because my wife and I have a joint Instagram that I don’t know how use yet, but it made me realize that a lot of people take selfies and it’s all so photoshopped that there is no real truth or identity in it. Bring a friend, listen to the podcast, read the transcript, just don’t miss it.