Numbers 14:10 But the whole assembly talked about stoning them. Then the glory of the LORD appeared at the tent of meeting to all the Israelites.
Not every moment as a leader is of equal satisfaction! Sometimes leadership can be an outright pain in the butt. People can be very fickle, changing opinion at the dropping of a hat. The herd mentality or crowd behavior can take over and everything go haywire.
We have seen this in our own recent history. A seemingly peaceful crowd can turn and follow complete strangers into danger. But this is nothing new. People have always been fairly malleable. It just takes someone speaking in a way that conveys authority to move a crowd in a direction they would never choose for themselves.
History is littered with whole nations following a leader into destruction. We have had world wars following people and their agendas, that on their own, they would never pursue. All we need to do is find a convenient group to blame for our woes, pass out the victim hats, and we are ready to be led like lemmings off a cliff.
Moses has delivered the bad news that Israel’s rebellious hearts had caused the LORD’s plan to be sidetracked temporarily. Instead of entering the Promised Land within a few days, they were going to be cleansed of their rebellion. They would die in the wilderness and the next generation would enter the Promised Land. This was not good news.
And like many crowds, they let their emotions take over. They blame the messenger rather than taking responsibility for their own actions. It is easy to point a finger, except when the finger points at ourselves. And this is exactly what Moses has done. He has placed blame squarely in their laps, and they didn’t like it.
So, what do they do? They will just kill the current leadership and appoint people who will coddle them, telling them what they want to hear. No more of this making people feel bad. No more pointing of fingers. It is the system that is broken. We just need a better system.
But a change of leadership will not change the heart of the people. What a lesson for us today in our country. Our leadership is corrupt because we are corrupt. Just like the Israelites, we need the LORD to show up and clean house. It won’t be a pleasant process. It will take time. It took them forty years of living in the wilderness.
We need repentance as a nation. We can’t expect the LORD’s blessing on our nation with rampant rebellion against His ways. And repentance begins in the Church. Perhaps the blame for the ills of the nation lands squarely in the Church’s lap.
The Arnold Journey 