Commentary on "From Complaints to Apostasy"

STEVE PITCHER

 

Day 5: Wednesday, October 28, 2009

 

I must here make a confession to my fellow believers. This lesson made me angry. Not hateful, just simply angry. The author in today’s lesson identifies another “mistake.” First, let’s look at the way the mistake is presented.

The first text and question is as follows:

Read Deuteronomy 1:19–23. What mistake was made here?

Let’s see what Deut. 1:19-23 says:

"Then we set out from Horeb, and went through all that great and terrible wilderness which you saw on the way to the hill country of the Amorites, just as the LORD our God had commanded us; and we came to Kadesh-barnea. 20 "I said to you, 'You have come to the hill country of the Amorites which the LORD our God is about to give us. 21 'See, the LORD your God has placed the land before you; go up, take possession, as the LORD, the God of your fathers, has spoken to you. Do not fear or be dismayed.' 22 "Then all of you approached me and said, 'Let us send men before us, that they may search out the land for us, and bring back to us word of the way by which we should go up and the cities which we shall enter.' 23 "The thing pleased me and I took twelve of your men, one man for each tribe.”

Was the fact that the people approached Moses with a request to send out spies a mistake? Moses was a godly man, and this request pleased him. The author then presents the following:

Read Numbers 13 and answer the following questions: • Though the Lord agreed to let them send spies, why was that a compromise?

Reading Numbers 13, it is not just that the Lord “agreed” to let them send spies, it is stated by Holy Scripture that the Lord “commanded” the spies to be sent out. Num. 13:3 says, “So Moses sent them from the wilderness of Paran at the command of the LORD.”

Why the author is here identifying “mistakes” and “compromises” I will not attempt to understand. I can only state that these particular passages of scripture do not indicate mistakes and compromises. They do show interactions between Israel, their leader Moses and God. These passages indicate a healthy, ongoing relationship between God and his people, mediated by Moses. We are told to “pray without ceasing.” In our prayers, even our fleshly desires are transformed by the Holy Spirit, who takes our desires to God. Romans 8:26 explains, “In the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.”

Let’s not look for mistakes and compromises where there are none. Let’s find how God and his people communicate with one another. This passage in Numbers gives us a great historical example of this, clarified by the teaching of the New Testament as we understand how our imperfect prayers are transformed by the power of the Holy Spirit into “groanings” that are delivered directly to God.

 

Summary

1. The Scriptures suggested for study do not support the lesson authors suggestion that there were mistakes and compromises.
2. These passages indicate a healthy dialogue between God’s people and their Lord, through a mediator.
3. The Holy Spirit takes our weak requests and transforms them into “groanings” too deep for words, requests that are taken directly to God by the mediation of the Holy Spirit.
4. Let’s not look for mistakes and compromises where there are none.
5. Allow your prayers to be transformed by the power of the Holy Spirit. Pray scripturally. Pray Scripture, if you cannot pray anything else. The Lord loves to hear from you and will answer you through his Spirit and his Holy Scriptures.

 

GO TO DAY 6

 

Copyright 2009 BibleStudiesForAdventists.com. All rights reserved. Revised October 22, 2009. This website is published by Life Assurance Ministries, Glendale, Arizona, USA, the publisher of Proclamation! Magazine. Contact email: BibleStudiesForAdventists@gmail.com.

The Sabbath School Bible Study Guide and the corresponding E.G. White Notes are published by Pacific Press Publishing Association, which is owned and operated by the Seventh-day Adventist church. The current quarter's editions are pictured above.

 

Official Adventist Resources

Standard Edition Study Guide Week 5

Teacher's Edition Study Guide Week 5

Easy Reading Edition Study Guide Week 5

Search the Complete Published Ellen G. White Writings