Long-Term Plan vs. Short-Term Action

Scripture: Then all of you approached me and said, ‘Let’s send men ahead of us, so that they may explore the land for us and bring us back a report about the route we should go up and the cities we will come to.’ The plan seemed good to me, so I selected 12 men from among you, one man for each tribe. Deuteronomy 1:22-23

Observation: As Moses is retelling to Israel the original events of the past 40 years, he recounts how they first approached the promised land but the people refused to enter. This retelling has an interesting detail. In other details, God tells Moses to do something, Moses tells it to the people, and they see that it is good. However, when it came to scouting the promised land ... here Moses says this was an idea of people, brought to him, and he deemed the plan to be good.

It was God's plan to immediately send the people into the promised land, and have them occupy it as the inheritance of Abraham. It was the people's plan - executed by Moses - to scout the land, foster their doubts and fears. God then made his plan one that involved a 40 year curse to wander the wilderness because they refused to enter the land, while waiting for all the men who had refused to trust in God to die.

In other words, God had a plan with an end result. When Israel refused to follow the plan, he took action to alter the near-term course of the plan. Yet the end result - the outcome - did not change, and there was punishment for those who failed to obey the original plan.

Application: Our best life involves following God's plan. When I refuse, God's will, direction, and ultimate outcome is unchanged. However, how his will is accomplished changes, and my life's direction is altered in a negative way.

I can see how this has played out in my life. I have had some great outcomes in my life! And I have had some terrible roads that got me here. Those terrible times all occurred during times where I was refusing to listen to God, and not even believing he existed. God never changed his planned outcomes for my life, but I had to go through some curses and hardships.

I know that my long-term future will be great. I also now know that the more I obey God, the better my day-to-day life will be.

Prayer: Abba, daddy, I listen for your instructions today. I seek to obey what you would have me do. I will go where you send me, and do what you ask. Please guide me. Amen.