God is NOT with You!

Very grim words coming from the mouth of Moses in the book of Numbers 14:42-43.

Israel sinned, rebelled against God's plan to bring them to the Promise Land after they were convinced by the 10 spies who surveyed the land. Israel was still in the desert on the way to the Promise Land. The trip could have taken a mere 11 days but because of their rebellion, God condemned them to a meaningless walk in the wilderness for 40 long years to eliminate the sinning generation. 

Verses 39-40 records that Israel realized their sin, confessed their sin, repented (made a 180 degree change of heart, so to speak), yet it was to no avail. They reached the limit of the patience of God. God is indeed slow to anger but that really means, he gets angry and when he gets angry, the chapter implies that we better get out of the way of that anger because the consequences are just too harsh! Of course, Moses interceded on their behalf. God delayed his killing them but God still deprived them of the Promise Land, a consequence of their rebellion.

Note that this was Israel. These are Kingdom Children. These are the "people of God", the "sheep of his pasture", God's favorites!!! These are people REDEEMED from slavery, delivered from the Angel of Death but weaving their way through the desert to the land of promise. BUT....their repentance was worthless. God no longer accepted their repentance! God's last instruction for them in the chapter was for them to turn back by way of the Red Sea to avoid the fierce tribes of the Canaanites and the Amalekites (a people that they previously defeated at Rephidim!). Why the detour? Wasn't God powerful enough to deliver them from these fierce tribes in the same way he previously did and with the same caliber of miracles that he wrought on Egypt?

Yes, God is powerful BUT...He was no longer with them in battle! So they had to weave through the desert for 40 years under human effort instead of Divine guidance! They chose to live by sight and not by faith, so God showed them the consequences of such a decision. God would still lead them but they would travel mostly on human effort, because God was no longer with them when it came to warfare, other than to protect those 20 years old and below and to protect his promises to Moses, Joshua and Caleb!