"Girl, I brought you into this world, and I will take you out!" I can't confirm nor deny that this was said directly to me in my rebellious teen years. Since you are reading this, we can safely conclude that an attitude adjustment took place along the way.
Surely others have heard this phrase, said it, or had it spoken to them. It's a harsh thing to say to someone, yet God said something like this to the Israelites after he set them free from captivity in Egypt. And guess what happened to the people God said this to? Hint, God doesn't bluff.
The people died! All of them. Well, almost all of them. He spared every child under twenty and two men named Joshua and Caleb. They believed God and spoke by faith, so they were spared.
This all sounds unbelievable, but every word is true. All of God's haters died from wasting diseases or were killed. They never had a chance to adjust their attitudes. They had a history of complaining against God. Read about it for yourself:
Numbers 14:27–30
“How long will this wicked community grumble against me? I have heard the complaints of these grumbling Israelites. So, tell them, ‘As surely as I live, declares the Lord, I will do to you the very thing I heard you say: In this wilderness, your bodies will fall — every one of you, twenty years old or more, who was counted in the census and who has grumbled against me. Not one of you will enter the land I swore with uplifted hand to make your home, except Caleb son of Jephunneh, and Joshua son of Nun
God Hears Us
These verses shook me to my core, and here's why. These verses demonstrate how powerful and Holy God is. The passage above also highlights the fact that God is listening to us. In my head, I want to believe he is only listening when I pray directly to him. The above verses clearly state that God was listening to the people complain about him, and he is also listening to us.
If you're anything like me, you're now scrolling through your mental Rolodex, trying to remember if you've recently said any sinful things against God. The Israelites mentioned in scripture were genuinely afraid to go to battle with a people bigger in size who also had more excellent weapons than…
