The generation that balked at the report of the spies may not have lost their salvation, but they did forfeit the blessings of God. Moses forfeited the blessings of God when he obstructed the people’s vision of the power of God’s Word by striking the rock instead of speaking to it. God is warning His people, here in His Law, that the many abundant blessings and precious and very great promises He has in store for us can be forfeited by unbelief and disobedience.

This is as true for the followers of Christ as it was for the ancient Israelites. If we will not believe the Lord and will not walk in His ways, how can we expect to know the full and abundant life He has for us in Jesus? We forfeit the blessings He continually holds out to us because of our little faith.

Discipline is one of the Lord’s ways to keep us in the way of His covenant, to keep us on track to know and enjoy Him and His promises. We need to understand His discipline, and what they require of us in the way of provisional or temporary disciplines, so that we recognize and respond to them as we should. Thus we can know the benefit God intends through them and continue to grow in our covenant relationship with Him.

T. M. Moore

The book of Ecclesiastes is a crucial resource for understanding the Biblical worldview against the backdrop of our secular age. Follow T. M.’s studies in Ecclesiastes by downloading the free, weekly studies available in our Scriptorium Resources page at The Fellowship of Ailbe. Click hereto see the weekly studies available thus far.

Except as indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.