Hey Bible readers, I'm Tara Lee Cobble, and I'm your host for the Bible Recap.

Today we got to read a psalm. I bet you love that. Since we're working through the Bible

chronologically, we'll mostly have the psalms sprinkled throughout our reading where they've been written as a response to what's happening at the time. You may have noticed that Moses was the author of this particular psalm. This is the only psalm he wrote. But before we get to that, let's talk about the situation he wrote it about. Today in numbers, the people are responding to the reports of the ten spies who argued that

they couldn't take the land of Canaan. This was a mess, you guys. Because these ten leaders were

fearful, the whole camp is thrown into chaos. The people tried to usurp God's authority by choosing

a leader other than the one God had appointed and by going where God wasn't leading, back to Egypt. This idea of going

back to Egypt isn't just a theme for them. It becomes a biblical metaphor for doubting God,

turning away from him, and living into ourselves. As for the Israelites, their doubt has turned to

fear, which prompted rebellion. If you don't bring your doubt to God, like we've seen Moses do repeatedly,

your doubt will drive you from God. So Moses and Aaron fall on their faces, Joshua and Caleb

tear their clothes in grief, and then they try to rally the people to trust God, but their speech

is far from effective. The people wanted to stone them.

Fortunately, in the midst of the riot, God shows up. But he does not have good news. He wants to kill

all the people and start over with Moses. This is the same thing he proposed back in Exodus 32 when

the people worship their own jewelry. But Moses intervenes, just like he did

back then, he pleads with God to protect his own name in front of the Egyptians, even arguing

on behalf of the people at his own expense. Don't you think he might have been happy to get rid of those

people and just wing it on his own with God? But he doesn't. He stands on the promises

and character of God. He quotes God back to God. God relents, but not without consequence.

The ten spies who doubted him and worked up a panic in his people so that they rebelled against him,

they died of the plague. And all of the men of fighting

age who refused to fight and enter Canaan, who said they'd rather die in the wilderness,

...