The book of Joshua is the Bible’s record of how the Israelites, under Joshua’s leadership, claimed their promised land of Canaan. Unfortunately for the Israelites, however, four decades earlier their initial attempt at completing that assignment had produced disastrous results. The story of that first invasion is loaded with spiritual lessons, and I’d like to share four of those lessons with you. These certainly aren’t the only four that could be named, but they are four good ones.

Lesson #1: God has a plan.

God had a sweeping, grandiose plan to turn the Israelites from Egyptian slaves into Canaan’s conquerors. The plan went as follows:

• He raised up Moses to lead the Israelites in their exodus out of Egypt (Exodus chapters 1-4).
• He parted the Red Sea for the Israelites to pass through on dry land and then brought the waters back together to drown Pharaoh’s army (Exodus chapter 14).
• He sustained the Israelites in the wilderness region between the Red Sea and Mount Sinai (Exodus chapters 15-18).
• He brought the Israelites to Mount Sinai three months after the exodus (Exodus 19:1), and there He gave them His law and instructed them to build the Tabernacle as their movable place of worship (Exodus chapters 19-40, Leviticus chapters 1-27, Numbers chapters 1-9).
• He led the Israelites to begin their march toward Canaan eleven months after they had arrived at Mount Sinai (Numbers 10:11).
• He sustained them in the wilderness region between Mount Sinai and Canaan (Numbers chapters 10-12).

All of this proves that God wasn’t just “winging it” or making it up as He went along in regards to His dealings with the Israelites. He had a plan, and the plan would work if the Israelites would work the plan. The same is true in our lives concerning God’s plans for us.

Lesson #2: God doesn’t need our ideas to help Him with His plan.

The Israelites came to Kadesh Barnea (Deuteronomy 1:19) in the Wilderness of Paran, which was the very brink of Canaan, and set up their sprawling encampment there (Numbers 13:16). This was to be home base for their victorious invasion of Canaan. It was then that Moses said to the Israelites, “Look, the Lord your God has set the land before you; go up and possess it, as the Lord God of your fathers has spoken to you; do not fear or be discouraged” (Deuteronomy 1:21, N.K.J.V.).

Okay, so far, so good. But then things got murky. While a straightforward reading of Numbers 13:1-2 tells us that God told Moses to send 12 men (one man from each of Israel’s 12 tribes) into Canaan to spy out the land before the invasion, Deuteronomy 1:22-23 provides the background details for why God did that. In those verses, Moses looks back upon the events of those days and says to the Israelites, “And every one of you came near to me and said, ‘Let us send men before us, and let them search out the land for us, and bring back word to us of the way by which we should go up, and of the cities into which we shall come’” (Deuteronomy 1:22, N.K.J.V.).

Uh oh. Rather than boldly marching forward to claim what God had promised them, the Israelites started doing their own strategizing and planning. They said, “Before we start marching into Canaan to battle the inhabitants there, let’s send in a small group of men to spy out the land for us so that we’ll be better informed.” Even Moses got caught up in that plan, as he admitted, “The plan pleased me well…” (Deuteronomy 1:23, N.K.J.V.).

At that point, God could have become incensed and lowered the boom on the Israelites for doing their own planning. Instead, He spoke to Moses and signed off on the strategy by laying out specific guidelines for it (Numbers 13:1). The group should consist of twelve men, one man being chosen from each of Israel’s twelve tribes (Numbers 13:2). Why did God do this? He did it because He knew those spies would bring back a scary report about the land, and He would use that report as a test of the Israelites’ obedience, courage, and faith in Him. Make no mistake, though, if their faith had been ideal the Israelites wouldn’t have had to take that test because they wouldn’t have cooked up that plan about sending a group of spies into the land. May we not be guilty of repeating their mistake in our lives.

Lesson #3: Disobedience to God’s plan brings disaster.

The twelve spies were chosen and spent forty days in Canaan studying the land (Numbers 13:4-25). Then they returned with the good news that the land was a land of abundance just as God had said (Numbers 13:26-27). The bad news was that the inhabitants of the land were strong people – some of them were literal giants – who lived in large, heavily fortified cities (Numbers 13:28-29,32-33).

After hearing that report, only Caleb and Joshua, two of the twelve spies, wanted to proceed onward to take the land (Numbers 13:30, 14:6-9). The rest of the people cried all that night, complained against Moses and Aaron, and started talking about electing a new leader to lead them back to Egypt (Numbers 14:1-5). The peoples’ actions angered God so much that He told Moses He would strike the Israelites with a pestilence, disinherit them, and raise up a new nation for Moses to lead (Numbers 14:11-12). (This was actually the second time God had threatened to do this: Exodus 32:1-10.)

Moses, however, being the great leader he was, pleaded for the Israelites and convinced God to spare them (Numbers 14:13-20). This didn’t mean, though, that there wouldn’t be severe consequences for their disobedience. For the next forty years, one year per each day the spies were in Canaan, the Israelites would wander in the wilderness area surrounding Canaan and bury bodies as each Israelite twenty years old or older at the time of their refusal to claim Canaan would die off by means of some type of “plague” (Numbers 14:21-32). Only Joshua and Caleb would be spared this sentence (Numbers 14:30,38). We ourselves should remember this disastrous death sentence whenever we are tempted to choose the path of disobedience to God.

Lesson #4: Opportunities missed because of rebellion against God’s plan can be gone forever.

After Moses relayed God’s word of judgment, the people spent a night of deep mourning (Numbers 14:39). The next morning, they made their way to the top of a nearby mountain, confessed their sin to God, and dedicated themselves to going in and taking Canaan (Numbers 14:39-40). Even though we might be tempted to think this was exactly what God wanted to hear and that He would again forego His threat of judgment, Moses knew better. So, he explained to the people that even this new round of “confession” and “dedication” from them was really just new rebellion against God’s new command (Numbers 14:41). He also warned them that any attempted invasion of Canaan at that time would not succeed because they would be doing it without God (Numbers 14:42-43).

In typical Israelite disobedience, though, a group of them tried an invasion even as Moses and the Ark of the Covenant remained in camp (Numbers 14:44). And the results were predictable as the Amalekites and the Canaanites attacked them and drove them back (Numbers 14:45). This failed military effort serves as a sobering lesson that opportunities missed because of rebellion can be gone forever. Here again, let us learn from the Israelites’ mistakes and not miss out on any God-given opportunities in our lives.

Now, in closing, let me say that God is still in the planning business and He has a plan for not only where He wants to take you in life but how He wants to get you there. Because you live on this side of Jesus Christ’s life, death, and resurrection, that plan begins with you believing in Jesus Christ (God the Son) as your personal Savior. Then, once you’ve made that decision, you must stay in right fellowship with God by praying, dying to your own plans, and asking God to funnel you into His will for your life. Never doubt that the same God who once led Moses and the Israelites wants to lead you, and He will do so if you will let Him.

And as you journey along with God, be sure to keep in mind these four spiritual lessons we have learned from Israel’s failed invasion of Canaan. Don’t repeat the mistakes of the Israelites lest you yourself be forced to do some “wilderness living” of your own. Wildernesses are not pleasant, and so here’s hoping that you opt for God and His plan. That plan, by the way, is better than anything you can come up with anyway. As someone has said, “It’s what you would want for yourself if you had enough sense to want it.”