“Then, as the Lord our God commanded us, we set out from Horeb and went toward the hill country of the Amorites through all that vast and dreadful wilderness that you have seen, and so we reached Kadesh Barnea.
Then I said to you, “You have reached the hill country of the Amorites, which the Lord our God is giving us.
See, the Lord your God has given you the land.
Go up and take possession of it as the Lord, the God of your ancestors, told you.
Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.
”Then all of you came to me and said, “Let us send men ahead to spy out the land for us
and bring back a report about the route we are to take and the towns we will come to.”
The idea seemed good to me; so I selected twelve of you, one man from each tribe.
Deut.1:19-23
Moses was faithful about obeying the Lord-usually.
But there were a couple of moments, situations where he caved to peer pressure,
or at least the pressure from the clamoring of the Israelites, whom God said repeatedly were a “stiff-necked and rebellious people. In Deuteronomy 1 is Moses recounting to the people the major events of those 40 years in the desert.
As my family read this chapter last night I noticed for the first time that it was not God’s plan for 12 spies to be sent to into the land which God had already promised to give them. However because of the clamoring and pressure of the people Moses gave in to their idea, an idea that resulted in a bad report, riddled with exaggerations and unbelief. Only Caleb and Joshua had the faith to trust God and it served them well, and Joshua led Israel after the death of Moses, who only saw the Promised Land, but was barred from entering. Here Moses tells the people the price he would have to pay because he listened to his peers instead of completely do things the way Adonai commanded:
“Because of you the Lord became angry with me also and said, “You shall not enter it, either. But your assistant, Joshua son of Nun, will enter it.” Deut. 1: 37-38
Beloved, when situations arise where you are feeling pressure from those around you who may be giving you “advice” that is contrary to what the Lord through the Holy Spirit has already made clear to you, my suggestion (and Moses’ too if he were around) would be to ALWAYS heed the Lord’s clear direction–above all else.