Numbers 32:8 “This is what your fathers did when I sent them from Kadesh-barnea to see the land.”

NO ONE’S PERFECT

When the leaders of the tribes of Reuben and Gad approached Moses about staying on the East side of the Jordan to live, he was livid.  He assumed they were repeating the sin of their fathers who had refused to enter the Promised Land 40 years earlier.  Moses immediately chastised them and sought to convict them to change their minds.

However, the leaders gave him an answer he didn’t expect.  They promised to lead the people across and fight for them for the land, but leave their families behind.  They were willing to leave their families for years in order to fulfill the Lord’s command to go and possess the land.  That wasn’t what Moses was expecting to hear.

TEACHING MOMENT

This passage struck me as something that we do all the time.  We jump to judgments.  You may have heard the saying “Some people only get their exercise by jumping to conclusions.”  That’s so true.  We must teach our children to refrain from judging others.  We do not know their whole story most of the time.  We especially should not pretend to know what someone else is thinking.  That can be very dangerous.

Once again, the question is how to do that.  And once again the answer is by modeling the behavior for your children.  We must set the example.  When we are faced with the opportunity to judge, we must refrain from doing so.  God is our judge.  We have no business judging others.

Now let me just say that I am as guilty as the rest.  But we must refrain.  We must let the Lord reveal their hearts.  We can observe their actions and behaviors and see how they match up to the Word, but we cannot judge their intentions or motives.

Will you allow the Lord to subdue your judgmental spirit?  Will you allow Him to speak truth through you to others?  Be like Moses – just keep pointing them to the Promised Land.