Moses Refuses the Best Offer He Ever Got, and What That Teaches Every Leader

God Offers Moses a Nation — and Moses Says No

After the disaster of the ten spies' report, after the people weep and wish they had died in Egypt, after they call for a new head to lead them back to slavery — God turns to Moses and makes him an offer that no human being could reasonably refuse:

I will destroy Israel. I will make from you, Moses — a new nation. Greater and mightier than this one. Moses could have said yes. Moses could have taken it. Moses did not fail the test.

Here is Moses's full response:

Three Layers of Moses's Argument

Moses builds his refusal on three pillars. First: Your reputation. The nations who have heard Your fame will say: "God was not able to bring these people to the land He swore to give them." Your reputation around the world will be lost. Second: This is not according to Your character. The desire to destroy all of Israel is against Your nature as God who created this world and chose Abraham and his seed to bless all nations. Third: Forgive them — because that is who You are. Moses quotes God's own words back to Him from Exodus 34: "The Lord is long-suffering and abundant in mercy, forgiving iniquity and transgression." Moses refuses to take the offer. He turns the tables on God and says: Lord, this is not like You. Your suggestion is not true to Your character. Moses argues God out of His own anger using God's own character.

Here is what I learn from this very important episode. God is not an autocrat. He is open and willing to hear and listen, which is what His righteous and loving and long-suffering nature represents. The Lord might offer us great and wonderful offers, but it does not mean that we ought to think selfishly only about what is good for us personally. Sometimes God tests us with good offers — "temptations" that look wonderful but test where our hearts and our desires reside. If we think of what is good for us personally or for our families, and forget that we are called to serve God and His people — if we choose what is good for us and not what is good for the flock that God has given us, we might be failing our calling and our fall will surely come. Leaders of God's people, here is some homework for you: please read Ezekiel chapter 34, the whole chapter.

God's Patience Has a Limit — But Moses Can Move It

God forgives — but He pronounces a limit.

Forty days scouting the land: forty years as punishment. One year per day. That generation, except Caleb and Joshua, will not enter. God carried them like a baby in the wilderness — and they still did not believe.

There is a limit to grace. There is a limit to mercy. There is a limit to forgiveness. It is not endless and it is not without consequences. This is something that many of our Christian brothers do not realize. And yet — Moses was able to change God's mind. Abraham was able to change God's mind. Jacob got through when he fought the angel at the river Jabbok. God's mind is not set in cement. A man of God can argue with God and move Him.

Two people from that entire generation entered into the land: Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh. The lack of faith of the others cost them 40 more years of waiting. But they made it. And their children — and our children — are still making it. After 2000 years of dispersion around the whole world, we are a living fulfillment of God's promises. We have no reason to be despondent, no reason to be fearful, no reason to hold back. We are standing on the promises of God — looking forward, based on God's track record and His word.