13 They quickly forgot His works;
They did not wait for His counsel,
14 But craved intensely in the wilderness,
And [n]tempted God in the desert.
15 So He gave them their request,
But sent a [o]wasting disease among them.16 When they became envious of Moses in the camp,
And of Aaron, the holy one of the Lord,
17 The earth opened and swallowed up Dathan,
And engulfed the [p]company of Abiram.
18 And a fire blazed up in their [q]company;
The flame consumed the wicked.19 They made a calf in Horeb
And worshiped a molten image.
20 Thus they exchanged their glory
For the image of an ox that eats grass.
21 They forgot God their Savior,
Who had done great things in Egypt,
22 [r]Wonders in the land of Ham
And awesome things by the [s]Red Sea.
23 Therefore He said that He would destroy them,
Had not Moses His chosen one stood in the breach before Him,
To turn away His wrath from destroying them.
24 Then they despised the pleasant land;
They did not believe in His word,
25 But grumbled in their tents;
They did not listen to the voice of the Lord.
26 Therefore He [t]swore to them
That He would cast them down in the wilderness,
27 And that He would cast their seed among the nations
And scatter them in the lands.
As this psalm continues, we see once more the weakness of faith that is based on miracles. But even worse than that, the consequences of doing things our own way. Some died early on for challenging God’s messengers, but ultimately, the rebellion of the Israelites ensured that only two of them would ever see the promised land.
They would all die in a place that wasn’t meant for them, as it says “they exchanged their glory for the image of an ox that eats grass.” These were the people chosen by God to be His own, and they turned to cheap substitutes. Boy am I ever glad we don’t do that… Rather, how many times are we settling for second best?
It’s one thing if “second best” is vanilla ice cream instead of chocolate (or vice versa if chocolate is your fav). But when it comes to God’s plan, second best doesn’t hold a candle, much like worshipping a cow, or the trees, or our favorite singer, or actor, or our job, etc. Some of these things are great, but none are worthy of our devotion.
What are we settling for? Why do we sell ourselves short? We are the children of God, adopted as heirs with Christ–or at least you’ve been invited, if you haven’t accepted yet. That is your calling, and His plan is no consolation prize–it is THE prize. God has invited you to walk with him, so “listen to the voice of the Lord” and press on, keep going and don’t give up or give in. Like Paul, we need to “forget what lies behind and reach forward to what lies ahead.”