And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying. Numbers 13:1
There are two reasons for repeating something that you have already told somebody. The first, and most common, reason for repeating yourself is that the first time you said it didn’t do any good. The person either didn’t hear you, or else they didn’t heed you. So you had to tell them again, and if necessary again. The second reason for repeating yourself to somebody is that they did hear and heed you, and you are confident that they will keep doing so. That’s why God kept giving commandments to Moses; He knew Moses would obey. Take today’s text for example, we find these same words more than 50 times in the book of Numbers alone. Good for Moses! Would we be as heedful?
There is an old saying that it is surprising how quickly somebody will stop throwing the ball to you if you never make any effort to catch it. One of the realities of being a Christian is that God will give us directions from His Word on how we are to live as a Christian. Some Christians will hear and heed those directions, most of the time anyway, and they make progress in their spiritual life. But some others don’t seem to get the message and their spiritual lives become a mess of disobedience. Those folks don’t need to wonder why God stops dealing with them anymore.
Moses had a very special privilege in that God spoke directly and personally to him to give him his directions. Given all that God wanted Moses to do, the direct approach was necessary. But it is not necessary for you and me today. We have within the covers of our Bibles all of the directions that God gave to Moses, and to all of the other human instruments God used to provide us with the Scriptures. No other instructions are necessary. All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works. 2 Timothy 3:16,17. God gives us our instructions from His Book that contains all of the instructions He would ever need to give us.
If we want to know what the Lord wants us to do, all we need to do is ask Him to tell us, and then read His instructions. But make sure you follow the instructions, or you might not get any more. But if you do follow the instructions, God will keep leading you in His way. – Jim MacIntosh