Deuteronomy 1:42-43 “And the LORD said unto me, Say unto them, Go not up, neither fight; for I am not among you; lest ye be smitten before your enemies . . . ye would not hear, but rebelled against the commandment of the LORD, and went presumptuously up into the hill.”
Going Presumptuously
Some things will never get done unless someone determines to do them. Years ago, my grandparents were burdened because they had a deaf daughter but no one to give her the Gospel in her own language. They looked all over the metro Chicago area. They searched. They wrote. Virtually no one in those early days was doing anything to reach deaf people for Christ.
One day, as they were driving down the road, my grandfather bemoaned the fact that no one was reaching the Deaf. God used that moment to define who should be doing something about it. As it turns out, it was them! Grandmother said, “Don’t you know who should work with the Deaf? You are, and I am going to help you.”
It may be that something needs to be done, and you feel like you are the right person to do it. If God has given you the burden for it and the leading to do it, it is not presumptuous to take action. In fact, it can be presumptuous not to take action.
In Deuteronomy 1, Israel was commanded to possess the land that God had given. If you recall, most of the spies came back with an “evil report.” They said it was a good land with mean giants! They were more focused on the big giants than the great God Who told them to face the giants.
The children of Israel first rebelled by doing nothing. It wasn’t their action; it was their inaction. Later, after realizing the error of their way, they decided to go up and take on the giants. God replied to them, “Go not up, neither fight; for I am not among you. . . .” What did they do? They rebelled and went up anyway. They “rebelled against the commandment of the LORD, and went presumptuously up into the hill.”
We can learn that it is not presumptuous to take on giants; it is presumptuous to leave God off. That is the difference! The key is to know what God wants and then obey what He wants. It is better to take a dangerous path in following God than to take a safe path alone.