“But they presumed to go up to the heights of the hill country, although neither the ark of the covenant of the Lord nor Moses departed out of the camp. Then the Amalekites and the Canaanites who lived in that hill country came down and defeated them and pursued them, even to Hormah.” (Numbers 14:44-45, ESV)
How often do we walk by presumption rather than by faith? The people of Israel had rebelled against the Lord, refusing to follow Him in the conquest of Canaan. He clearly told them that they would reap from their decision; none would enter the Promised Land except Caleb and Joshua. Yet the verse tells us that despite the word of the Lord, they presumed to go into the land. The result was that the armies of the land soundly defeated them. They walked by presumption rather than by faith.
Here is how this works. When we walk by presumption, we determine what we want to do and then ask the Lord to join us. In other words, we are telling the Lord what to do rather than the other way around. In this, we presume the Lord will be with us in whatever we feel like doing.
The walk by faith is completely different. It is the plans of the Lord that are the basis of the walk of faith. The faith walk requires that we seek His will to determine what He is doing and where He is working. Then by faith, we are to join Him.
The nation of Israel got it backwards. They had failed to follow the Lord’s program and He disqualified them from entering the land. Then they presumed to enter contrary to God’s word believing that the Lord would grant them the victory even though He told them they would fail.
We should think about this. Quite often, we do the same. We decide what we want to do in ministry and then pray for the Lord to bless us. This is a walk by presumption rather than by faith. Instead, we should pray for the Lord to reveal where He is working and then ask for the power of His grace to join Him. This is a walk by faith.
This principle applies not only to the church, but to the individual believer as well. Seek the Lord first in everything and seek to join in His program. You will find that this is a much more rewarding way to live for it is living by faith rather than presumption.
Renewing the Heart 