In the story, we see Moses talking to the Israelites and giving them a
message from God. There are certain people in this story who will get to see
the Promised Land, which is the best you could ever want. Then there are other
people who will not get to see the Promised Land. The question is: What’s the
difference between these two groups of people? Why do some get to see the
Promised Land and others don’t? (Numbers 32: 6-12)
Caleb and Joshua get to see the Promised Land. Why? Because they
“wholly followed the Lord.” Again, the idea is that they both fully committed
to following the Lord, which means they did everything He said and never
argued. Because of that, they were rewarded. The other groups didn’t get to see
the Promised Land because they “did not wholly follow the Lord.” They did
not fully commit to Him. Instead they wanted to stay in the land where they
were rather than proceed to where the Lord was leading them. They also tried
to discourage the others from going forward.
This kind of story makes it really obvious for us: if you don’t commit to
the Lord, you don’t get to experience the blessings we get from Him. If you
do commit to the Lord, you get blessings like you wouldn’t believe. It’s sort
of like getting badges and pins on your Scout uniforms; they are rewards for
committing all the way in some task. When you commit to the Lord, you get
great rewards.
So we can see that committing to the Lord is important for us. We can
get commitment in various ways. The best way is through prayer. Let’s keep in
mind that prayer is essentially speaking with the Lord. It is as though the Lord
came and sat next to you, and you and He had a conversation. That’s prayer.
In prayer we can ask the Lord for certain things and the Lord hears,
whether you know it or not. One thing we can ask for is the commitment to go
through with what we need to do. In fact, don’t the Boy Scouts have their own
special prayer? I’m sure there is something about commitment in this prayer.
Let’s have some of you Scouts come up here and we’ll say it together:
Dear Lord, from your judgment seat on high,
Look down on a Scoutmaster such as I.
Search me through and find me whole,
Then help me, Lord, to reach my goal.
Help me, Lord, to work for Thee,
Guard my homeland — keep it free.
Help me to work with others and be kind,
Helpful with my hands and mind.
Keep me, Lord, both well and strong,
To help growing boys along.
Control my thoughts, keep them right,
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