Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, and expecting different results


We had Pastor Rick Seaward come over from Victory Family Centre to preach on Sunday. Lots of points made in his sermon, but I thought the funniest was the one he made about Joshua not making the same mistakes as Moses!

You see, in Numbers 13, God told Moses to choose one leader from each of the tribes of Israel to explore the land of Canaan (Num 13:2). So Moses chose 12 men, and gathered "the whole assembly" to hear their report when they returned (Num 13:26). 10 of them came back and said there was no way the Israelites could enter the promised land, because the inhabitants were too powerful (Num 13:31-33). Only TWO men, Joshua and Caleb, believed God's promises and urged the Israelites to trust that God would deliver them (Num 14:7-9). And of course, the people rebelled and refused to believe God, as a result of which they were condemned to wander the desert for 40 years, until every man older than 20 years, except Joshua and Caleb, had died (Num 14:29-30).

To be fair to Moses, it WAS God who told him to choose 12 men, though the Bible is silent on whether it was necessary to hear the report before "the whole assembly", presumably for a vote. So when it came to Joshua's turn, 40 years later, to scout the land of Canaan, he sent... just TWO men (Joshua 2:1) :D

When the spies returned and delivered the report to Joshua, he immediately decamped the next morning and got ready to cross the Jordan! And after 3 days, the officers went out with ORDERS to the people (Joshua 3:1-3). No more deliberation before the assembly :D

Joshua REALLY didn't want to be sent back to the desert for another 40 years!

So I guess there are 2 things to learn from this:

a. God's kingdom is not a democracy. If He orders us to "Go!" then we go. None of this business about voting. Sometimes when we have too many voices (too many spies in Moses' case, and too many people to please in the assembly!) it makes it harder for us to keep sight of what God has clearly instructed us to do.

b. If at first you don't succeed, try, try again. But having said that, if at first what you did didn't work, don't stubbornly keep bashing your head against the wall! Albert Einstein is credited with saying this:

"Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, and expecting different results."

If we are looking for a breakthrough, whether in our spiritual lives or in our effectiveness as parents, workers etc. this is certainly something to remember!

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