“And the men, which Moses sent to search the land, who returned, and made all the congregation to murmur against him, by bringing up a slander upon the land, ³⁷ Even those men that did bring up the evil report upon the land, died by the plague before the Lord. ³⁸ But Joshua the son of Nun, and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, which were of the men that went to search the land, lived still. ³⁹ And Moses told these sayings unto all the children of Israel: and the people mourned greatly.

⁴⁰ And they rose up early in the morning, and gat them up into the top of the mountain, saying, Lo, we be here, and will go up unto the place which the Lord hath promised: for we have sinned. ⁴¹ And Moses said, Wherefore now do ye transgress the commandment of the Lord? but it shall not prosper. ⁴² Go not up, for the Lord is not among you; that ye be not smitten before your enemies.  ⁴³ For the Amalekites and the Canaanites are there before you, and ye shall fall by the sword: because ye are turned away from the Lord, therefore the Lord will not be with you. ⁴⁴ But they presumed to go up unto the hill top: nevertheless the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and Moses, departed not out of the camp. ⁴⁵ Then the Amalekites came down, and the Canaanites which dwelt in that hill, and smote them, and discomfited them, even unto Hormah.” Numbers 14:36-45.

The carnal mind of the Israelites caused them to slander God’s promise land.  They lost sight of the promise and saw only giants.  How often do we slander God’s promise?  God promised to supply all of our needs, our needs are met and we slander Him with our complaining.  The Lord promised His grace will be sufficient and our words again slander His grace with our complaining.  The child of God should always be aware of their worrying and complaining because they are slandering God’s promises.

After the Israelites realized their sin against God, they mourned…they didn’t repent but mourned and quickly decided to go forth into the promise land.  Moses warned them not to go that the Lord was not with them. “But they presumed to go up…” vs.44, how very often do we see Christians presuming to go up and the Lord is not with them?  Isn’t that what the word of faith movement is all about?  Presumption, except they call it faith.  They expect the cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night to follow them…they presume It will.

The carnal mind remembers what we should forget and forgets the things we should remember.  The Israelites remembered the food they received in Egypt but forgot the slavery.  How often do we remember the season of fun of the sin and forget what it ultimately led to before our Salvation?  How quickly do we forget the nice thing someone does as soon as they do something wrong?

The carnal mind is timid when it should be bold and bold when it should be timid.  It will cause us to move when we should be still. Our carnal mind will cause us to slander what God has given us and presume our position.  Our carnal mind causes us to reject Truth and believe the lie.  It will allow us to mourn but not repent.

“For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.” Romans 8:6-7.

Sadly, the majority of the church today is carnally minded.  It has left the Word of God and embraced the world.  This is another gospel and another spirit.  The Gospel of Jesus is where our deliverance is found.  The Holy Spirit will guide us into all truths, yet we seek man’s schemes.  Many mourn but few have repented.  Are you mourning or do you need to repent?  -Donna Clark Warren.