“Yet in spite of this word you did not believe the Lord your God.” Deuteronomy 1:32
5. By nature, we refuse to believe.
“In spite of this word you did not believe the Lord your God” (1:32).
God was beside these people in the pillar of cloud and fire, and yet still they would not trust him. They refused to believe (see Num. 14:11).
By nature, we are suspicious of God. We hold back from him. We do not trust him. None of us is neutral when it comes to this matter of faith. By nature, we are antagonistic toward God. By nature, we are unwilling to believe.
6. By nature, we are under the wrath of God.
“And the Lord heard your words and was angered, and he swore, ‘Not one of these men of this evil generation shall see the good land that I swore to give to your fathers’” (1:34-35).
By nature, we are alienated from God and justly under his wrath. There is a heaven—but, by nature, it’s not for us. We have no basis on which to enter the good land he has promised.
This is the human condition. By nature, this is our condition. This is who we are. This is what sin has done to us. This is what we need saving from.
Where are you quietly suspicious or antagonistic toward God? Where are you acting like you’ve done something to deserve a place in heaven?