Deut. 1-2
So, it was the people’s idea to send scouts into the land before going in to take it. I can agree that there is some wisdom in seeing what you are getting into so that you can plan ahead to some degree. But in this case, knowing what lay before them caused them to lose heart and they stopped trusting in God. They did not trust that He loved them and intended good for them and not evil. They did not trust that He was able and more than willing to give them what He had promised them.
Perhaps this is why Jesus tells us to take one day at a time. He knows that the worries of tomorrow added with the worries of today will tend to overwhelm our trust. When the Israelites realized they had messed up, they fell into another typical human pattern – they tried to fix it themselves. God does not need us to know the way or to fix our mistakes. He simply wants us to trust and obey Him.
I find it interesting – comforting, maybe – in chapter 2 that God did not just take care of His Chosen race through Israel, but that He also took care of the descendants of Lot (the Moabites and Ammonites came from the sons that Lot’s daughters bore when they got Lot drunk and laid with him) and He took care of the descendants of Esau, Jacob’s brother. It tells me there are stories of God’s protection and provision there also, even though we don’t really know them. We don’t know them because they don’t really matter that much. The story that matters is the one He gave us; the one that simultaneously works out His redemptive plan for all creation while showing us the road map for that plan and how it works throughout all of time.
Luke 2:1-24
We are most familiar with the King James Version of Luke 2:14 – the message from the angels to the shepherds. The KJV reads, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men!”. However, I noticed that it says this differently in the ESV translation and, in fact, in most of the other common translations that I looked at. Most of them translate the second half of this verse similar to what I read in the ESV, which is, “and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!”
I like this, because it is obvious that peace on earth and good will toward all men does not and will not exist until Christ’s return. Christ did not come (this time) to bring peace to the whole world. But He did bring peace to those who believe in Him – to those with whom He is pleased. That makes sense.