INVITING OTHERS TO COME

INVITING OTHERS TO COME!

Num 10:29-32

29 And Moses said unto Hobab, the son of Raguel the Midianite, Moses' father in law, We are journeying unto the place of which the Lord  said, I will give it you: come thou with us, and we will do thee good: for the Lord  hath spoken good concerning Israel.

30 And he said unto him, I will not go; but I will depart to mine own land, and to my kindred.

31 And he said, Leave us not, I pray thee; forasmuch as thou knowest how we are to encamp in the wilderness, and thou mayest be to us instead of eyes.

32 And it shall be, if thou go with us, yea, it shall be, that what goodness the Lord  shall do unto us, the same will we do unto thee.

           The son of Moses’ father in law meant that Hobab was his brother in law! Moses wanted his in-laws to journey with them to the promised land. At first Hobab declined the offer. He preferred to stay in his own land with his own people. Why should he sacrifice comfort and security for an unknown future? It was a comfortable choice but Moses knew it would be the wrong choice.

           Moses knew that anyone travelling with Israel would be blessed in the end. They were going to the land of promise. So Moses offered Hobab an incentive. He asked him to be Israel’s guide. Now, I know that Israel was being guided by the pillar of cloud and fire, but Hobab had knowledge of the terrain and was experienced in how to arrange encampments. Warren Wiersbe says: “Hobab must have agreed to the proposal, because years later we find his descendants living with the Israelites (Judg 1:16; 4:11).”

           We should be inviting others to come! We must not minimize the difficulty of the journey but we should emphasize the blessings to those who join us. As Moses said: “if thou go with us, yea, it shall be, that what goodness the Lord  shall do unto us, the same will we do unto thee.”

Dear Lord, it is hard to convince those who are comfortably situated to travel with us but let us persist in inviting others to come because of the blessings at the end of the journey. AMEN