Read Numbers 13:17-33
Moses had sent twelve men to spy out the land God
promised to give to them. They were to
report back on the following:
- · People: strong or weak? Report: Strong!
- · People: few or many? Report: They were everywhere!
- · Cities: open camp or fortified? Report: Fortified and large!
- · Land: fruitful or barren? Report: “Flowing with milk and honey!”
- · Land: good or bad? Report: “Devours its inhabitants!”
Ten of the twelve gave their report. With their increasing emphasis on the
negative, the murmur of fear among the people grew louder and louder. One of the remaining two, Caleb, saw it from
a godly perspective. However, when he attempted to speak words of faith and
encouragement, the fear-gripped spies interrupted him with their “Can’t do it”
arguments. “We are not able … they are too strong for us … the land devours its
inhabitants … ALL the people are giants … we were the size of grasshoppers in
our own eyes …” They had made up their minds that it was impossible. As their story grew, the extreme fed their
fear and the fear of the people.
Like a child’s nightmare, with every description the monster under the
bed continually grew bigger, meaner and scarier.
In our fear, it is incredibly easy to feed others
fears. Discouraging words start the
anxiety flowing. Soon we are wondering:
“What in the world did we get ourselves into?”
“This is more than we can handle.”
No one has to point out all the obstacles ahead. Our imagination has a storehouse of
possibilities sitting right there on easily accessed shelves. We become frustrated, stressed out and doomed
before we even start.
This is not to say what the spies saw was not
intimidating. God wanted them to see the
scope of the gift He was offering to them. But rather than seeing the
potential, the God-possible, they only saw their own inadequacies. The truth is that they, like us, are
inadequate to conquer alone this frightening challenge! But God is not. 2 Corinthians 3:5,6. Nonetheless, all they could see, were willing
to see, was the overwhelming challenge. It was too great, because their god was
too small. Fear prevailed. The people so greatly feared the fear that
they could not trust God to give to them what they had been promised.
Conquering those challenges required trusting and
depending on God. Fear that pushes God
aside can only lead to failure. God was
not about to fail. He was ready and able to do what He promised, but if they
were not willing to partner with Him because of fear, He would wait. So God sent
them the other way. For forty years they
wandered in the wilderness. God graciously
waited while one by one of those blinded by fear died. A new generation of God’s people, one who
chose faith over fear, were the ones to enter victoriously the land promised so
long, long ago. Needlessly, fear
deprived an entire generation of the blessings God wanted so badly to give to
them.
Making It
Personal
What giant size challenge are you facing?
What possibilities does this challenge conjure up
within you?
If -10 is extremely adverse and +10 extremely positive
and beneficial, how would you score your feelings and thinking regarding this
challenge?
To fear something or someone, is to give it authority
over you. Fear is easily
misdirected.
- How can you fear the challenge more than you fear God?
- How does or can this impact your response to this challenge?
What you feed grows!
- What aspect have you been feeding? (Faith aspect that sees the size of your God or the demoralizing aspect that sees the size of your challenge?)
- How has or can your response feed others fears?
- How can you intentionally feed your (and their) faith?
