Jul 26 - FEAR IS FUNNY - Numbers 13:21-33

²¹ So they went up and spied out the land … ²⁵ At the end of forty days they returned … ²⁶ And they came to Moses and Aaron and to all the congregation … ²⁷ “We came to the land to which you sent us; it flows with milk and honey … ²⁸ Yet the people who live in the land are strong, and the towns are fortified … ³² “The land that we have gone through as spies is a land that devours its inhabitants; and all the people … are of great size. ³³ [so that] we seemed like grasshoppers … to them.”

Numbers 13

 

Fear does funny things to people … even those who want to trust and believe.

 

In yesterday’s lesson – as God was sending out the spies – we made several points, including 1) believe that your generous God desires to bless you … then 2) trust that He will.

 

Trust is a powerful thing. But fear does funny things to people … even those who want to trust and believe.

 

The spies were leaders among the people. They’d seen first-hand God’s provision. Their own feet had crossed the parted Red Sea. Their own lips had tasted the sweetness of daily bread – manna. Their own throats were repeatedly quenched with water from the rocks. God was good. They knew it. They’d seen it. But fear does funny things to people … even those who want to trust and believe.

 

Have you ever felt like a little boy having to face down a giant? (David was that boy. Yet – with God’s help – David was more than a conqueror.)

Have you ever felt like it was just you (and maybe a few friends) having to battle of one hundred thousand? (Gideon was that little warrior. Yet – with God’s help – Gideon and his little band were more than conquerors.)

Have you ever felt like a grasshopper going up against a monstrous foe? (Forty years later, Israel would march into that same Promised Land that ten of the twelve spies tried to chase them away from. Yet – with God’s help – Joshua and his people were more than conquerors.)

 

Are you “more than a conqueror”? Or does fear do funny things to you … even when you want to trust and believe?

 

If you occasionally fear or feel defeat, I urge you to listen to one of my favorite old songs, Casting Crowns’ The Voice of Truth.

 

But the voice of truth tells me a different story
The voice of truth says, "Do not be afraid!"
The voice of truth says, "This is for My glory"
Out of all the voices calling out to me
I will choose to listen and believe the voice of truth

 

In Christ’s Love,

a guy whose favorite chapter

in the Bible may be Romans 8 –

in all these things we are more than

conquerors through him who loved us.

For I am convinced that neither death,

nor life, nor angels, nor principalities,

nor things present, nor things to come,

nor powers, ³⁹ nor height, nor depth,

nor anything else in all creation,

will be able to separate us from the

love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.