Jul 27 - TRUE REPORTS - Numbers 13:30

Caleb quieted the people

before Moses, and said,

“Let us go up at once and

occupy [the Promised Land],

for we are well able

to overcome it.”

Numbers 13:30

 

Yesterday we talked about the twelve spies who sent into the Promised Land. And we talked about how fear does funny things to people … even those who want to believe.

 

When the twelve came back, Israel heard the report that while the land was good (flowing with milk and honey), the people living there was so strong and powerful that Israel would be like mere grasshoppers coming against them.

 

Yes, that’s what Israel heard the spies say. And that’s probably what you heard me say. And I surely didn’t do a good enough job emphasizing that while this was surely the majority report of the spies (ten out of twelve), it wasn’t the whole truth and nothing but the truth!

 

Two of the twelve report the full truth …

 

1.    Yes, the enemy is numerous.

2.    Yes, they are big and powerful.

3.    But our God is bigger!

4.    And “we are well able to overcome it.”

 

Ten of the twelve may have wanted to believe … but fear does funny things to people.

 

Faith also does funny things to people. Joshua and Caleb believed God. And not just a little … but fully. They trusted that they were “more than conquerors through him who loves us” (see Romans 8:37).

 

And what was Israel’s fate? Because of fear, they believed the ten out of twelve (the majority report, rather than either God or the truth). And what was the result? They spent the next forty years wandering the desert until their whole generation passed.

 

Joshua and Caleb, however, believed the truth. They believed in God. And what was the result? They were the only two from that whole generation who got to go into the Promised Land! And they got to see God’s power as mighty cities like Jericho fell before them at just the blast of a trumpet.

 

Yes, fear does funny things to people. But faith does funny things to people too … powerful things!

 

In Christ’s Love,

a guy who likes comedy

(but I want to experience

God’s good humor rather

than fear’s bad jokes)