TRUST OUR LORD TO DO WHAT HE DESIRES IN AND THROUGH YOU!
The Lord said to Moses, “Send some men to explore the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the Israelites. From each ancestral tribe send one of its leaders.” —Numbers 13:1-2
They came back to Moses and Aaron and the whole Israelite community at Kadesh in the Desert of Paran. There they reported to them and to the whole assembly and showed them the fruit of the land. They gave Moses this account: “We went into the land to which you sent us, and it does flow with milk and honey! Here is its fruit. But the people who live there are powerful, and the cities are fortified and very large. We even saw descendants of Anak there. The Amalekites live in the Negev; the Hittites, Jebusites and Amorites live in the hill country; and the Canaanites live near the sea and along the Jordan.” Then Caleb silenced the people before Moses and said, “We should go up and take possession of the land, for we can certainly do it.” But the men who had gone up with him said, “We can’t attack those people; they are stronger than we are.” And they spread among the Israelites a bad report about the land they had explored. They said, “The land we explored devours those living in it. All the people we saw there are of great size. We saw the Nephilim there (the descendants of Anak come from the Nephilim). We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them.” —Numbers 13:26-33
It was not a case as to whether the people would receive the land or not. That was already decided. Our Lord said that He was giving the land to the Israelites. But after the twelve spies returned, only Caleb (and Joshua-Numbers 14:6) said—
“We should go up and take possession of the land, for we can certainly do it.” But the men who had gone up with him said, “We can’t attack those people; they are stronger than we are.” And they spread among the Israelites a bad report about the land they had explored. They said, “The land we explored devours those living in it. All the people we saw there are of great size. We saw the Nephilim there (the descendants of Anak come from the Nephilim). We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them.”
Ten of the spies saw what they thought were obstacles from receiving the land. Only Caleb and Joshua sought to obey our Lord to take possession of the land our Lord was giving to them. They believed our Lord and desired to obey Him. The ten other spies—
· Said, “We can’t attack those people; they are stronger than we are.”
· Spread among the Israelites a bad report about the land they had explored.
· Said, “The land we explored devours those living in it.”
· Said, “All the people we saw there are of great size.”
· Said, “We saw the Nephilim there (the descendants of Anak come from the Nephilim).”
· Said, “We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes.”
· Said, “We looked the same (like grasshoppers) to them.”
There is, in this passage, a principle that seems to be common and that is “Only the minority truly seek to be obedient to our Lord.” Why is it that only 5%, or less, of believers share the gospel regularly when our Lord said we are to be witnesses? Why is it that only 5% of churches are disciple-making churches? If those statistics are indeed true, then do we have the same attitude ad the ten negatively speaking spies? Do we allow the obstacles to obedience greater than our Lord’s directives? Surely, if our Lord states He is going to do something through us, then we ought to trust Him to do it. Otherwise it is disobedience and faithlessness. Will we trust Him to do what He desires to do in and through us? Oh, Dear Father, may we trust You by the power of Your Holy Spirit and in the authority of Your Dear Son Jesus. Yes, may it be so that we trust You to do what You desire in and through us! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vXMPNXXnCls