Giants in the Land
Numbers 13
Giants in the Land, Numbers 13. Are you going to let your fears control you, or, like Joshua and Caleb, will you remember the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob?
25 At the end of forty days
they returned from spying out the land. 26 And they came to Moses and
Aaron and to all the congregation of the people of Israel in the
wilderness of Paran, at Kadesh. They brought back word to them and to
all the congregation, and showed them the fruit of the land. 27 And they
told him, “We came to the land to which you sent us. It flows with milk
and honey, and this is its fruit. 28 “We came to the land to which you
sent us. It flows with milk and honey, and this is its fruit.
30
But Caleb quieted the people before Moses and said, “Let us go up at
once and occupy it, for we are well able to overcome it.” 31 Then the
men who had gone up with him said, “We are not able to go up against the
people, for they are stronger than we are.” 32 So they brought to the
people of Israel a bad report of the land that they had spied out,
saying, “The land, through which we have gone to spy it out, is a land
that devours its inhabitants, and all the people that we saw in it are
of great height. 33 And there we saw the Nephilim (the sons of Anak, who
come from the Nephilim), and we seemed to ourselves like grasshoppers,
and so we seemed to them.”
Numbers 13:1-3, 25-28, & 30-33, English Standard Version
Giants in the Land
Numbers 13
Imagine the excitement of the Israelites; it has only been a little over a year and they have reached the edge of the Promised Land. Moses chose twelve men, one from each tribe, to spy out the land. Listen to their report.
We came to the land to which you sent us. It flows with milk and honey, and this is its fruit.
Isn't that just what God had promised--a land flowing with milk and honey. But, what did the spies say next?
However,
the people who dwell in the land are strong, and the cities are
fortified and very large. And besides, we saw the descendants of Anak
there.
Caleb responded, “Let us go up at once and occupy it, for we are well able to overcome it.”
But ten of the spies said, "There are giants in the land; we are just like grasshoppers to them."
Was God pleased with the report of these ten spies? What were they really saying?
In
reality they were saying to God, "You do not have the strength and
power to give us victory over these people." Doesn't that sound just
like us? How often are we ruled by our fears? How quickly we forget the
God who saves and keeps us!
The God we serve today is the same as the God of Numbers 13. Yet, how often do we think of these Bible stories and chide the children of Israel for their total lack of faith even though God has proven Himself to be strong on their behalf again and again. How difficult it seems to be for us to apply this to our own lives. God is, indeed, strong on our behalf as well. He saves us and He keeps us all of the days of our lives.
When the difficult days come, when there seem to be giants in the land, we must remember that God send these difficulties so that we may learn and understand that He is strong on our behalf as well.
Think
of that as you go about your duties of this day. Are you going to let
your fears control you, or, like Joshua and Caleb, will you remember the God of Abraham, Isaac,
and Jacob?
He alone saves you, and He alone keeps you from all harm.
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