Deuteronomy 1:19 – 24 “And just as the LORD our God had commanded us, we set out from Horeb and went toward the hill country of the Amorites, through all the vast and terrifying wilderness you have seen. When we reached Kadesh-barnea, I said: “You have reached the hill country of the Amorites, which the LORD our God is giving us. See, the LORD your God has placed the land before you. Go up and take possession of it as the LORD, the God of your fathers, has told you. Do not be afraid or discouraged.”
Then all of you approached me and said, “Let us send men ahead of us to search out the land and bring us word of what route to follow and which cities to enter.” The plan seemed good to me, so I selected twelve men from among you, one from each tribe. They left and went up into the hill country, and came to the Valley of Eshcol and spied out the land. They took some of the fruit of the land in their hands, carried it down to us, and brought us word: “It is a good land that the LORD our God is giving us.”
Things appeared to be going great! Only a few months after the Red Sea crossing and the issuing of the Ten Commandments, the Israelites now stood on the eastern border of the Promised Land. Commendably, the leaders asked permission to send spies into the land so that they would know the roads to follow and the cities that they should approach first. Sounds fine, right? And the spies returned with an absolutely enormous bunch of grapes as well as lots of other fruit. Numbers 13:23 tells us, “When they reached the Valley of Eshkol, they cut off a branch bearing a single cluster of grapes. Two of them carried it on a pole between them, along with some pomegranates and figs. (“Eshkol” means “cluster.”)
At that point, Moses was probably really relieved! Everything was going to work out and the Israelites were going to enter their inheritance just as God had promised…. or would they? Problem was, while two of the spies, Joshua and Caleb, brought great reports, the other ten guys were such cowards that they were day – glow yellow!
v. 26 – 33 “But you were unwilling to go up; you rebelled against the command of the LORD your God. You grumbled in your tents and said, “Because the LORD hates us, He has brought us out of the land of Egypt to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites to be annihilated. Where can we go? Our brothers have made our hearts melt, saying: ‘The people are larger and taller than we are; the cities are large, with walls up to the heavens. We even saw the descendants of the Anakim there.’” (Anakim were giants similar to Goliath.)
So I said to you: “Do not be terrified or afraid of them! The LORD your God, who goes before you, will fight for you, just as you saw Him do for you in Egypt and in the wilderness, where the LORD your God carried you, as a man carries his son, all the way by which you traveled until you reached this place.”
But in spite of all this, you did not trust the LORD your God, who went before you on the journey, in the fire by night and in the cloud by day, to seek out a place for you to camp and to show you the road to travel.”
O.K. Let’s look at this situation. God delivered the Israelites from slavery in Egypt, totally annihilating the most powerful army in the world in the process. Then God carried the Israelites through the wilderness “just as a man carries his son.” God even appeared as a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night, thus ensuring that nobody would sneak up and attack the Israelites while they were asleep. When the Israelites were hungry and thirsty, God provided for them miraculously. And yet after all these miracles, these people were sitting in their tents grumbling. Notice also the nature of their complaint: ”Our brothers have made our hearts melt!”
APPLICATION: One of the most difficult things in the world is to take responsibility for your own feelings, rather than blaming everything on someone else. Many people grow up in dysfunctional families; in these situations, it is routine for family members to say things like, “You made me cry!” “You made me angry.” “You offended me!” The plain fact is that the whole universe tilts on the axis of free will. God has given us the ability to choose, and that includes the ability to choose whether or not we will cry, become angry or become offended. One famous Christian teacher has described a program in which she took part. One speaker got up and severely criticized the host pastor while the pastor was sitting there on the platform with him. This teacher reports that she could hear the host pastor muttering under his breath, “I will NOT become offended! I will NOT become offended!” When we allow others to control our feelings, we give them power over us that should never be theirs.
Joshua and Caleb did the best they could to convince their fellow Israelites not to listen to the ten spies who were nay – sayers; unfortunately, they failed. As a result of unbelief, those grumbling in their tents eventually died off without ever entering the Promised Land. God knew that it was going to take men and women of faith to conquer Canaan. No cowards need apply.
This present age is one full of fears. If you choose, you can receive a steady stream of negativity from cell phones, tablets, etc. But you have a choice: You can listen to the fear – mongers or you can listen to God. Is God’s leading always safe and trouble – free? Absolutely not! Follow God’s guidance and sooner or later, you will encounter giants. But remember that the same God who has protected you all these years is still going before you and will help you conquer those gigantic problems. You have a choice: choose to believe God and to follow Him or remain in your present situation, grumbling because you have listened to someone else’s fears.
PRAYER: Father God, thank You for loving us and for caring for us. Thank You that when You lead us into difficult situations, Your provision is already there. Help us to follow hard after You all the days of our lives. In the mighty Name of King Jesus. Amen.
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