Never say that God doesn’t have a sense of humor. It may not be laugh-out-loud funny, but I’m sure the people involved in this story wondered, “What kind of a joke is this?”
The Jewish people were slaves in the land of Egypt. God sent Moses to deliver them out of slavery
to bring them to a new land flowing with milk and honey. It took some convincing for Pharaoh to let
them go, but it also convinced the Jews that this was the real deal and that they
should follow Moses to this new land.
It took about two years to travel a distance that could have
taken a few weeks, but the time finally arrived.
They sent out spies to go into the land and report on it. And they did.
And, yes, the land was certainly a land of milk and honey. But it was already taken. What were they thinking? That there could be such a land that nobody knew
about? And not only that, these people
were giants. No, not all of them, but there
were several races of giants at that time.
And their cities were all well-fortified. The spies felt like grasshoppers in their sight.
Two out of the 12 spies disagreed. They said that with God’s help, surely, they
could overcome and conquer the land.
This story has made me suspicious of committees and taking votes ever
since.
It took two years for them to reach the Promised Land, because
God wanted them to learn His laws and statutes before they got there. He also wanted them to see His care for them
and to learn to be comfortable with Him.
So the people were now faced with a choice. The land was every bit as good as promised,
but taking it looked impossible. I have
to say this reminds me of those people who say we have to trust the scientists. The scientists would have said here that they
could not take the land. It was
physically and militarily impossible.
Science does not and cannot figure God into its calculations.
And this is the most basic concept of the Christian
life. Faith. Faith in God that He would do what He said He
would do. We believe that He will save
us by believing in Christ, but we have no outside circumstances that might make
that seem unrealistic or untrue. But
sometimes those unrealistic, impossible circumstances appear, and we have to decide
what to do with them.
Peter could walk on water for a brief time until he looked more
at the wind and the waves than at Jesus who told him to come. Elisha’s servant was afraid when they were
surrounded by an enemy army until his eyes were opened to the forces of God
that were around them.
So what would you have done?
Ten spies said that they could not take the land. Two said they could. They had seen God take care of them for two
years now, daily providing their food.
They saw all the fire and fury on Mount Sinai when God appeared to them
to give them His laws. They saw His
pillar of fire and pillar of smoke that led them everywhere they went.
But they were afraid and said that we can’t do this. We were better off in Egypt. We shouldn’t have left.
And God said to them, You won’t enter this land, but your
children will. You will spend the rest
of your lives wandering in this wilderness.
I titled this lesson, All God’s Promised Lands Have Giants. At some point in your Christian life, you
will face circumstances that will look impossible. And you will have to make a choice, and that
choice will affect the rest of your life.
In this case, there was no second chance. But that was a nation and not an
individual. It’s harder to change a
nation than a person.
I made choices years ago that I wasn’t sure I would ever get
out from under. I still don’t know.
Many Christians are content to live ho-hum Christian
lives. They may never even see a
situation like this or wouldn’t know if they did. After all, David was the only one out of the
entire Israelite army who dared to face Goliath. I’m guessing the odds wouldn’t be much
different today.
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