On a roll in the Old Testament! Luba shared a Bethel sermon with me where pastor Bill Johnson made a very interesting statement…
So it’s after a time in the desert and Moses sent out spies to check out the land. 12 spies. 12 came back and declared the land is good, the food is great and the opportunities plentiful…
Of the 12, ten said that the land is filled with giants. And that the giants and their supporting armies were probably going to decimate the Israeli people.
I read that passage as the 10 spies being “bad” and Joshua and Caleb being “good” – but I didn’t always consider what they were up against.
The nations on the other side were battle hardened. Every summer they would go out and battle for territory. When not in battle, they would be defending against raiders. Regular bloodshed was part and partial of their day to day existence.
The spies were realistic… and probably more than a bit afraid. If they say go, and half of Israel gets destroyed, what will the people say of them? And do to them… and their families?
Bill Johnson:
“They came back and ten of them said, there are giants in the land and they are like grasshoppers in our sight, we can never win this battle.
Two of them, Joshua and Caleb came back and said: This is a done deal! This is a setup by God for our victory!
They came back with great courage, but the ten persuaded the crowd to move in fear.
Now… Nobody in the crowd said: ‘I choose fear’ … they all said: ‘Let’s choose wisdom’ (because fear masquerades as wisdom)
The ten spies did not come back with lies, they came back with truth, just not the whole truth. They came back, convincing people of something inferior than what God has said”
They forgot, while Joshua and Caleb remembered, the promise God spoke over their life.
My mom reminded me of a word she gave me a few years ago, of heavy chains weighing me down. And I think this is what the 10 spies also went through: the reality of what they saw was weighing them down so much that the Word of God was impossible to comprehend.
I started doubting what God spoke over your life… IF God spoke over my life… what if it was a mistake? All the evidence around me suggests I am wrong… the noise of “reality” drowns out the whispers of the Holy Spirit that refuses to force itself on you.
But there lies the truth and the faith.
“Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the LORD your God goes with you; he will never leave you or forsake you” (Deuteronomy 31:6)
God did speak.
His words have ultimate power
His will… will be done.
Day by day… Live by the Faith in your heart, not by the evidence of your eyes. Live by the words of God. Start every day new.
