The Israelites have been promised the land by God and yet, when they scout the land, they see the people living there and are afraid. They have a promise from God, who travels with them, has done miracles in their presence, and yet, they still suffer from fear. Why do they? Well,, while they have a relationship with God, there is a lacking trust. Maybe brought on by the the lack of ability to interact with a God whom they can easily understand. But aren't we similar.When people get married they promise to love and cherish the other person until death do us part, but things happen to erode that relationship sometimes and trust is lost.
So the scouts go out and survey the land and find:
Numbers 13 (New Living Translation)
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Numbers 13
New Living Translation (NLT)
Numbers 13
Twelve Scouts Explore Canaan
1 The Lord now said to Moses, 2 “Send out men to explore the land of Canaan, the land I am giving to the Israelites. Send one leader from each of the twelve ancestral tribes.” 3 So Moses did as the Lord commanded him. He sent out twelve men, all tribal leaders of Israel, from their camp in the wilderness of Paran. 4 These were the tribes and the names of their leaders:Tribe — Leader
Reuben — Shammua son of Zaccur
5 Simeon — Shaphat son of Hori
6 Judah — Caleb son of Jephunneh
7 Issachar — Igal son of Joseph
8 Ephraim — Hoshea son of Nun
9 Benjamin — Palti son of Raphu
10 Zebulun — Gaddiel son of Sodi
11 Manasseh son of Joseph — Gaddi son of Susi
12 Dan — Ammiel son of Gemalli
13 Asher — Sethur son of Michael
14 Naphtali — Nahbi son of Vophsi
15 Gad — Geuel son of Maki 16 These are the names of the men Moses sent out to explore the land. (Moses called Hoshea son of Nun by the name Joshua.)
17 Moses gave the men these instructions as he sent them out to explore the land: “Go north through the Negev into the hill country. 18 See what the land is like, and find out whether the people living there are strong or weak, few or many. 19 See what kind of land they live in. Is it good or bad? Do their towns have walls, or are they unprotected like open camps? 20 Is the soil fertile or poor? Are there many trees? Do your best to bring back samples of the crops you see.” (It happened to be the season for harvesting the first ripe grapes.)
21 So they went up and explored the land from the wilderness of Zin as far as Rehob, near Lebo-hamath. 22 Going north, they passed through the Negev and arrived at Hebron, where Ahiman, Sheshai, and Talmai—all descendants of Anak—lived. (The ancient town of Hebron was founded seven years before the Egyptian city of Zoan.) 23 When they came to the valley of Eshcol, they cut down a branch with a single cluster of grapes so large that it took two of them to carry it on a pole between them! They also brought back samples of the pomegranates and figs. 24 That place was called the valley of Eshcol (which means “cluster”), because of the cluster of grapes the Israelite men cut there.
The Scouting Report
25 After exploring the land for forty days, the men returned 26 to Moses, Aaron, and the whole community of Israel at Kadesh in the wilderness of Paran. They reported to the whole community what they had seen and showed them the fruit they had taken from the land. 27 This was their report to Moses: “We entered the land you sent us to explore, and it is indeed a bountiful country—a land flowing with milk and honey. Here is the kind of fruit it produces. 28 But the people living there are powerful, and their towns are large and fortified. We even saw giants there, the descendants of Anak! 29 The Amalekites live in the Negev, and the Hittites, Jebusites, and Amorites live in the hill country. The Canaanites live along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea[a] and along the Jordan Valley.”
While they find great bounty, they also find people who are strong. Now in spite of the promises made the them by God, they ultimately choose not to trust in God's promise. Now maybe they aere so beaten down by the Egyptians that they couldn't see themselves as conquerors. Knowing the rest of the story, we know there lack of trust resulted in many more years of wandering until almost all of those who had come out of Egypt were dead.
If only the people could have overcome their wounds and fears, they could have had a different life. This is also true for us. We are the walking wounded and we harbor fears. But like the Israelites we can either find trust and let that overcome our wounds and fears or we can wander through life not receiving the blessings set aside for us.
Yes, trust can require risk, It would feel like a risk to the Israelites to fight the people of the land because of their fears, and we too have to take risks that tap into our fears, but the blessings sit there, set aside from us.
Are there areas where you are not taking up blessings because of fear? What risks do you need to take? Ask God to help you overcome your fears and follow God's direction for you.
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