By Staff
The nation of Israel stood at the border of Canaan, the Promised Land. God had delivered them by His mighty hand out of Egypt with 10 miraculous yet disastrous plagues. God had sustained them in the wilderness through the attack of an enemy, thirst and hunger. The Israelites and their God were the talk of the world.
Twelve spies were sent into Canaan for 40 days to check out the situation. They returned with their report. The 12 confirmed the richness and bounty of the land (Numbers 13:27). Ten spies concluded the obstacles to conquering the land were too great. It was impossible in human terms, and the result of an invasion would be death. Two of the spies, Joshua and Caleb, were faithful to God. They saw the same obstacles as the other 10, but their perspective was faith. Caleb said in Numbers, chapter 13, verse 30, “Let us go up at once and take possession, for we are well able to overcome it.” The multitude sided with the 10 unfaithful spies and rejected the promise of God.
God's first response was to annihilate the people (Numbers 14:12), but Moses interceded (Numbers 14:13-19). God relented from destruction and instead destined the entire nation to 40 years of wilderness wandering until all the unfaithful people died (Numbers 14:29-30).
Only Joshua and Caleb of the present generation and the descendents of the unfaithful would enter the land. The unfaithfulness of God's people resulted in disaster.
What would we have done had we been there? There were obstacles. The cities were large and well fortified, the people were strong and there were giants (Numbers 13:28). Would we have been with Joshua and Caleb, the faithful ones, or would we have gone along with the majority?
There is a promised land for the Christian and it is not heaven; it is the Spirit-filled life resulting in joyous, victorious living. There are as many obstacles, fortifications, and giants facing us in our assigned conquest as they had. When you compare that they were commanded to kill and destroy in the power of God (Joshua 10:40), while we are commanded to love and nurture in the power of God, you think they had the easier assignment. The fact is both assignments stretch us beyond human power and place us in a position of dependence. They ran from dependence on God.
The Israelites faced Canaanites, Jebusites, Hittites, the children of Anak, etc. We face the world, our flesh and the devil. The battle lines in both cases bring fear and uncertainty.
God could have killed every inhabitant of Canaan and given His people an easy victory, but His plan was incremental victory. In the Old Testament book of Exodus, chapter 23, verse 30, God outlines His plan of conquest, “Little by little I will drive them out before you, until you have increased, and you inherit the land.”
The victories of God's people are accomplished step by agonizing step. No quick fix; no easy solution. God did bring on mass destruction on His enemies in Canaan from time to time, but it was mostly sword thrust by sword thrust.
Why do we expect any different plan or approach as we journey through our Christian life?
Every difficult issue that forces us to choose against ourselves, the way of the world or the urging of Satan will look impossible to conquer. We know God is there, but we are not sure what He will do. We must be faithful to persevere, crying out for mercy and grace from God to help us in our need (Hebrews 4:14-16).
The battles will be ugly. Sometimes we think we are losing when we are winning. The desired outcome is not what we think. We want peace, tranquility and provision. God is determined to change us from the inside out and make us like Jesus Christ (Romans 8:28-29).
We must not turn tail and run. God is faithful and will be faithful in every aspect of our lives down to the minute details.
How big a deal is unfaithfulness? It is the path to disaster every time.