Dear friends,
Have you ever been up against some giants in your life? Challenges bigger than you? Health issues, financial issues, struggles with children? Do you find some circumstances really discouraging and people around you really negative rather than encouraging? In Numbers 13 & 14 twelve leaders were selected by Moses to go check out the promised land. They were charged with assessing the quality of the land, the kind of people who lived there, whether they lived in strongholds or not and generally make an assessment. They were NOT asked to determine if this was a land God’s people should go in to conquer! God had already told them that he was GIVING them the land!

That’s one of the curious (but wise) things God does. He gives us salvation and many blessings but at the same time tells us we have to really STRUGGLE to possess these things! “Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure” Philippians 2:12, 13. It’s the power of the Holy Spirit living in us that accomplishes God’s work in our lives but it will be the biggest challenge you ever had! God doesn’t work miracles to encourage laziness!

In any case, these 12 men went and checked out the land for 40 days. It was all God promised them and more. They brought back some of the fruit of the land and it was incredible! As God promised, it was a land flowing with milk and honey! However 10 of the 12 witnesses went beyond their charge and gave Moses and the people CONCLUSIONS. “HOWEVER…the people who dwell there are strong, and the cities are fortified and very large. And besides we saw descendents of Anak there” (13:28) Anak! OUU! Giants!They discouraged Moses and the people from even trying. Impossible! A majority opinion!

But there was a minority opinion. Listen! “But Caleb…said, “Let us go up and once and occupy it, for we are well able to overcome it” (30) But sadly, the majority opinion prevailed, “Then all the people raised a loud cry and the people wept that night. And all the people grumbled against Moses and Aaron” (14:1) They actually wanted to go back to bondage in Eqypt! They were convinced they were going to die despite God’s promise to them! Joshua, the other faithful witness of the 12 who went took a stand by Caleb! He said, “The land which we passed through to spy out, is an exceedingly good land. If the Lord delights in us, He will bring us into this land and give it to us, a land that flows with milk and honey. Only do not rebel against the Lord. And do not fear the people of the land for they are bread for us. Their protection is removed from them and the Lord is with us, do not fear them” (14:7-10) Faithful words! The confidence of faith!

Folks, do you see the difference? The people compared themselves, their abilities and their strengths to the problem and they were defeated before they even started! Caleb and Joshua compared the giants and the walled strongholds to God and there was no comparison! There was no hesitation on Caleb and Joshua’s part. As another has said, in faith’s arithmetic, God is the only significant figure! Think of the odds! Two million against two? No, it was two million against God’s Word! The cost to the two million? Not one of them entered the land because of their unbelief. Only Caleb and Joshua went in. In our next devotional I’ll share with you the effect of Caleb’s faith on his family.

What problem are you facing? I have often thought that the 12 witnesses all saw the same set of facts. But friends, God can overcome even the most difficult facts and circumstances in your lives. Do you believe God or the circumstances will make the determination at the end of the day? Nothing is too hard for the Lord! Nothing! Trust in Him when trusting Him looks like the hardest thing of all.

Terry