Read: Numbers 13:26-33 NIV
"They came back to Moses and Aaron and the whole Israelite community at Kadesh in the Desert of Paran. There they reported to them and the whole assembly and showed them the fruit of the land. They gave Moses this account: 'We went into the land to which you sent us, and it does flow with milk and honey! Here is its fruit. But the people who live there are powerful, and the cities are fortified and very large. We even saw descendants of Anak there. The Amalekites live in the Negev; the Hittites, Jebusites, and Amorites live in the hill country; and the Canaanites live near the sea and along with the Jordan.' Then Caleb silenced the people before Moses and said, 'We should go up and take possession of the land, for we can certainly do it.'But the men who had gone up with him said, 'We can’t attack those people; they are stronger than we are.' And they spread among the Israelites a bad report about the land they had explored. They said, 'The land we explored devours those living in it. All the people we saw there are of great size. We saw the Nephilim there (the descendants of Anak come from the Nephilim). We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them.'" (Numbers 13: 26-33 NIV)
They just came out of Egypt and God is telling them, 'It is time. Go to Canaan. But before that, you have to send 12 men - leaders of each tribe, to scout about what the situation of the land at that time.'"
In this passage, how did they look at things as they have reported about the land? There were two (2) perspectives:
1. Fear Perspective
"They gave Moses this account: 'We went into the land to which you sent us, and it does flow with milk and honey! Here is its fruit.'" (Number 13:27 NIV)
"When they reached the Valley of Eshkol, they cut off a branch bearing a single cluster of grapes. Two of them carried it on a pole between them, along with some pomegranates and figs." (Numbers 13:23 NIV)
The cluster of grapes was so big that it took two men to carry it. We can even picture it out that one grapefruit could have been bigger than our heads. They saw the land this way: it has abundant land; it was indeed flowing with milk and honey; it was very sustainable, and it has good fruits.
However, they looked at it with a "fear-perspective" like this:
"The cities were fortified, the people were powerful and most importantly, they were giants". Verse 33 tells us that the twelve spies seemed to themselves like they were grasshoppers because of how small they were compared to the giants.
2. Faith Perspective
"Then Caleb silenced the people before Moses and said, “We should go up and take possession of the land, for we can certainly do it." (Numbers 13:30 NIV)
Therefore, the question for us would be:
How are we looking at things in light of our current situation right now?
There is COVID-19, and we're in a pandemic. So how are we looking at things?
Are we looking at it as a threat... focusing on the fear of 'what-ifs'?
Or are we looking at things like:
"How is God being so generous to me today?"
"How is God being faithful in His promises to me these past years or these past months?"
"How is God talking to me personally in the line of faith on how He will sustain me?"
"How will He carry me through this pandemic?".
This is what Caleb did. The spies reported negatively and fearfully. But, Caleb spoke otherwise. He silenced the people and confidently said that they will seize the land, and they will go there immediately because the land is promising (v.30).
But contrary to what Caleb had spoken, the ten spies were filled with fear and their fears did not just stop with them. They spread out this fear with the Israelites around them. They influenced these people to be fearful instead of being faithful.
"But the men who had gone up with him said, 'We can’t attack those people; they are stronger than we are.' And they spread among the Israelites a bad report about the land they had explored. They said, 'The land we explored devours those living in it. All the people we saw there are of great size.'" (Numbers 13:31-32 NIV)
This is therefore another question for us:
How are we influencing other people in the with the situation we are facing today? Are we causing people to be fearful? Or are we encouraging and influencing others to be faithful instead? How are we in our Christian journey with God? Are we seeing God as carrying us through this pandemic or through the current situation you are undergoing now? Are you looking at things in light of God, and not of fear?
Here's the catch:
Because of that, the people of Israel believed the ten spies instead of Caleb and Joshua. The Lord got angry because they started complaining like this: "We should go home instead. Why did you bring us here to be killed by the giants? We were living loftily in Egypt. We were having a good life although we were mistreated compared to this desert of Paran, compared to starving, being dehydrated all the time. We are doing so well compared to now. Why did you bring us here?" They were just complaining endlessly. So the Lord got angry.
Here's what the Lord did:
Their point of location - Desert of Paran, to Canaan takes only 40 days. But they did not listen to Caleb and to God because of fear perspective, disobedience, and lack of faith. God primarily told them to go there, and to just reaffirm them and to show them in bird's eye view what the land would look like. But they were so complainant and hard-headed.
Thus, God made them travel from the desert of Paran to Canaan for 40 years instead of just 40 days. And within that 40 years (since that account), everyone who was twenty (20) years old and above have already died. They did not experience the land filled with milk and honey. They did not experience the abundant harvest that would take two people to carry a cluster of grapes. They did not experience God's faithfulness in the land of Canaan. They did not even step on Caanan.
For those people - 20 years old and up, who were complaining during that time, who did not believe in Caleb, who did not believe in God - God killed them all in the span of 40 years during their wandering in the desert. The only two men of that generation to experience Canaan were Caleb and Joshua.
So how are we looking at things right now? How are we going on with our faith? Do we struggle in growing your faith in line with the Lord especially during this pandemic? How are we looking at things in the current situation we are in?
I don't know what each one's personal struggle is, but I can say this to everyone in grace: that the Lord is good, and true in His promises. That the Lord has a reason to allow these things to happen. It is up to us, whether we will have faith and believe that He will see us through. Or believe in fear and crumble and shy away from the Lord.
The blessings of Canaan was never experienced by those 10 spies and the 20 years old and above people who rejected the report of Caleb, who focused on the giants, the big boulders, the fortified cities, the strong people instead of how the Lord was gracing this land with milk and honey, with a good harvest, of a promising future. How about us?
I hope, brothers and sisters in the Lord, that we will continue in our Christian journey regardless of how hard the situation, the crisis we are going through, and the trials we are facing today. May we continue to press on and look at things in faith, instead of fear; that we'll look at things, in line with God, and not look at things forgetting God and depending solely on ourselves.
If we are going to look at it, they were so self-dependent. They would say,
"All the people we saw they are of great size. We cannot attack those people. They are stronger than we are." (Numbers 13:31 NIV)
Sometimes, we lose sight of God because we look at ourselves. But in order to win battles in life, we don't need to look at ourselves. We need to focus on God. We always need to make sure that we will face everything with God and from a faith perspective. So how are we today?
I hope that every one of us is challenged to look at things in God's perspective; from a faith perspective. I hope all of us will really strive to live in faith, instead of living in fear. And I hope, every one of us will be influencers of this kind of lifestyle and of this faith. God is faithful and true, and He will always be the same, yesterday, today, and forever. I hope and pray that we will never ever forget that.
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