Numbers 13:26-33
The twelve spies that reported back to Moses regarding the land of Canaan gave a mixed report. All twelve were awed by the fruits of the land (verse 23) and by the milk and honey (verse 27), but ten of the spies felt that the inhabitants of the land were far too strong, and the walls, much too fortified for Israel to take it.
Based upon what they could see, their fears were certainly justified. Inhabiting the land were giants, and their size and strength intimidated the spies into changing the way they viewed their own selves. With giants in their sights, they saw themselves as “grasshoppers” and this attitude caused the giants to view them that way as well (verse 33).
You may view yourself as hopeless and helpless in the face of the giants of life. If that be the case, then you should know that your enemy will exploit this area of your thinking and keep you from hope, strength, and goodness and will perpetuate defeat on a daily basis. The reason for this is that in those moments, we have taken our eyes off of the provision of Christ and put them on our own ability to do the right thing. What Jesus did at the cross was for us! This work was a finished work and His great love for us has made us “more than conquerors” (Romans 8:37). We are complete in Him (Colossians 2:10), and we have been made “the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Corinthians 5:21). If this is who we are in Christ, then why would we view ourselves as anything less?
The ten spies that doubted spoke their own fate into existence, “Would God we had died in this wilderness!” and so they do (Numbers 14:2). How sad that they had forgotten of God’s remarkable power to deliver in the face of overwhelming odds. We are often not much different; forgetting where we came from when Jesus saved us to where we are now. Though life gets rough, we should be careful about speaking our defeat when our victory was paid for at such a high cost.
Caleb and Joshua view the giants of the land as “bread for us” (14:9), having learned that God was able to deliver the largest of foes into the hands of Israel. We are either bread for our enemy or they are bread for us. Each believer must decide and then live accordingly.
Make your own decision today, to face the often overwhelming cares of this life in light of the finished work of the cross. You can both dwell on the size of the giants and begin to fear, or think of the size of the grapes and begin to rejoice! Be the grasshopper that can’t win or the warrior that cannot lose, and not due to your strength, but because of your Savior. This world can be “bread for us” (Numbers 14:9)
The twelve spies that reported back to Moses regarding the land of Canaan gave a mixed report. All twelve were awed by the fruits of the land (verse 23) and by the milk and honey (verse 27), but ten of the spies felt that the inhabitants of the land were far too strong, and the walls, much too fortified for Israel to take it.
Based upon what they could see, their fears were certainly justified. Inhabiting the land were giants, and their size and strength intimidated the spies into changing the way they viewed their own selves. With giants in their sights, they saw themselves as “grasshoppers” and this attitude caused the giants to view them that way as well (verse 33).
You may view yourself as hopeless and helpless in the face of the giants of life. If that be the case, then you should know that your enemy will exploit this area of your thinking and keep you from hope, strength, and goodness and will perpetuate defeat on a daily basis. The reason for this is that in those moments, we have taken our eyes off of the provision of Christ and put them on our own ability to do the right thing. What Jesus did at the cross was for us! This work was a finished work and His great love for us has made us “more than conquerors” (Romans 8:37). We are complete in Him (Colossians 2:10), and we have been made “the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Corinthians 5:21). If this is who we are in Christ, then why would we view ourselves as anything less?
The ten spies that doubted spoke their own fate into existence, “Would God we had died in this wilderness!” and so they do (Numbers 14:2). How sad that they had forgotten of God’s remarkable power to deliver in the face of overwhelming odds. We are often not much different; forgetting where we came from when Jesus saved us to where we are now. Though life gets rough, we should be careful about speaking our defeat when our victory was paid for at such a high cost.
Caleb and Joshua view the giants of the land as “bread for us” (14:9), having learned that God was able to deliver the largest of foes into the hands of Israel. We are either bread for our enemy or they are bread for us. Each believer must decide and then live accordingly.
Make your own decision today, to face the often overwhelming cares of this life in light of the finished work of the cross. You can both dwell on the size of the giants and begin to fear, or think of the size of the grapes and begin to rejoice! Be the grasshopper that can’t win or the warrior that cannot lose, and not due to your strength, but because of your Savior. This world can be “bread for us” (Numbers 14:9)
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