Subject: Dare to Believe in the Faithfulness of God
Scripture Lesson: Numbers 13:26-33 “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. 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. But the people living there are powerful, and their towns are large and fortified. We even saw giants there, the descendants of Anak! 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 and along the Jordan Valley.” But Caleb tried to quiet the people as they stood before Moses. “Let’s go at once to take the land,” he said. “We can certainly conquer it!” But the other men who had explored the land with him disagreed. “We can’t go up against them! They are stronger than we are!” So they spread this bad report about the land among the Israelites: “The land we traveled through and explored will devour anyone who goes to live there. All the people we saw were huge. We even saw giants there, the descendants of Anak. Next to them we felt like grasshoppers, and that’s what they thought, too!”
Introduction: Numbers 13 is about a report brought back by the Israelite spies about the land of Canaan, where they compared themselves to the giants in the land and felt like grasshoppers in their sight, showcasing the crippling effect of fear and lack of faith in pursuing God's promises. You would think that nothing could have kept Israel from entering the Promised Land after being so close to it for forty days. The Israelites were a good example, showcasing the crippling effect of fear and lack of faith in pursuing God's promises. Fear tied them to their past, and blinded their vision from looking ahead to what God had for them in the present. They still had a “slave mentality.” Like the Israelites, we all have “giants”, problems and difficulties in life we have to overcome. But if we choose to run to God and rely on His strength to help us, we can not only defeat our giants, but the Lord will make us stronger in the process...then use us to do greater things than we ever imagined! : Believers must dare to believe in the faithfulness of God!
They waited on the borders of Canaan for the return of the spies. They were poised to enter Canaan Land. They had the assurance of success. They had witnessed God's Divine power, miracles in the wilderness and God’s divine presence. They had been slaves in Egypt, yet God delivered them and showed himself to be all powerful, all knowing and everywhere present. This lesson shows us how easily Believers can vacillate between faith and doubt. No one expected the report of the spies to promote distrusted in God's power and promises. How much we are robbed by our own doubt, unbelief, and mental attitude! When the messengers returned, the greater part discouraged the people from going forward into Canaan. The Israelites placed more confidence in the judgment of men than they did in the word of God. They had found the land as good as God had said, yet they doubted could have it as God had promised. The Bible calls the ten men unbelievers. Their unbelief caused them to doubt the promises and power of God. They magnified every danger and difficulty and filled the hearts of the people with discouragement and fear.
Caleb and Joshua encouraged the people to go forward. Caleb does not say, Let us go up and conquer it; but, Let us go and possess it. Difficulties that are in our way, will dwindle and vanish before our lively, active faith in the power and promise of God. All things are possible, to him that believes. We must trust God and his promises more than our carnal senses. Those who trust the promises of God and follow his directions will find that His promises are true. Caleb looks on the situation as being already done. Let us go up and possess it! There is nothing to be done, but to enter without delay, and take the possession of that which our great God is now ready to give us!
This report was given publicly to the audience of all the people. We must be careful when reporting to a crowd. Crowds can be easily swayed or misled. The report began accurately enough, they said, we found the land just as God said, "surely it flows with milk and honey; and this is the fruit of it." You can almost hear the excitement of the crowd, as eyes beheld the fruit of the land. Then they said, "the people be strong that dwell in the land, and the cities are walled, and very great:" Even that was an accurate report. But they concluded their report with an opinion and a recommendation, they said, "We be not able to go up against the people; for they are stronger than we." And further, "And they brought up an evil report of the land which they had searched unto the children of Israel, saying, The land, through which we have gone to search it, is a land that eats up the inhabitants thereof; and all the people that we saw in it are men of a great stature." In spite of all they had witnessed, these leaders of Israel allowed the size and number of the giants to cause them to question the power, and truth, and goodness of God. In order to possess the land, you will have to slay some giants. If we are giant slayers, we must not get our assignment twisted. These spies were sent to investigate the Land so that a plan of attack could be developed.
God had chosen the land and gave it to his chosen people. God said, Go up and possess it. Giant slayers must not allow the opinion of others to keep them from following God. Giant slayers must be daring! They must have guts! Why, because giants will not leave on their own. Giants don’t go away; they must be faced and defeated! Giants come to steal the peace of God’s people; Giants come to stop the progress of God’s people and Giants come to seize the possessions of God’s people, so Giant slayers must be daring.
God promised this land to His Servant Moses many years before they ever left Egypt. These giants had not moved here without the knowledge of God. Israel did not Call themselves or choose this land. God selected the Land, knowing every obstacle and He said, “Go in and Possess the Land.” You are well able! They had build cities in Egypt and even made brick without straw. They have the strength and the skills and beside that They have the presence of God.
1. Dare to Believe the Report of the Lord, not the Opinions of Others. Everything in their history had prepared the Israelites for this moment. The opinions of others come to prevent us from following God’s plan for our lives. God commanded Moses to send the spies so that they could develop a plan of attack. The size of the men and the challenges of the land was not a surprise to God. Men will always have an opinion about the giants in the land, about the prospect of success, and about the limits of your ability. Let us remember what God said. And don't allow the opinion of others to keep us from following God. Others may see the giants as invincible, but they are not. Don’t allow your own opinion of yourself to make you a grasshopper. God knows who you are, what you can do and what he has placed in you and what He wants to give you. You are more than a grasshopper, but you can only rise to the level of how you see yourself. Dare to reject those opinions that would contradict what God has said. Choose to follow God, and believe you are well able to possess the land. Isaiah 53:1, ask a question every believer must answer, “Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the LORD revealed?” Those who believe the report of the Lord will see the strength of the Lord revealed.
2. Dare to Allow God’s Promises to Encourage and Motivate You. “But Caleb tried to quiet the people as they stood before Moses. “Let’s go at once to take the land,” he said. “We can certainly conquer it!” Consider the fact that the Promises of God are true and that God cannot lie. All these men went up in the same group, saw the same thing, but returned with a different report. Joshua and Caleb had a different spirit and saw things in a different way. They saw life and victory, while the other ten saw defeat and death. God's command was “go up and possess the land, I have given it to you, and I will be with you.” Giant slayers must allow the promises of God to serve as your motivation. That’s what the teenager; David did when he faced Goliath in 1 Samuel 17. David stood on the word of the Lord in the name of the Lord. Goliath wouldn’t leave without a fight, someone had to face him. David decided, the giant maybe too big for some, but he is just right for me and God. I am not afraid because I am not alone. God is with me, and I will give your body to the birds of the air. How you see things will make all the difference. Some are defeated before they begin, because they see themselves as losers. God sees you as a winner. Knowing every detail of the land, every opposition you would face, every word of the doubters and nay-sayers, yet God selected you to possess the land. There is more to you than meets the eye. You are a giant slayer, an overcomer, and a winner. You are what God says you are. So dare to believe it!
3. Dare To Believe You Are What God Says You Are. You are well able to possess the land. Even when the opinions of men and the circumstances of life seem to contradict what God has promise, you can do what God says you can. "But the men that went up with him said, “We be not able to go up against the people; for they are stronger than we." Men are often very inconsistent and contradictory and make excuses for not doing the will of God. Many constantly confess, “We are not able to do what God requires.” These men said, “the land is good, but we are not able to take it.” The people are very strong and healthy, but the land eats up the inhabitants. Beware when the report of men contradicts the report of the Lord. Whose report will you believe?
Canaan was a type of the kingdom of God. The promises of God are given to every believer; but many are discouraged by the difficulties in the way that they fail to possess the land! A lazy, unbelieving heart sees dangers or lions or giants, everywhere; and therefore, refuses to proceed or go forth for fear of what might happen. These spies brought a bad report against the good land that God had provided for them. Some will say, "the land is good, that it flows with milk and honey," and they may even show some of its fruits; but they discourage the people by stating the impossibility of overcoming their enemies; the enemy maybe sin or poverty or education or the lack of support. They say, "It cannot be overcome in this life. You must learn to live with it. Or that giant (Anakim) cannot be conquered by us because we are just grasshoppers. We never overcome this habit or sin! We can never be debt free! We can never be well or healed! We can never have a good marriage!
I came to talk to a few Joshua's and Caleb's that remain. There are still a few around. They are still a few trusting in the power of God, who have been washed in the blood, cleansed from all unrighteousness, empowered by the Holy Spirit and are ready to boldly stand forth and say: "Let us go up at once, for we are well able to possess the land." The Lord is on our side. Their defense is departed from them, and the Lord is with us; let us go up at once and possess the land, for we are well able to overcome." We can do all things through Christ strengthening us. We must take God at his word! He has never failed us yet. Finally, since we are to become giant slayers, Dare to believe the report of the Lord and reject the opinions of others that are contrary to God’s word; Dare to Trust in God’s Promises, let them encourage and motivate You; and Dare To believe you are what God says you are. Finally, Dare to magnify Your God and Not Your Problems. God is greater than our giants.
4. Dare To Magnify Your God and Not Your Problems. God himself selected Israel and picked out the Promised Land as their possession when they were slaves in Egypt. God knew that they were giant slayers, not grasshoppers. A grasshopper mentality is a tendency to magnify the problem instead of magnifying the Lord. Listen again to their report, "And there we saw the giants, the sons of Anak, which come of the giants: and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight." Their report was altogether discouraging. How much better would it have been for Israel had they walked by faith and not by sight! Every circumstance which could have encourage their heart, these unbelieving spies overlooked, they omitted, or misinterpreted. They saw the giants as too big and the walls too high. They completely removed God from the equation and saw themselves as small, insignificant and unable to go in and possess the land. They had great cause to rejoice but they failed to see it.
First, the land was exactly as God said, a land flowing with milk and honey. Then the fruit of the land was so plentiful it could sustain a nation of giants. The people were scattered and lacked unity. Some in the south, some by the sea, some in the mountains, etc. So that by reason of their distance they could not soon get together, and by reason of their divided interests they could not long keep together, to oppose Israel. The cities were walled but could be breached. If they could beat them in the field, the strong holds would fall into Israel’s hands. The men of great statue would be limited in their movement, their overgrown stature would make them an easy target, a better mark, but more importantly, God is on Israel’s side.
Israel should have magnified their God, because they had the manifestation of God's presence with them, and His power working for them. The Canaanites were stronger than Israel; suppose they were, but were they stronger than the God of Israel? Even if we are unable to deal with them, Our God is Able. The Almighty God is among us. He goes before us! There is nothing too hard for our God. If we are grasshoppers before the giants, the giants will be less than grasshoppers before our God. Their cities may be walled against us, but their walls can never stand against heaven’s forces.
For forty years, Israel had experienced God's care and provision. This is not their first fight. The Egyptians were much stronger than they and yet, without a sword or spear; without chariots and horsemen, God defeated Egypt and left it routed and ruined. The Amalekites attacked Israel from the rear, at their weakest point, yet God turned the battle and discomfited Amalek. When they fought hunger and unemployment, Gid sustained them with a miracle of daily bread; and how could they believe that God would leave them now! I came to remind you, this is not your first fight!
God’s promises made to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, were promises that should have assured the seed of victory and success in their wars against the Canaanites. God had given Abraham the assurances that he would put his seed in possession of that land. God had express the same promise to Moses. God himself would drive out the Canaanites from before them and that he would do it little by little. And, after all this, How could they say, “We are not able to go up against them.” God is more than able to make his words good." And God is more than able to cause you to possess the Land! Let us go up at once and possess the land and claim our inheritance. Dare to Reject the Contradictory Opinions of Others; Dare to Allow God’s Promises to Serve as Your Motivation; and Dare To Believe You Are What God Says You Are. Finally, Dare to magnify Your God and Not Your Problems. God is greater than our giants. Amen
