Grapes, Giants, Grasshoppers and God
Num 13:1-4, 23-33
Intro: This month makes the 200rth anniversary of the Lewis and Clark Expedition. In May 1804 President Thomas Jefferson commissioned Meriwether Lewis and William Clark to search out a possible route to the Pacific Ocean. Jefferson, like many scholars of his day believed in the existence of the Northwest Passage or some other water rote to the Pacific Ocean. Lewis and Clark began their journey by heading west from St. Louis on the Missouri River.
They believe that they would simply follow the Missouri River to its head in the Rocky Mounts and once there they would find another river that would lead down the western side of the mountains straight to the ocean. What the found was quite different; the journey was anything but easy and was nothing like they had planed. They spent many days carrying their canoes over the Continental Divide, through snow and had climbing. Once on the other side of the divide they didn’t find another water passage so they had to continue to carry their canoes and supplies through the deep snow until they found what we know as the Snake Rive and followed it into Washington State. Once there they found the Columbia River which took them to the Pacific.
On their journey Lewis and Clark ran into many obstacles, they faced harsh weather, hostile natives, turns and twists along the trail they never expected. They had to go over the falls and rapids of the Missouri River. They could have given up at anytime along the journey and turned back. But when you read the journal you find a surprisingly optimistic view. Here is just one of many quotes from the journal written on 1 year after they began their journey, “The country on both sides of the Missouri continues to be open level fertile and beautifull as far as the eye can reach ...” This is a quote from Lewis’ journal written just a few days before reaching the Pacific, nearly 1 ½ years after departing on their journey, “Cool the latter part of the last night this morning clear and butifull;…” When you read their account you can not help but sense that these men were very optimistic about their journey and they never doubted that they would be successful on their mission. They were optimistic and they had great faith. Today I want to look at another group that was sent on a mission to “search” out an unknown land and bring back a report.
Read/Special
Names are really interesting. Parents often spend countless hours deciding what to name their children. We know names are important. In some countries and cultures, names carry significant meanings intended to shape the character of the child. In some cultures, a first or middle name is handed down for generations. In almost any culture, there are some names that become very popular for a time. There are some names that people remember right away because of what they did in history. John F. Kennedy. Martin Luther King. Charles Manson. Adolph Hitler.
Here are some names you might remember. Shammua, Shaphat, Igal, Palti, Geul, Gaddiel, Gaddi, Ammiel, Suthur, Nahbi. Don’t sound familiar? Never heard of anyone named after these guys?
How about these . . . Joshua, Caleb? People have named their sons these two names for thousands of years. Why? You see, the first names I read were names of ten of the spies who went by God’s order to search out the Promised Land after the people of Israel had been delivered from slavery in Egypt. They were the ten who came back with a negative report of the land, scaring God’s people and influencing them to disobey God’s command to enter and possess the land. Joshua and Caleb, on the other hand, were the two spies who came back with a favorable report, encouraging the people to obey God and enter the land God had promised them - TO LIVE BY FAITH. Let’s look back at that story for a moment.
The children of Israel had come to the border of Canaan. God commanded His servant to send a committee to search out the land. When they came back, they had a majority report and a minority report. The majority report can be summed up by three words: grapes, giants and grasshoppers. They told Moses they had seen great clusters of grapes, but that there were great giants in the land. Then they said to him, ‘We are like grasshoppers in their sight.’ The children of Israel had to decide whether they were going to enter the land or stay out.
All the reading I have done indicates to me that the land of Canaan does not represent Heaven, for in Heaven there are no giants, no battles, and no heartaches. And all those things were in the land of Canaan. What Canaan likely does represent however, is what we sometimes call "the victorious Christian life." Many things are out there for us, but many times we do not move out and take them because we see the giants.
Notice what it was that God who sent the twelve men. They were to “search” the land. It was the land God said He was “giving to the Israelites.” He wasn’t sending them on a mission to decide whether or not to actually possess the land; that had already been decided. They were just supposed to go explore the area that was now to be their home, the land God had promised to give to them since the days of Abraham.
In life there are optimists and pessimists. In this story we see both. I tend to be an optimist. Optimists focus on what can be; possibilities, opportunities, and potential. Pessimists on the other hand tend to focus on problems, obstacles and potential doom. Optimists tend to operate by faith not by sight where the pessimist operates more by sight than by faith.
These 12 men came back and some operated by sight and others by faith…
1 Grapes V.23 & 27-29 - All 12 men looked at the wealth that was available to them.
a) The find V. 23.
1) They went into the land and found great vines of grapes.
2) They were so big that it took two of them to carry one cluster.
3) They not only found grapes but they also carried back with them pomegranates and figs.
b) The report Vv. 27
1) They could not deny what they saw.
2) They said that the land surely “floweth with milk and honey”
3) The promise was true – God had told them that He would give them a land that would flow with milk and honey. (Ex. 3:8)
4) They showed Moses and Aaron all that they had found.
5) I am amazed that they couldn’t find strength to give a good report after all the wonderful things God had already done for them.
(a) Took them out of bondage from Egypt by 10 great plagues
(b) Lead them across the Red Sea on dry ground
(c) Feed them daily with manna from heaven
(d) When they got tired of the manna He gave them meat
(e) When they needed water He gave them water.
(f) Now when they needed their own land He was giving them a Land that Flowed with milk and honey.
(g) He had lead them with a pillar smoke in the day time and a pillar of fire at night and they still could only trust their eyes not their God.
6) In spite of the good things they found they wanted more Vv. 28-29
(a) They wanted more than just food they wanted security.
(b) They could see the milk and honey but they could also see all the problems; here come the pessimists; it is just like a pessimists to look for the problems:
(i) 1st problem – The people are strong
(ii) 2nd problem – The cites are walled in by great walls
(iii) 3rd problem – We saw Giants
(iv) 4th problem – There are many people living in all areas of the land
c) It is just like people.
1) We see the great potential that lay before us but then doubt sets in.
2) I can’t do that because…
(a) I don’t have the time
(b) I don’t have the money
(c) I don’t have the ability
(d) I don’t…you fill in your own excuse
3) Or the “What if’s” set in…
(a) What if I fail?
(b) What if I run into a problem I didn’t plan for?
(c) What if this thing goes wrong?
(d) What if…
4) The “I don’t’s” and the “What if’s” have killed many of great ideas.
5) But God is the God of I can’s and I will’s
2 Giants and Grasshoppers Vv. 28b-29, 31-33 - The children of Anak apparently were large in their build; they were giants.
a) They were concerned about the obstacles.
1) There are tribes in south land,
2) There are tribes in the mountains
3) There are tribes near the sea
4) There was no place they could live without having to fight the enemy.
b) They were concerned that they couldn’t defeat the enemy V. 31
1) The people are stronger than we are.
2) We are unable to defeat them.
3) I believe these men would have been willing to share the land God was giving them for their own possession had they been able to find one section of the land that was unoccupied.
c) They were concerned of the land itself.
1) They convinced themselves that the land itself would consume them V.32
2) There may have been some plague that had been upon the land and the men may have noticed that some of the tribes were smaller in number than what they might have been so they had concluded that the land was harsh and not able to sustain much life.
d) They began to compare themselves against the enemy.
1) Again, those that did live in the land were “men of a great stature.” They are bigger than we are.
2) There are giants and “we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight.”
3 God V. 30, 14:6-9 – Caleb and Joshua are the eternal optimist.
a) Caleb’s opinion V.30
1) Let’s go up now and possess the land – let’s not wait
2) We are more than able to possess the land.
3) From where does he get such confidence?
4) He had to have seen the very same things the others seen:
(a) The many different tribes living all over the land
(b) The giants
(c) The land that seemed to “eateth up the inhabitants”
(d) The fact that the people were stronger
(e) Where does his confidence come from?
b) Caleb and Joshua’s confidence Vv. 14:6-9
1) Their confidence Vv. 6-8
(a) They said the land we searched out is “an exceeding good land.”
(b) If the Lord delight in us, then He will bring us into this land.
(c) They trusted God.
(d) They understood what the Psalmist says in Psalm 50:10 “For every beast of the forest is mine, and the cattle upon a thousand hills.”
(e) They were not going to limit their God based upon what they saw with their eyes.
(f) They were telling the people the same thing Paul told the Corinthians that we “Walk by faith, not by sight”
(g) These two men knew that anything God asks you to do He is also going to empower you to do it.
2) Their concern V. 9
(a) They were concerned that the people were going to listen to the report of the 10 and not trust God.
(b) They remembered all the times God had come through – they knew they could trust Him
(c) Faith requires us to take the first step:
(i) God spared the children Israel when the death angle came only after they first put the lamb’s blood on the door post.
(ii) God parted the Red Sea only after they first stepped into the water
(iii) God allowed Peter to walk on water only after he stepped out on to the sea.
(d) God will provide for us only when we take the first step of faith.
(e) We are to give by faith that He will take care of our needs:
(i) Luke 6:38 tells us to give and it will be given to us, “Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again.”
(ii) Malachi 3:10 tells us God will bless if we trust Him, “10Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.”
(f) Caleb and Joshua told the people the God would come to their defense.
(i) “The LORD is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust” Ps 18:2
(ii) “He only is my rock and my salvation; he is my defence; I shall not be greatly moved.” Ps 62:2
Conclusion: What grapes do you see in front of you that you are failing to enjoy because you are walking by sight? Her are some of the grapes I see that people often miss because they are walking by sight not by faith:
1. The grape of pardon for sin – Many people never receive the most valuable blessing of all, salvation from sin. They will attend church, hear the mess of salvation give week after week but they are not willing to reach out and receive the give to God, salvation by grave. They are always using the I don’t’s and what if’s to keep them from enjoying the blessing of salvation.
2. The grape of peace of mind – They are always unsettled about something but if you ask they can’t put their finger on it, they are not experiencing the peach that Paul speaks of, “And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.” Phil. 4:7
3. The grape of power for victory – As Christians we don’t have to live a defeated life. We don’t have to live a life full of victory on Sunday and failure on Monday. We don’t have to live a substandard Christian life. The Bible says we are overcomes because the one who saved us is an overcomer. Jesus said He has “…overcome the world…” (Jn. 16:33) and in 1 John 4:4 we are told that “…greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world.”
4. The grape of prospect of future blessings – Heaven, being the best of all.
It is giants in our lives that keep us from plucking the grapes from the vine of life. What are your giants? What giants keep you from experiencing the full joy of God?
1. The giant of discouragement – There is always someone around who can discourage you in whatever you are about to try. “It is to hard, you will never be able to do that.” Especially, when you reach out and try to pick the grape of salvation. The devil is right there telling you that you are not worthy of that grape.
2. The giant of doubt – “I am not sure this will work” “I don’t believe we can afford to do this”
3. The giant of dismay – “I am just going to give up” “It won’t work any way” “I am tired”
4. The giant of delay – “I’ll get to it someday” “I know becoming a Christian is a good thing but I have plenty of time” Boy does Satan want you to believe that one. “I can do it later”
If you have giants I know you have grasshoppers. To what are you comparing you life? What measuring are you using to see how your life measures up? One of the fastest ways to lose the blessings of God in your life is to begin to compare your life to someone else’s.
1. Either yours will seem better and cause you to become self-confident. When that happens you begin to think you can do no wrong or;
2. Your will not measure up to the next person and you will become defeated and bitter and begin to believe that God has somehow cheated you.
You just cannot allow yourself to compare.
The Challenge today is to become Caleb and Joshua’s willing to just trust God to do what He says He will do. When you presented with the opportunity to do something great for God step out in faith and just do it.
