Send Out the Spies!
Here we get yet
another famous passage. This is the
sending out of the spies. Notice two
things. First, when the Lord tells Moses
to send out the spies, He gives him a very clear purpose. It is a purpose that I am sure he passed on
to the spies: “I am giving this land to you.”
(Numbers 13:2) Also notice in the
list of duties for which they were to spy that evaluating the success of God’s
plan - or even the ability for the Hebrew people to take the land – is actually
not on the list of things for them to do!
They are told to scout out the land noting the land’s produce and the
people’s strength in numbers. They are
not told to evaluate whether or not the plan is able to be successful.
When you think about
it, this makes sense. With God, are not all
things are possible? So the question is honestly
never “Can I/we do this?” The question
is always “Is God calling me/us to do this?”
Do you notice the fundamental difference in even how those sentences are
constructed? The first question places
the emphasis on the human as the subject of the question. The second places emphasis upon God as the
subject and the person becomes the object of God’s will. Fundamentally these are two different
questions in scope and theme.
Of course, the spies
are actually obedient at first. When
they first get back to the camp, they put forth an honest appraisal of the
land. They told about the produce. They told where the people were strong. That’s okay.
That’s what they were supposed to do.
They accomplish the purpose that God sent them to accomplish.
Getting Ahead of God
But after Caleb steps
forth with a word of encouragement, the rest of the spies – although not likely
Joshua as we shall see in the next chapter – stand against him. These spies go beyond the task of their
mission and begin to evaluate God’s plan for the taking of Canaan. They assert that it cannot be done. Essentially, they say that their own
evaluation of the situation is better than God’s evaluation. When you put it that way, it sounds rather
harsh, doesn’t it?
Of course, I am just
as guilty as the spies in certain places and times in my walk with God. God says “I have purposed this or that for
you.” At first I am excited about the
prospect until reality hits me. I am
excited about what God wants me to do until the time actually comes to do it. Then I get scared. Or I get worried. Or I underestimate my ability without
considering that I should rely upon God’s ability. Or I get tired. Or I get weary. Or I get lazy. Or … well, you get the idea. I’m not better than the spies. I identify with these spies.
I actually long to
identify with Caleb. As we’ll see in
Numbers 14, I long to identify with Joshua, Moses, and Aaron. I long to step up next to the impossible and
say, “With God nothing is impossible!” I
long for it. I desire it. I want to be that person. I want to be like Caleb. Don’t you?
Oh, how God has
called us to a great inheritance! Oh,
how God has called us to a great mission.
{Read Matthew 28:18-20 if you
doubt this} All we have to do is be like Caleb and continue to taste the
fruit of God’s hand! But we do not, not
very often. Our unbelief in God’s
ability and our over-belief in our own disability paralyze us from tasting the
fullness of God’s inheritance even here and now!
Here’s a great quote
to end upon: “When the other spies saw giants, Caleb saw the Lord.” Am I focused on the fruit God in which God
has called me to partake or am I focused on my own inability to comprehend and
execute God’s plan? Is life about living
into the richness of God’s provision or depending upon my own pathetic ability
to provide for myself?
Amen.
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