Easter Devotional - Day 08
"Then they started spreading rumors and saying, 'We won't be able to grow anything in that soil. And the people are like giants. In fact, we saw the Nephilim who are the ancestors of the Anakim. They were so big that we felt as small as grasshoppers.'" Numbers 13:32-33
Fear was the spies' motivation. Their message had little to do with the reality they had witnessed across the Jordan. They were focused on their own insecurities, rather than any confidence in God. Instead of bringing back a report as they had been tasked to do, they brought back and spread rumors of half-truths that grew more outlandish with the fanning of their fears.
Moses had sent them to spy the Promised Land and let the people know what to expect. It was a land that had once belonged in part to some of their ancestors. It was the land promised to Abraham and his descendants in ages past. It was the land that Yahweh had promised to give the Hebrews as he led them out of Egyptian bondage to Pharaoh.
This was the same generation who had left Egypt. This was the same people who had witnessed the deliverance of Yahweh on the banks of the Sea of Reeds, as well as in the plagues over the land of Egypt. Yahweh had delivered them from slavery to the most powerful nation of the world. Yahweh had granted them victory in battle over two more kings since leaving Egypt behind. God had fed them in the wilderness with manna. God have provided them with water where none was to be found. They had heard the voice of Yahweh on the mountain and seen his presence characterized in the pillar of cloud by day, and a pillar of fire by night.
They were still afraid of the unknown. They were afraid of the untested. They were afraid of how the future would work out. They just were not sure they could trust God to take them into this land of promise and give them victory over the people who already lived there. Fortified cities seemed like too great an obstacle for a people that had only recently been a band of slaves in Egypt. Towns armed with chariots seemed like to great a threat to a people more accustomed to making bricks than wielding weapons.
Fear was their greatest enemy, we might say. On the other hand, maybe the real issue was the question of trust. Could they really trust Yahweh to continue leading them into an unknown land and providing for them against real enemies armed for battle? Yahweh had led them into the wilderness, given them food and water, and rescued them from Egypt's armies. At the Sea of Reeds, however, they had not needed to fight. The water had engulfed their enemies. Across the Jordan, things would be different. Could they trust Yahweh in a new and strange situation, even if so far things had gone well?
To be honest, they had been afraid back in Egypt. They had been afraid at the Sea of Reeds. They had been afraid when water was scarce and food sources were not as they knew them. They had never learned to trust Yahweh. It was easier to keep the little they had in the wilderness than to try a new experience on the other side of the Jordan. They started rumors to make the people more afraid and allow them to hang on to the known wilderness rather than trust God into the unknown.
Give your insecurities to God and trust God to take you through the uncertainties you face.
"Lord, help me live according to faith and trust, rather than from anxious fear."
—©Copyright 2009 Christopher B. Harbin
http://www.sermonsearch.com/contributors/104427/
Fear was the spies' motivation. Their message had little to do with the reality they had witnessed across the Jordan. They were focused on their own insecurities, rather than any confidence in God. Instead of bringing back a report as they had been tasked to do, they brought back and spread rumors of half-truths that grew more outlandish with the fanning of their fears.
Moses had sent them to spy the Promised Land and let the people know what to expect. It was a land that had once belonged in part to some of their ancestors. It was the land promised to Abraham and his descendants in ages past. It was the land that Yahweh had promised to give the Hebrews as he led them out of Egyptian bondage to Pharaoh.
This was the same generation who had left Egypt. This was the same people who had witnessed the deliverance of Yahweh on the banks of the Sea of Reeds, as well as in the plagues over the land of Egypt. Yahweh had delivered them from slavery to the most powerful nation of the world. Yahweh had granted them victory in battle over two more kings since leaving Egypt behind. God had fed them in the wilderness with manna. God have provided them with water where none was to be found. They had heard the voice of Yahweh on the mountain and seen his presence characterized in the pillar of cloud by day, and a pillar of fire by night.
They were still afraid of the unknown. They were afraid of the untested. They were afraid of how the future would work out. They just were not sure they could trust God to take them into this land of promise and give them victory over the people who already lived there. Fortified cities seemed like too great an obstacle for a people that had only recently been a band of slaves in Egypt. Towns armed with chariots seemed like to great a threat to a people more accustomed to making bricks than wielding weapons.
Fear was their greatest enemy, we might say. On the other hand, maybe the real issue was the question of trust. Could they really trust Yahweh to continue leading them into an unknown land and providing for them against real enemies armed for battle? Yahweh had led them into the wilderness, given them food and water, and rescued them from Egypt's armies. At the Sea of Reeds, however, they had not needed to fight. The water had engulfed their enemies. Across the Jordan, things would be different. Could they trust Yahweh in a new and strange situation, even if so far things had gone well?
To be honest, they had been afraid back in Egypt. They had been afraid at the Sea of Reeds. They had been afraid when water was scarce and food sources were not as they knew them. They had never learned to trust Yahweh. It was easier to keep the little they had in the wilderness than to try a new experience on the other side of the Jordan. They started rumors to make the people more afraid and allow them to hang on to the known wilderness rather than trust God into the unknown.
Give your insecurities to God and trust God to take you through the uncertainties you face.
"Lord, help me live according to faith and trust, rather than from anxious fear."
—©Copyright 2009 Christopher B. Harbin
http://www.sermonsearch.com/contributors/104427/
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