Y’all, I am currently reading through Numbers (for the first time!) and I’m loving it. I found it dually applicable for where my heart is and for sharing with you in my first blog – though can we give Seth some credit? He blogs great for the both of us.
A quick recap on Numbers thus far: it’s name is derived from taking a census of God’s young nation. God is preparing them to do battle against the current occupants of their Promised Land. But the best part is: God isn’t training them to be practical, he’s training them to be faith-filled. (and gosh isn’t that still true for us today?)
Flash forward to my reading today: Twelve men were sent from Israel to gather intelligence about the land they were to conquer. This land was promised to them by God, to be an everlasting possession.
They discovered the land was all that God had promised (of course it was!), but was full of unknowns and impossibilities. The enemies inhabiting the land were big and the cities were large and secure. Almost all of the men sent to spy reported back to the Isrealites of the difficulties and doubts they had in believing God’s word.
BUT CALEB. Caleb quieted the crowd of doubts, “We should go up and take possession of the land, for we can certainly do it” (Numbers 13:30). Remembering what God had promised in Numbers 13:2, “Send men to spy out the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the people of Israel.”
It was Caleb’s word against the majority.
Unbelief almost always underestimates God and magnifies our personal frailty and worries. Unbelief sees barriers and difficulties. Unbelief doubts God’s word and removes His power.
I wonder today what you’re standing up against?
I wonder if you see only impossibilities?
I wonder if these are opportunities to trust God and believe His word.
My prayer for this upcoming year for you and I is that we cling to God’s promises just as tightly and declare them just as boldy as Caleb. What an incredible year it would be if we did.
AB
