Are you facing some tough decisions at the moment where there are several options that all seem equally bewildering? Do uncertainty and fear seem to be in the driver’s seat of your life, with either hasty or postponed decision making residing in the back seat? Panic and dread minimize our ability to focus and maximize our struggles, leaving us without firm footing and direction. The following story of Caleb and Joshua and their fellow ten spies challenges us to consider: Are we basing our daily decisions on gospel promises or frightening appearances?
“Moses sent them to spy out the land of Canaan and said to them, “Go up into the Negeb and go up into the hill country, 18 and see what the land is, and whether the people who dwell in it are strong or weak, whether they are few or many, 19 and whether the land that they dwell in is good or bad, and whether the cities that they dwell in are camps or strongholds, 20 and whether the land is rich or poor, and whether there are trees in it or not. Be of good courage and bring some of the fruit of the land.” Now the time was the season of the first ripe grapes…23 And they came to the Valley of Eshcol and cut down from there a branch with a single cluster of grapes, and they carried it on a pole between two of them; they also brought some pomegranates and figs…25 At the end of forty days they returned from spying out the land… 27 And they told him [Moses], “We came to the land to which you sent us. It flows with milk and honey, and this is its fruit. 28 However, the people who dwell in the land are strong, and the cities are fortified and very large. And besides, we saw the descendants of Anak there…30 But Caleb quieted the people before Moses and said, “Let us go up at once and occupy it, for we are well able to overcome it.” 31 Then the men who had gone up with him said, “We are not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we are.” 32 So they brought to the people of Israel a bad report of the land that they had spied out, saying, “The land, through which we have gone to spy it out, is a land that devours its inhabitants, and all the people that we saw in it are of great height. 33 And there we saw the Nephilim (the sons of Anak, who come from the Nephilim), and we seemed to ourselves like grasshoppers, and so we seemed to them.” ...4 And they said to one another, “Let us choose a leader and go back to Egypt...6 And Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, who were among those who had spied out the land, tore their clothes 7 and said to all the congregation of the people of Israel, “The land, which we passed through to spy it out, is an exceedingly good land. 8 If the Lord delights in us, he will bring us into this land and give it to us, a land that flows with milk and honey. 9 Only do not rebel against the Lord. And do not fear the people of the land, for they are bread for us. Their protection is removed from them, and the Lord is with us; do not fear them.” Numbers 13:17-20, 23-24, 25, 27-28, 30-33; 14:4, 6-9.
Imagine being amongst the people of Israel, having been miraculously freed from slavery to our cruel Egyptian taskmasters (Exodus 12:31). Then after years of wandering in the wilderness of hardship, we had come, at last, to God’s Promised Land in Canaan: “from that land to a good and large land, to a land flowing with milk and honey” (Exodus 3:8). The victorious lyrics in the Song of Moses and Miriam (Exodus 15:1-18) ring in our ears to keep our faith strengthened: “the people of Canaan will melt away”… “You will bring them in and plant them on the mountain of your inheritance” (Exodus 15:15,17). But now, when we have only to step over the threshold of this new land and take hold of this new abundant life, our minds are assaulted with fears, grumblings, and the need for a visible guarantee of what lies before us.
This dilemma was where the congregation of Israel found themselves as Moses sent out 12 explorers, one experienced leader from each of the 12 tribes, into the land of Canaan to scout out what lay ahead. We can read the outcome of the Israelite's scouting trip in Numbers 13 and 14, and as we do, we will see that the spies were divided in their conclusions. The Israelites struggle encourages us to examine our own hearts and discern which type of "spy" (believer) we are. Do we allow our fear to belittle us and make us doubt God, or do we walk by faith? Do we base our decisions on what we see or what God says?
So many questions flooded the minds of Moses and the Israelites. We can also enquire of ourselves, examining our hearts, bringing the things we may have held in secret and in darkness into “the light, as He is in the light” (1 John 1:7). Today, we might ask similar questions:
"see what the land is” (Numbers 13:18): What is frightening me?
"whether the people who dwell in it are strong or weak” (Numbers 13:18): How intense is my fear?
“whether they are few or many” (Numbers 13:18): How frequently do I experience this fear?
“whether the land that they dwell in is good or bad” (Numbers 13:19): What are the positive and negative consequences of my fear?
“whether the cities that they dwell in are camps or strongholds” (Numbers 13:19): How long has this fear been entrenched in my life?
“whether the land is rich or poor, and whether there are trees in it or not.” (Numbers 13:20): What human and godly wisdom and resources have I used to try to overcome this fear?
Moses called on his 12 spies to hold onto courage and bring back evidence of the goodness of the land of Canaan: “Be of good courage and bring some of the fruit of the land.” (Numbers 13:20). In the Old Testament lexicon, courage is depicted as being unrelenting, clinging with great resistance-strength, being immovable, showing strength which does not let go or let up, and staying gripped and unyielding. But only two spies held onto courage; the rest yielded to fear.
Can you see the spies coming towards you in the distance with the bounty of the land after they had completed their 40-day reconnaissance? Two men held a heavily laden pole, which was bending under the weight of just one single cluster of grapes, along with pomegranates and figs collected from the land.
All of the spies saw identical evidence in their explorations, but Caleb and Joshua interpreted it differently through a ‘faith filter’ in their minds and hearts. They believed that their God was steadfast in love and always faithful in His promises.
Joshua and Caleb’s report was bold and communicated their confidence in God’ love and presence with them:
“Let us go up at once and occupy it [Canaan], for we are well able to overcome it.”… “The land, which we passed through to spy it out, is an exceedingly good land. 8 If the Lord delights in us, he will bring us into this land and give it to us, a land that flows with milk and honey. 9 Only do not rebel against the Lord. And do not fear the people of the land, for they are bread for us. Their protection is removed from them, and the Lord is with us; do not fear them.” Numbers 13:30; 14:8-9
However, the other ten spies gave a corrupted report - a mixture of truth and fearful exaggeration:
Truth: "We came to the land to which you sent us. It flows with milk and honey, and this is its fruit." (Numbers 13:27).
Fearful Exaggeration: it "is a land that devours its inhabitants, and all the people that we saw in it are of great height." (Numbers 13:32).
They concluded their bad report with a faithless and powerless view of themselves as "we seemed to ourselves like grasshoppers, and so we seemed to them" (Numbers 13:33).
The information the ten spies gathered in the Promised Land was filtered through strong emotions of terror, dominated by a fleshly focus on themselves. The result was a sinful rebellion against authority and faithless and hasty decision-making.
Their words of fear spread like wildfire to the people of Israel who were turned "away from listening to the truth and [would] wander off into myths" (2 Timothy 4:4) and were poisoned with unbelief and delusion. They all cried out together with their demands to foolishly return to the bondage of Egypt, and to remove the holy leadership of Moses, Aaron, Joshua, and Caleb. They threatened to stone each one of the faithful four (Numbers 14:2-4,10).
It would come to pass as a consequence of their disobedience that only Joshua and Caleb, who had "wholly followed" and believed God (Numbers 32:12) along with the children of the Israelites younger than 20 years old, would inherit the riches of Canaan.
What about us? When we face frightening circumstances, and panic threatens to overwhelm us, what evidence can we cling to that is firm and true? What foundation can we stand on to stop ourselves from being immobilized by fearful thinking? If we see ourselves as mere grasshoppers overwhelmed by giants, what can we do? To Whom can we plead with the suffering Job of the Bible, "If only there were someone to mediate between us, someone to bring us together, 34 someone to remove God's rod from me, so that his terror would frighten me no more.” (Job 9:33-34 NIV)
Jesus is the “Someone” Who, on the cross, mediated between God and ourselves, removed our sin to bring us together in an eternal relationship with God, who took God’s wrath, removed His rod from us, and now we are “frightened no more” at the wrath of God.
The disciple Thomas was also uncertain of how to choose the way ahead and asked Jesus with these words:
“Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?” John 14:5 NIV
Jesus answered with beautiful assurance:
“I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” John 14:6 NIV
Then the disciple Philip went on to enquire:
“Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.” John 14:8 NIV
Jesus lovingly turned Philip’s eyes to Himself:
"Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you I do not speak on my own authority. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work. 11 Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the works themselves.” John 14:10-11 NIV (emphasis added)
Jesus tells us to place our trust and believe "on the evidence of the works" completed during His compassionate and sinless life, and in His death and resurrection. The 'evidence' of Jesus Christ's love for us was displayed as He hung and died on the cross to pay the wages for our sin (Romans 6:23). When we put faith in Jesus, we received a new self that desires to please God (2 Corinthians 5:17) and a new nature (Colossians 3:10), which trusts in the perfection of Jesus' works and not our own (Romans 6:4).
What wonder it brings us to contemplate that our old spiritual self with its enslavement to sinful habitual fear was crucified at the cross of Jesus, and laid dead with Christ for three days in the grave. Jesus' resurrection in power from the dead to sit at the right hand of God was the "evidence" that His Father had accepted His perfect sacrifice on our behalf.
“That power is the same as the mighty strength 20 he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms,” Ephesians 1:19-20 NIV
Jesus’ dead body was taken down from the cross by His secret disciple, Joseph of Arimathea. With the help of Nicodemus, they gently wrapped His body in strips of linen with seventy-five pounds of spices and laid Jesus in Joseph’s new tomb (John 19:39-42). After three days, Mary Magdalene, Simon Peter, and John witnessed that the stone sealing the tomb had been rolled away, and it was amazingly empty (John 20:1-7).
“whereas Christ, having offered the one sacrifice [the all-sufficient sacrifice of Himself] for sins for all time, sat down [signifying the completion of atonement for sin] at the right hand of God [the position of honor],” Hebrews 10:12 AMP
We might ask: "Jesus, how do I truly know that I'm right with God and that I will go to heaven and not hell?" Jesus replies, "Oh, my child, look here at the evidence of my wounds, which are proof of my condemnation and your justification. See here, believe and don't doubt, for I suffered all this for you, and opened for you the way to the Promised Land."
When we come to see the cross, we steady ourselves and wash our mind and heart in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Our decision making becomes permeated with the wisdom of the Holy Spirit and is no longer overrun by fear and trembling.
As we survey the cross on the hill of Calvary, we see the length, breadth, and depth of Jesus' agony to bring us up in power to new life and love in Him.
We see the mantle of death draped over the nailed Jesus, and our rebellious sin against our God hammered into His body in a million places. We stand amazed that each drop of His blood forgives and cleanses each wickedness and washes away our fear and guilt.
We see the thunderbolt of God's wrath and fury piercing His Son, who was condemned in our place, and Satan crushing His body of torn flesh to death. Then we see the chains of our lifetime of condemnation and dread fall from our wrists and ankles.