Sandy's Devotional

DEVOTIONAL:

They came back to Moses and Aaron and the whole Israelite community at Kadesh in the Desert of Paran. There they reported to them and to the whole assembly and showed them the fruit of the land. They gave Moses this account: “We went into the land to which you sent us, and it does flow with milk and honey! Here is its fruit. But the people who live there are powerful, and the cities are fortified and very large. We even saw descendants of Anak there. The Amalekites live in the Negev; the Hittites, Jebusites and Amorites live in the hill country; and the Canaanites live near the sea and along the Jordan. Then Caleb silenced the people before Moses and said, “We should go up and take possession of the land, for we can certainly do it.” But the men who had gone up with him said, “We can’t attack those people; they are stronger than we are.” And they spread among the Israelites a bad report about the land they had explored. They said, “The land we explored devours those living in it. All the people we saw there are of great size. We saw the Nephilim there (the descendants of Anak come from the Nephilim). We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them.” (Numbers 13:26-33)

It took great courage and faith for Caleb (and Joshua) to stand up to the other ten leaders who gave discouraging reports. The ten looked at the people of the land, the circumstances around them, and the possibility of defeat. Caleb looked to God and believed that He would fulfill His Word regardless of how the people of the land behaved/ looked and their size. Often, those who should “enter the Land” of God’s kingdom, look at the people in the congregations (churches) and don’t like what they see. Our decision to follow God and take hold of our inheritance in Him cannot depend on what other people do or how they behave or how tough the situation may look. May our eyes focus on the One who promised us fullness of life. God is faithful to fulfill His Word to each of us and bring us into His promised Land. Let us not look at the seeming giants of problems but rather to Him.