Numbers 13:26-33. We Can Certainly Do It (as long as it is God’s will)- my devotional

Numbers 13:26-33                                                                               Kevin E. Jesmer

Key Verse: 13:30                                                                                 1-30-16

“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.” (NIV)

Dear Lord Jesus, thank you for your word, loaded with grace and truth. You bestow the truth of your word on us every day. Help us to feed on your word. Help us to understand your word by your  Spirit. Help us to grow through it. Teach me Caleb’s faith to encourage the people of God in difficult times. I pray in Jesus’ name. Amen!

Part 1: Caleb Was Quick To Plant Words Of Faith (26-30)

Verses 26-33, “26 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. 27 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. 28 But the people who live there are powerful, and the cities are fortified and very large. We even saw descendants of Anak there. 29 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. 30 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.”  (NIV)

God showed the spies a great land, full of good fruit. Nobody could deny it. Look at their initial report in verses 26-27. “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. 27 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.” (NIV) The fruit of the land was obvious. The spies brought back a cluster of grapes so big that two of them had to carry it on a pole. They also brought back figs and pomegranates. Indeed, it was a land flowing with milk and honey. God was correct in his promises to his people. It was all before them. All they had to do is go forth in faith and obey God and advance into the land. People must have shouted with joy.

But there was some among the people who could only look at the negative things and conclude that they can not take the land. Look at verses 28-29, “But the people who live there are powerful, and the cities are fortified and very large. We even saw descendants of Anak there. 29 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.” (NIV) The people were starting to make some other observations that could lead to negative conclusions. They were noticing that the cities were fortified and large. The people there were large and powerful and spread out throughout the land. The Anakites were giants who wore XXXL size of clothes. Goliath, whom David later fought with, was thought to be one of the remnants of the Anakites. The atmosphere, among the Israelites changed. At this point those reporting these things did not make negative conclusions, but they moving in that direction. They were making these statements with an aura of defeat on their lips. They were about to make some negative, defeatist conclusions.

Caleb silenced the people. He was proactive and stepped in to make sure the conversation went in the right direction. The right direction should be in the positive direction, a direction where God is glorified and faith is planted in the peoples’ hearts. And so Caleb stepped up with the words that glorified the Lord. Look at verse 30, “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.”

God was quick to guide the peoples’ hearts. His Spirit stirred in Caleb’s heart to speak up. I say this because I know that I need to focus on God and what he is doing, and not just on people and the good things that they do. The whole subject of the Bible is God and his glory, power, and majesty. God was determined to fulfill his promises to his people. He would bring them into the land flowing with milk and honey. He would fulfill his promises to Abraham to make his descendents as numerous as the stars in the sky. This would happen no matter what. It would despite of the peoples’ negative thoughts, concerning their ability to take the land. They are ruight in that they could not take the land. Human beings are full of weaknesses. But for what is impossible with people, is possible with God, if it is the will of God. Entering and possessing the Promised Land is the will of God in this case. I thank God for fulfilling his plan despite the weaknesses of his people. And now, let us think about the human response.

Caleb was a good spiritual leader.  After listening to the men’s description of the cities and the people he could sense that the whole conversation was going “south”. He did not let it go too far. He was proactive, by stepping in to make sure the conversation moved towards faith and not doubt. Spiritual leaders need to have a sense of discernment, to know when to step in and when to be quiet and leave things alone.

Caleb knew the value of spiritual encouragement. He knew there is power in words that are pregnant with faith. And he chose to speak those words to the people. A spiritual leaders needs to be a  source of constant encouragement to the people, encouraging them to have faith in God. and to obey the will of God.

Caleb knew that it was God’s will to enter in the land and possess it. That is how he could so boldly stand up and encourage the people to trust God and go forth to conquer the land. It is one thing to speak encouraging words about anything. But it is another to speak encouraging words when it is truly backed by the will of God. There are some things that we want to speak words of encouragement for that aren’t the will of God. Such encouraging words could actually be a human, psychological attempt to force our own prayer topics to come true even though they may not be the will of God. I was once a Boy Scout leader. Our scout pack was dwindling. We were not allowed to recruit in the public schools. There were no parents stepping up for leadership. I spoke encouraging words. I prayed and announced that God would build up the pack. “Watch for a miracle”, I said. But it was not the will of God. I used to head up a single family house church. I would speak words of encouragement, that God would raise up a church with 120 members and there would be Bible teachers to teach the Bible to students from Elgin to Rockford. I spoke words of encouragement for 14 years. Though God worked through our house church, eventually it ended, without my encouraging words coming to pass. Last week (2016) they tore down the house, leaving no trace of the house we poured out our energies in. The only surviving thing is the work that Christ has accomplished in peoples’ hearts. That is how it is supposed to work out anyway. I praise Jesus for what he accomplished. But I just learned through it all, that I need to be certain that it is the will of God, before I stand up, encouraging something that God has no intention to fulfill.

I pray that God may help me to be like Caleb and be in tune with the will of God. Grant me courage to speak up with truthful words of God when they are needed. Help me to be a truthful source of encouragement, following the leading of your Spirit and not just use encouraging words as human means to push my will to happen. I pray in Jesus’ name. Amen!

Part 2:  The Unbelieving Ten (31-33)

“But the ten 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 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. We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them.” (31-33)

Ten men were captured by fear and unbelief. They did not control their hearts and their hearts drifted to the dark place of doubt, pessimism and rebellion towards God. They had no God in their sight, thoughts, and words.

Caleb, Joshua, and the ten leaders left Egypt together and experienced God’s power, character, and guidance together. Why then couldn’t they have the spirituality which Caleb and Joshua had?  They took their eyes off of God. When they saw the land of Canaan with human eyes, they saw fortified cities and strong, well-equipped enemies. On the other hand, they saw themselves as weak, former slaves, untrained with feeble equipment. They saw no possibility of victory in war, so they gave up. In order to justify themselves, they gave a bad report about the land, trying to convince others of their viewpoint.

Caleb saw the same things the other explorers saw. But he could see the land with God’s eyes through the Holy Spirit who dwelt in him. He was convinced of the will of God and that God would use his people as His instrument and give them the land. So he countered the unbelieving words with words born out of his faith, “We should go up and take possession of the land, for we can certainly do it” (30).

We are called to minister the Gospel in this post-modern, Western society. We are fighting against the philosophies of secular humanism, materialism and hedonism. When attempting to preach the Gospel, we feel as if we are fighting with giants. When we see the obstacles before us, we are filled with negative thoughts and fear and conclude that we are too small and powerless. But the fact remains, yes, we are too small and powerless, but God is strong. God is indeed great. When we fix our eyes on God, God becomes bigger and bigger in our minds and hearts and the problems become minuscule until they disappear. And the Holy Spirit fills our minds and hearts with courage and conviction that “We can certainly triumph and conquer” over the popular philosophies of the day. We will conquer the barriers that keep us from ministering the Gospel according to the will of God. And, if it is the will of God, he will raise up disciples and a church through our prayers and ministry. But it must be the will of God and not just an agenda that we are pushing for.

There are times when we should not encourage others to proceed forward. It is when something is not the will of God. Then we should pray for discernment and proceed carefully seeking the will of God with much prayer, meditation and consultation.

Prayer: “Lord, show me your will and help me to speak words of encouragement in light of your will. May I be a man who is known to encourage and not one who discourages others.”

One Word: Encourage others in light of the truth.