By Pastor Doug Cox

Today I want to encourage you about the importance of reading through the pages of the Bible. And I get it some of it is difficult to understand. Some of it is tough to get through like parts of Leviticus and Deuteronomy. It can be very laborsome. However, the Old Testament is full of historical stories that are meant to do more than make us aware of past events. According to the apostle Paul “… things were written before were written for our learning, that we through the patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope.” (Romans 15:4)

One story comes to mind out of the many possibilities. It is the story from Numbers chapter 13. God had miraculously delivered the children of Israel out of Egypt and after spending a little time in the wilderness He wanted them to get ready to cross the Jordan and go into the land of Canaan. However, before He sends the whole nation, He tells Moses to send spies into the land, one from each tribe.

Moses told the 12 spies to go check out the land. Go see what it is like, see if the people are weak or strong and what the cities are like. Moses told the men to be of good courage and bring back some of the fruit of the land, so off they went on their 40-day spy trip.

Here’s where we can learn a valuable lesson about our faith journey. We learn that sometimes along the way you will find there are giants that will need to be confronted and there will be people who fiercely oppose what God stands for and wants you to do. And some of these people were supposed to be on your side. In this case 10 out of 12. That is 83 percent of the so called God squad called it quits.

Even with the spoils of a super-sized cluster of grapes that took 2 men to carry, a bunch of figs and pomegranates, ten of the men couldn’t find it in themselves to agree with God that it was possible to take the land. They whined about seeing the descendants of Anak there, along with the Jebusites and Amorites. They saw themselves like grasshoppers. How quickly they forgot what God had already miraculously done for them. They convinced themselves and the rest of the people that they were unable to go up.

Verse 32 says “… they gave the children of Israel an evil report of the land which they had spied out.” Unfortunately, their whole generation died in the wilderness except for Joshua and Caleb because of unbelief. I encourage you to read through this powerful historical account, then read further and see how God blessed both Caleb and Joshua because they were willing to stand alone in faith in the face of unbelief and rebellion and you can do the same because this story gives you hope. “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” (Philippians 4:13)