Who do you believe?

Who do you believe?

Words of Faith 6-18-2020

Dr. Jeffrey D. Hoy © 2020

Jeff.Hoy@faithfellowshipweb.com

Faith Fellowship Church - Melbourne, FL

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Numbers 13

    [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."

    [31] But the men who had gone up with him said, "We can't attack those people; they are stronger than we are." [32] 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. [33] 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."

        When the spies came back, they made their report.  The twelve spies agreed that the land was a place of great blessing.  A land of “milk and honey” meant that it was rich and bountiful for both herds (milk) and agriculture (honey). 

        But ten of the spies immediately brought a very frightening report.  The people in the land were powerful!  The cities were fortified!  The people were huge! (Didn’t we already say that?)  They were descendants of Anak, a race of giants. 

        Even Egyptian sources report that people in this region were seven to nine feet tall.  Two female skeletons about seven feet tall have been found in this area by archeologists.  Apparently, this was not the sort of place one could easily conquer!

         The report was upsetting to the people.  Caleb had to calm the people so that he and Joshua could report.  Caleb did not deny the obstacles in the land.  But he had a completely different view.  “We should go and take possession of the land, for we can certainly do it!” We might ask-- Why are you so optimistic, Caleb?  But the answer is obvious.  Caleb believed his God was bigger than the giants and fortifications.  With God, we can certainly do it.

         The ten spies continued their argument.  The people are too big!  The obstacles are too great!  We seemed tiny in our own eyes!  It was actually a critical moment in the history of Israel.  The great test here was to see if the people would believe their own evaluation of the enemy or the strength of Almighty God.  The Lord wanted them to see what they were up against because this is the only way to build genuine faith.  We do not really know how great God is until we have seen the enemy's power and the size of the obstacles the Lord overcomes. 

           The big question was who to believe-- the 10 spies who came back fearful or the 2 spies who came back faithful?  Do we believe our eyes and evaluation, or do we believe God?  Is our God bigger than the enemy? They had many opportunities to see God's mighty hand, yet still, they came back questioning his power.  Do we have faith that God can do it?  Answering the question incorrectly is not a total disaster-- but for the Israelites, it will mean 40 years of learning the correct answer.

           This is not just a matter of positive thinking.  It is the core of what it means to have faith.  Do we believe God?  Do we believe His promises?  Do we believe that He is bigger than our obstacles? 

         Father God, I believe!  Help my unbelief.  Give me faith to trust wholly in You and what You have planned.  Give me faith to step out and declare-- “We can certainly do it!”  because we know that You are faithful.  Thank You for every blessing and every opportunity to know and love You.  In Jesus’ name. Amen.

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© Jeffrey D. Hoy 2004, 2020

Dr. Jeffrey D. Hoy - Faith Fellowship Church (EFCA)       

2820 Business Center Blvd.

Melbourne, Florida 32940 (321)-259-7200

Jeff.Hoy@faithfellowshipweb.com

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The Words of Faith devotion is published five days a week by E-mail excluding Federal holidays. Please feel free to forward this devotion to a friend who might be blessed by this devotion. Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture is quoted from the New International Version (R) of The Holy Bible. Copyright (c) 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved. Words of Faith (c) 1997, 2010 Jeffrey D. Hoy. All rights reserved. Permission is granted to forward this copyrighted material or use portions of it with appropriate notation of the source for non-profit purposes.