Moses sends the twelve spies in the Promised land, the land God has promised the Abraham’s descendants (Numbers 12). These spies were not going to check out the land to see if it was worth their time and effort to take it, that had be settled because God said it flowed with milk and honey. It was not to determine if they could take it from the inhabitants. God had delivered them from the military power of the day, Egypt by a series of plagues and then by destroyed the army of Egypt by parting the Red Sea for the Israelites to pass through safely and collapsing the walls of water on the Egyptians. God had promised to give them a land and it would be theirs.
In Numbers 13:27-29, the spies reported that the land was everything God had promised and more. It truly exceeded all their expectations and was a land flowing with milk and honey. There a big problem however. The inhabitants are too big, too strong and too powerful. We are too weak to defeat them and will never be able to overcome them. We need to come up with a Plan B.
Joshua and Caleb attempted to change the minds of the people, but to no avail. If the Lord wants to give us the land, He’ll do it. Trust in the Lord. But the people listen to the ten and wanted to stone Joshua and Caleb along with Moses, appoint a new leader and return to Egypt (Numbers 14:7-9).
You remember how this faithless episode ends. God punishes the Israelites. They are doomed to wander in the wilderness until entire this generation dies, except the faithful Joshua and Caleb. God rewards these two men in the Promised Land when He finally gives it to the next generation.
Consider some the lessons for us today in this present day. Jesus tells us that the harvest is plentiful, but laborers are few (Matthew 9:37). We as Christians are commanded to make disciples of all nations (Matthew 28:18-20). The book of Acts records the history of how the disciples were successful spreading the gospel.
However, it is tempting for us to look around today and start making excuses. There are too few people who care about spiritual things. There are too many people who are so worldly and liberal they will never listen. There are too many people who are prejudice against Christ and against His church. Literally, no one wants to listen. People do not like Christians today. We could go on and on with a list of reason for not telling others.
This is the same kind of excuse-offered by the Israelites, “Yes, the land is all God promised, however, it is filled with giants. We better just go back to our building and hide there because we cannot be victorious.” It is so easy to forget that we are not doing all this on our own. God is with us. God wants us to be victorious in the land. Will every person listen to the gospel? Why of course not because they did not everyone listen in the first century. We know this because we have read the book of Acts. Remember God is with us. We will be victorious. We will be successful. We will spread the gospel and God’s kingdom, if we trust in the Lord and simply do His will.
What does this mean? It means need to start doing something. Instead of waiting until we are sure we have come up with some fool-proof plan that everyone will listen to, let’s just start doing something. Invite people to the assemblies. Offer to pray for people. Have a study in your home. Ask if your co-worker would be interested in reading the Bible together. Do something. Not everyone will listen, but God is with us. And He is the one responsible for giving the increase (I Corinthians 3:5-7). We will be successful not because of us, but because God is with us!