When the twelve Hebrew spies were sent into Canaan to spy out the land they came back with samples of the great abundance in the land and 11 of them had a story that started with “but” …
When I read this story again today the word BUT jumped out at me.
I am sure you are familiar with this Bible account (which is found in Numbers 13:17-33.) The samples of the fruit that they found in Canaan were incredible. There was great abundance in the land.
Can you imagine a cluster of grapes so big that it took two men to carry it? They hung the cluster on a pole and each man took an end to be able to carry it.
Yet they came back saying “here is some of the fruit we found there, but the people who live there are strong and their cities have walls and they are very large”.
Then Caleb steps up telling the people to be quiet saying: “Let’s go now and take possession of the land. We should be more than able to conquer it”.
But the other 11 spies react in fear shouting: “We can’t attack those people! They’re too strong for us”. (Can you see the fear in that declaration?)
Here is an interesting contrast. Twelve men (warriors supposedly) see the exact same scene, lots of luscious fruits and abundance as well as some challenges (the giants and the walled cities).
Yet 11 men see only the giants, and one (Caleb) sees only the potential (the abundance of fruit in the land).
Here we have:
- Two different perspectives – giants and potential.
- Two different attitudes – fear and faith.
- Two different focuses – potential defeat and potential victory.
Caleb was seeing with the eyes of faith, and the other 11 men were seeing with eyes of fear.
My question today is:
Where there is great potential, there is also going to be some challenges. Are you focusing on the potential in front of you? Or do you only see giants?
Faith or fear – its your choice. I choose faith, do you?