Numbers 14:6-10 (NKJV) 6 But Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, who were among those who had spied out the land, tore their clothes; 7 and they spoke to all the congregation of the children of Israel, saying: “The land we passed through to spy out is an exceedingly good land. 8 If the LORD delights in us, then He will bring us into this land and give it to us, ‘a land which flows with milk and honey.’ 9 Only do not rebel against the LORD, nor fear the people of the land, for they are our bread; their protection has departed from them, and the LORD is with us. Do not fear them.” 10 And all the congregation said to stone them with stones. Now the glory of the LORD appeared in the tabernacle of meeting before all the children of Israel.
I normally use this space to reinforce the Sunday morning message preached in our church. This week the Lord met us in a special way and there was no message to speak of so I have been praying about what to share here. The one thought that did come through what happened Sunday is the need to believe the Lord not what we see in the world today. I thought this story was appropriate for our day.
As I stood up to preach, the Lord impressed on me the need to give thanks for what God has done. We are a praising church. Praise and Worship is an important part of our identity. The problem is that we have been a church for 27 years. When we first started, the praise and worship was new. God gave us a revelation about the importance of both. Our music is good, but not exceptionally so. It is the participation of our people that makes the difference in the praise and worship we enjoy.
After 27 years, we sometimes come together and just sing. That is not praise or worship. Praise and worship must come from the heart not just the mouth. Praise in particular is a declaration and affirmation of what we believe. I felt that we were not releasing and faith in our praise Sunday morning and I felt led of the Lord to change that.
I am a musician and I led praise and worship long before I began preaching. I encouraged our people up to really give thanks for what the Lord has done in our lives. As we released our faith in a time of praise, the Lord began to move to meet the needs of many people.
We live in a day of bad news. The evolution of the 24-hour news network has compounded our obsession with bad news. Good news just does not sell. When something remotely bad happens, the news outlets feel they must report on it every minute of every day until it is no longer “news.” This has made bad news seem even worse.
When you couple that with the simple fact that there is an awful lot of bad news in the world right now, you get a perfect storm of discouragement and fear constantly projected to the people of the world. I believe that we need to counteract that storm with a storm of praise and worship. We need to give thanks to God for what he has done. This has the effect of magnifying the Lord and minimizing the bad news. It is a weapon we cannot afford to ignore in today’s world.
As I was thinking about this, my mind was drawn to this very familiar story. God delivered the children of Israel from Egypt for a definite purpose. They were to occupy Canaan. Eventually they were to produce the Messiah who would save the whole world from sin. This was God’s will and destiny for their lives. As they approach their destiny, bad news comes which delayed the will of God for 40 years.
God had done many things that should have proven to Israel that he was with them. They saw the judgments that came upon Egypt. They walked through the Red Sea as if they were on dry ground while the Egyptian army was drowned. God’s miraculous provision provided food and water in the wilderness. Their shoes and clothes did not wear out for the whole time they were wandering. Now God had brought them to the edge of the Promised Land. Yet with all God had done, the majority of God’s people did not believe they could go in. Why did they reject the evidence that God would do what he said he would do? I believe the answer is that they believed bad news more than they believed the Word of God.
As we read this chapter, we know that Moses sent spies into the Promised Land. The purpose of the spies was not to see if they could take the land. The purpose was to show them that God had not lied. The land was all that he said it was. However, 10 of the spies saw something different. They saw a land that confirmed the news they had heard all along about how strong the inhabitants of the land were. Their conclusion was that they could not possess the land.
Where did they hear about the land of Canaan? The Israelites did not live in isolation. Although their path to Canaan did not always follow the established trade routes, we know they fought the Amalekites in Exodus 17. It is likely they came across many people who came through Canaan. I am sure they heard the stories about Jericho and the “giants” who lived in the land.
When they saw the Promised Land for themselves, their words reveal what they really believed.
Numbers 13:27-29 (NKJV) 27 Then they told him, and said: “We went to the land where you sent us. It truly flows with milk and honey, and this is its fruit. 28 Nevertheless the people who dwell in the land are strong; the cities are fortified and very large; moreover we saw the descendants of Anak there. 29 The Amalekites dwell in the land of the South; the Hittites, the Jebusites, and the Amorites dwell in the mountains; and the Canaanites dwell by the sea and along the banks of the Jordan.”
All that they said was true. There was bad news. Joshua and Caleb saw the same land but came to a very different conclusion. Why? I believe they believed the Word of God more than the bad news. The same evidence was before them as before the other ten but they saw opportunity not defeat.
We cannot ignore the facts of life in our world. There are bad things happening. It is a dangerous time. The economy is the worst I have seen in my 60 years. The political situation must change or our country is in for more difficulty. The world is even worse. There are wars and rumors of wars. There are potential conflicts that could turn into something horrific.
On a more personal level, we see fewer options for the future than we have in the recent past. I know that many wonder if their lives will be less rewarding than that of their parents. It is hard to see how good things can happen. Jobs and careers are scarce and more people are stuck in dead end situations than a generation ago. There is bad news.
On the other hand, God has not retired from being God. He is still on the move in the earth. Times of challenge have always produced great moves of God. I do not believe today is any exception to that rule. The problem is that we are so inundated with the bad news that it is hard to remember the “Good News” that God is still on the throne!
Just as Israel faced the challenge of bad news that threatened to keep them from their destiny, so do we. Today we must make a conscious choice about what we believe. That is why praising God is so important. As we release our faith in praise and worship, we reinforce what God has done and what he will do instead of reinforcing the bad news.
That is what Joshua and Caleb did.
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