Choosing God's View

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.”
Numbers 13:26-33 NIV

Today I want to talk about how we view ourselves and our circumstances.  Twelve spies were sent to Canaan to spy out the land.  God had already given them the promise that they were going to take the land because He was going to give it to them.  Two of the twelve spies were Joshua and Caleb.  They brought back evidence of the wonderful crops that were there for the taking!  The fruit alone was huge!  A single cluster of grapes had to be carried on a pole between two men!

They came back in to give the report to Moses and Aaron.  Ten of the twelve told this woeful report of how big the people were, they were giants!  They were sure to spread their negative report to all of the Israelites, spreading fear everywhere.  Caleb silenced the crowd and said, "We should go up and take possession of the land, for we can certainly do it!" However the terrifying tales of the ten were spreading and gained more "press" than the positive report of Joshua and Caleb.  The momentum of fear snow balled quickly and then I would like you to read verse with me 33  We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them.

Two drastically different views.  One viewpoint was looking at themselves in their own strength and other viewpoint was looking at God's promises and how He saw the opposition.  Once the ten spies viewed themselves as small like grasshoppers and assumed that they looked the same to the enemy, they had already lost the battle.  They didn't lose the battle on the playing field, they had been conquered in their own minds.

Caleb and Joshua viewed themselves through God's eyes!  Joshua and Caleb knew that the battle belonged to the Lord.  They would conquer and take the promise land because they could do it in the Name of the Lord!

How often do we filter our circumstances through our own weaknesses and fears?  Shouldn't we focus on how amazing the promises of God are?  And whose authority are we walking in?  If we walk in our own strength we are definitely losers but if we walk in God's strength, direction and authority we will take the promise land! The battle is not ours but it is the Lord's! Don't take your eyes off of Jesus!  Because if you do you will start seeing the giants and then view yourself as small grasshoppers!  Focus on God and what He has promised!  Walk in the authority that he has given us!

Caleb silenced the people when he declared, "We should go up and take possession of the land, for we can certainly do it!" So today we need to choose, are we going to listen to the fearful woes or tales and lose sight of our Victor (and think of ourselves as grasshoppers)?  Or are we going to stick to the promises God has given us and go and take the land?  We will certainly win with the Lord when we are obedient and follow his directions!

Choosing to filter my position through the Lord!

Shanin