Two weeks ago, my article focused on the Bible as a truly amazing and unparalleled ancient work, and the statistical certainty of it being from the hand of God. Last week’s article amplified those concepts with emphasis on how archaeology as well as secular history serve to confirm the Biblical record, and give us even more faith that it is of divine origin. In this article I want to build on these facts to show how God can help us in our lives today, right now.
We are all confronted with difficulties at times, for some they are financial, or relationships with people, illness, temptation and sin, injustice, and the list goes on. Have you come up against what seemed like insurmountable odds in your walk on this earth? The question isn’t whether God’s people will come up against tough times, the Bible never says Christians won’t have such, but it does tell us how to deal with them when they do inevitably come. Let’s see what the Bible has to offer on this subject.
The Bible records how God chose the ancient nation of Israel to be His people, promising to be their God and give them a homeland in a place called Canaan. Canaan was known as the “promised land” and is repeatedly described as “flowing with milk and honey.” The Old Testament book of Numbers, chapter 13, records how Israel was approaching this promised land for the first time, after they had been rescued from slavery in Egypt by God (see Exodus chapters 3-14 for more). I said, “for the first time” because they were actually not allowed into Canaan that time due to their sin. After being punished by God and wandering in the wilderness for 40 years they were finally allowed another chance to enter Canaan, and with God’s help they were finally successful. It is important to know why God’s people were not initially allowed to enter Canaan so that as God’s people today we learn from their mistakes.
So, why did they fail? Numbers 13:2 records that God told Israel to send out 12 spies to get a report on Canaan prior to entry, including Joshua and Caleb who were both faithful men. God already knows everything, so why send out spies? This was a test of their faith in God. The initial spy report in verses 27-29 was just factual intelligence: the land was abundant and prosperous, there were large fortified cities, the people were numerous and strong, and they had giants on their side. The problem wasn’t this intelligence, remember that God had sent them out to get it, the problem was the lack of faith and trust revealed when 10 of the 12 spies concluded, “We are not able to go up against the people, for they are too strong for us” (v.31). In chapter 14 we find that the people were so afraid they were even willing to return to slavery in Egypt. This shows their complete lack of trust in God, even after all the miracles He had done up to this point.
Why didn’t the people trust God? It wasn’t as if He had not proven Himself to them previously. The scriptures reveal that God had shown His great power to them numerous times in a relatively short period. God had rescued Israel from Egypt by sending the 10 plagues where He overtly controlled the elements, the weather, animals, and people. God then parted the Red Sea so Israel could escape and then drowned the pursuing Egyptian army. He gave them guidance by a pillar of cloud in the day and one of fire at night, fed them with quail and manna, gave them water from a rock, and rescued them from another military attack. At Mount Sinai the people saw massive ominous clouds, lightning, fire, thunder, and earth quakes from God. All these events happened in the space of about 2 years. God had certainly proved that He could be trusted…that He should be trusted, many times over. So why did the people not trust God when He told them to take Canaan that first time? When they were confronted with hard challenges, the giants right in front of their eyes, they could not properly “see” what it meant to have God on their side.
Why could God’s people not “see” that even giants and fortified cities were not a big problem the first time they came to Canaan? Better, how can we avoid failing like them when life challenges hit us? This is why we have the Bible, to learn so we can be acceptable to God. The book of Proverbs, which contains the wisdom of King Solomon, has the solution.
Read Proverbs 3:5-8. Verse 5 says to “trust in Yahweh with all your heart” and verse 6 says “in all your ways acknowledge Him.” That’s twice we see the word “all” and this gives us the answer. We need to be “all-in” and completely trust God while we also “acknowledge” Him by living His way, according to His word not ours. Verse 5 says to, “not lean on your own understanding,” and verse 7 says to, “not be wise in your own eyes.” This reveals that no matter what we see in front of us, huge “giants” or “fortified cities”, we can’t rely upon our own thinking and logic, but rather we need to completely and fully trust in God. Here is the secret to real happiness in life. The blessing of trusting God is that we don’t need to worry about anything this life throws at us, if we first devote ourselves to Him.
If you would like to know more about what God has told us to do as Christians to succeed and get to His promised land, we would love to study His word with you and let Him reveal that Blessing of Trust we can all have.
Jeff Mullen
Blanco Hills Church
830-554-0701
blancohillschurch.com
blancohillschurch@gmail.com