Numbers Chapters 13, 14

The Group’s Report: “We went into the land to which you sent us, and it does flow with milk and honey! Here is its fruit. But the people who live there are powerful, and the cities are fortified and very large.”

Caleb’s Report: “We should go up and take possession of the land, for we can certainly do it.”

The Group’s Response: “We can’t attack those people; they are stronger than we are.”

The two opinions that are presented to Moses and Aaron show two different beliefs of the power of the Israelites. The group sees that they are outnumbered. They have 600,000 fighting men, and sized up against those in the promised land, they feel they are no match. Yet Caleb and Joshua don’t see it in this way. They see their enemies against the almighty God, who brought plagues to Egypt, led them safely out of slavery, parted the Red Sea, fed them in the desert for almost 4 years at this point, kept their clothes from becoming worn, led them with a cloud and a pillar of fire, and promised that they would be the chosen people, and their descendents would be many.

Joshua’s faithfulness in the “we” that includes the almighty God is what led him to be the leader of God’s people, conquering many lands and continually trusted that the “we” of the Israelites always outnumbered their enemies. The entire book of Joshua shows a faith in God, not a faith in numbers, chariots, armor, or city walls. 600,000 men can defeat many thousands of men, but even 600,000 men cannot bring down the walls of Jerico that God brought down alone.

How does this make sense in my life? What have I not gone after because I felt outnumbered? Where have I failed to calculate the power of the almighty and faithful God? Where have I failed to remember the many ways he has rescued and restored me in the past? What chances for success have been weighed without factoring in the power that waits to assist me?

Chapter 14 says this:

“Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh, who were among those who had explored the land, tore their clothes and said to the entire Israelite assembly, ‘The land we passed through and explored is exceedingly good. If the Lord is pleased with us, he will lead us into that land, a land flowing with milk and honey, and will give it to us. Only do not rebel against the Lord. And do not be afraid of the people of the land, because we will swallow them up. Their protection is gone, but the Lord is with us. Do not be afraid of them.’”

Failing to recognize the great strength we possess in and through God is one of the greatest lies of Satan. Our attempts at accomplishing things on our own bring him great joy, all while the God who has brought us through everything waits to be factored in, to be included in the equation.

At the beginning of the Book of Numbers, God asks Moses to take a census of all the Israelite men. The requirements were that they only count men who were 20 years or older and who could fight in the army. This number that was collected was 603,550. For most of the Israelite men, every obstacle they faced, every nation they feared they would have to fight, was measured up against this number. This was their census. They weighed their chances of success against this number. The theme of Numbers chapters 13 and 14 then, must be this: Do I count God in my census?

When we look at the things in our life that we need to accomplish, do we see them measured up against our abilities, our gifts, our time, our potential to succeed…Or do we count God? Do we fail to enter into the land that God wants to give us because we see it impossible? The dreams that God puts in our hearts are not a “get in there” slap on the butt. He backs it up. He has been faithful, and he will be faithful. We must never measure the things in our life up against anything short of God’s perfect power.

love.

The only reason that we can truly love God is because he has given us the ability to not love him. 

Without the choice to turn our backs, there can be no love in us following him. 

So then it becomes very obvious then, that love is a choice. It is not a feeling, but instead, consistent decisions of sacrifice that are possible only in light of something greater and more worthy than oneself. 

This is the same for every kind of love. 

I think one tough question in light of this would then be, "Can two people be in love if they are not following Christ?" I would say that love can never be complete without Jesus Christ. I do think that many non Christ followers are in many ways loving to each other, and live lives of sacrifice to each other. 

But the last thing I would want is to try to be sensitive and say things that are not true. I think that  sensitivity and fear are crippling our ability to convey the power of the gospel. Christians are growing up in classrooms where every word must walk over egg-shells just to make its point. The lack of truth and facts in the new subjects and ideas being taught has led to textbooks that are just filled with made up words and concepts that float around and can never land firmly. This is not us. This is not the gospel. 

We hold onto something that is real, that doesn't need the most elaborate thesaurus to describe it. Those who promote the new ways of thinking and their "superior" observations of our universe are filled with pride as they live lives to continually build their case for something that is void in their hearts. They cannot simplify it because it is not truth. Their constructions of thoughts must constantly explain themselves because their building materials are not solid. That is not us. That is not the gospel. 

So to go back to the idea of love outside of Jesus Christ, I would say that as Christians we must never back down from the truth. It is not our job to judge others, but we must never believe that a heart can find rest outside of Jesus Christ living in it. We should never apologize for refusing to believe that a life outside of God's forgiveness can offer peace and rest to a soul. It is not insensitivity, it is truth. We should not live our lives on the defensive, being careful not to offend anyone, or make anyone uncomfortable. Those who are uncomfortable in hearing the truth have far bigger problems than their feelings in that moment. And truth is the only step towards healing the root of their void. The pain of hitting the core of an unbelieving heart will always be more valuable than feelings from flattery that barely scratch the surface. 

So then, finally, is true love possible only in view of the greater glory of Christ? I would say yes. I believe that truly loving someone, pure sacrifice with pure motives, is possible only when we are lacking in nothing. True love is when our actions are not out of our own need, but out of the overflow of Jesus. When we lack in nothing and are filled so full with Jesus that he simply cannot fit inside just our hearts, there is an overflow. That is love. 

Intro

What does it mean to follow Christ? What does it mean to live a life that is pleasing to God?

I write this as someone who has failed, who has succeeded, and who is trying. The lessons that I have learned and the truths that I have found are valuable despite my continual failure to live up to them. My disregard for truth at many points in my life or even in my days does not make it any less true. So for me to reflect on truth is an important thing, and any thoughts informing me of my hypocracy are from Satan.

Grace is complete in two ways. First, that it is large enough to cover everything. And second, that the covering has already been done. It is full and it is final. So I am not a hypocrite for saying that I believe things that I often do not act upon, or saying that people should do certain things that I fail to do myself. It has already been established that I cannot live up to the truth, and Jesus Christ took care of it. That doesn’t mean that there should be a lack of truth coming from my lips. Truth doesn’t deserve to be spoken of any less simply because we are sinful.

So that is what this will be: Written out truths of God that deserve to be said, deserve to be heard, and deserve to be proclaimed despite the evil whispers that we are undeserving of being ambassadors.

This world is desperate. Our hearts should be filled with a sense of urgency. But how do we get there? God’s people will be known by their love. But how do we love if we are not set free from our own selfishness? It is by faith. But how do we have faith? We fill our lives with truth. We are transformed by our minds, not by our feelings, not by our highs and lows, but by pouring truth into our lives. We don’t need to make the evils of this world smaller, we simply need to see them in comparison with reality, through the eyes of God. It is then that we see how small their power, how weak their grasp, and how empty their rewards.

That is how our journey begins as followers of Christ. With love that comes from faith, and faith that comes from truth. It is a story that is more beautiful each day. It is a story that I want to be a part of.