On the eve of Israel taking possession of the promised land, twelve spies were sent into Canaan to gather intel on the enemy. When they returned, ten of the twelve brought the following 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. We even saw descendants of Anak there. 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. 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.” But the men who had gone up with him said, “We can’t attack those people; they are stronger than we are.” 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. 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.” That night all the people of the community raised their voices and wept aloud (Num.13:27-14:1).
The fear of ten men kept an entire nation and an entire generation from entering the inheritance God had given to them. Surely, Pharaoh and the Egyptian machine of conquest and enslavement had seemed impossible to overcome, but God had brought them out with miraculous plagues. Immediately they had crossed the Red Sea on dry ground and seen the Egyptian army swept away by water. God had fed them and provided water in an impossible dessert. He had shaken Mount Sinai and given them the Commandments. Israel had done none of those things in their own strength. God had done it all. But, within a few weeks of the Red Sea crossing, no faith could be found in those ten men.
Check their focus. Their view was only on the natural and their assessment was based only on their own strength and resources. In their own strength, they could not overcome such an enemy with such great cities and, in their minds, God was never part of the equation. They acknowledged that God’s description of the land was accurate – a land flowing with milk and honey – but somehow, they did not envision him leading them to victories as he had done only weeks earlier. In the mind of Caleb and Joshua, God was the primary part of the equation. The only other part was whether God delighted in them or not and that depended on their faithfulness.
I like what Graham Cooke has to say about the question of whether God will be with us or not. He says, “Joshua and Caleb manifested what God had put in them: courage and faith. They knew everything came down to one simple issue – “If the Lord delights in us.” That was the question they wrestled with. Is God pleased with us or not? If He is, nothing can stop us. I can answer that question for every believer. He is. God is very pleased with each and every one of us. Why? Because He only sees us in Jesus. He cannot see us separate from his Son. Why wouldn’t he be pleased with you?” (Graham Cooke, Manifesting Your Spirit, p.73; Brilliant Book House).
Of course, our flesh can come up with a dozen reasons that God would not be pleased with us and in that perspective our heart fails like the ten spies. We know our sins, our dark thoughts, and the weaknesses that we despise. We assume the Lord despises us because of those things and so we assume he will not go with us into battle. Whether we are battling enemies, poverty, disease, addictions, or loneliness, when we look at our condition and resources rather than the heart of God and his resources, fear will win the day.
John tells us “if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another and the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all sin” (1 Jn.1:7). Walking in the light does not mean sinlessness because in his letter, John is clear that we all sin. The idea is that as long as our face is turned toward God and we are moving in his direction – regardless of how slow the progress – then we are still in fellowship and the blood of Jesus covers our sin.
In the temple, the ark of covenant was the centerpiece of all things. It contained the Testimony or the Law of God, a golden pot of manna, and Aaron’s rod that had bloomed confirming his priesthood. On the top of the ark were two golden cherubim surrounding the mercy seat, which represented the throne of God. Cherubim are fierce angels that are equivalent to the palace guard. Their job is to keep any enemy and any offense from the presence of the King. As they stretched out their wings over the ark, it was as if they gazed upon the Law inside of the ark so that anyone who had violated the law would be condemned and kept from God’s presence. On the Day of Atonement, however, the high priest carried sacrificial blood into the Holy of Holies and sprinkled it on the ark. The symbolism, which pointed to Jesus, was that The Law was covered by the blood and it’s condemnation silenced. The cherubim could not see The Law for the blood. Any man represented by the blood could then continue in fellowship with the Lord.
As long as any believer still has his face or his heart pointed toward God, the blood keeps him in a state of perpetual purity. Therefore, God only sees the righteousness of Jesus when he looks at his children and, therefore, delights he in us. Because he delights in us, he is with us and will give us the victory. Like the ten spies, condemning, unbelieving, and critical voices can drown out our faith. Under the influence of those voices, we focus on ourselves and not the Lord and, by doing so, fail to enter his promises for us. He doesn’t keep us out; we simply won’t go in. The giants that we imagine and fear when we assess our own strength are like grasshoppers in the eyes of our Father – bugs to be stepped on.
As believers, we need to be aware of the voices we listen to. Fear and unbelief can be contagious. Find a few who are full of faith and focused on the Lord. They are the exceptions, so spend time with the exceptions not the crowd. Make sure you speak in faith and anticipation because of who God is, not because of who you are – except for who you are in Christ.
If the flesh does not agree with your declarations of faith and the goodness of God, don’t feel like a hypocrite. Paul himself experienced the conflict between his natural man and his spiritual man (Rom.7). Be led by your spiritual man and don’t count the natural man as who you are. Choose to focus on the character and capacity of God and you will not fall short of his promises. Faith is a gift and we need to guard it. We must watch our own words, our own reports and be aware of those being spoken around us. Seek out environments of faith and expectation, not doubt and unbelief. “For without faith it is impossible to please God” (Heb.11:6).
