Maybe the Wilderness isn't so Bad After All

Numbers 13: 26-33

So the leaders come back from scouting this land- the land they've been waiting for all this time and the people gather to hear the report. This must have been a meeting filled with amazing anticipation. Way back in Exodus they were promised this land flowing with milk and honey- and finally, here it is.

So they gather- and the news isn't what they hoped it would be. With Moses and Aaron and the whole assembly before them the leaders report... "well, yeah- there's the whole milk and honey bit-in fact here's some fruit so big we had to carry it in on poles- but the dudes that live there are crazy tough. I saw one of them get in a fight with a tree- and he won. The cities are huge- there are so many of them living there. And these guyss are huge- like Shaq huge- like Incredible Hulk huge- their kids were as big as that guy in The Green Mile.

They spelled out who the people were that lived there- some of whom are the very people God told them would inhabit the land He was going to lead them to back in Exodus. In the midst of the fear mongering, Caleb stands up, silences the crowd and does his best impersonation of Gene Hackman in Hoosiers. We got this- let's take what God has promised us.

But his enthusiasm is shot down by the other leaders. Are you serious? These people make John Wayne seem like Seth Rogan. We felt like grasshoppers among these people- and they looked at us like we were grasshoppers.

This must have been demoralizing. After walking for years, when it looked as if it was finally time to reap the benefits of all the labor- the carpet is pulled out from beneath their feet.

And while it's easy to wonder how this group so easily forgets the Red Sea rendezvous and doubts deliverance, it's easy for us to forget how we've been taken care of in the past and to stress about what is to come.