Look back, look forward
The Bible is full of stories. The early part of the Old Testament is the saga of the Jewish people leaving Egypt and eventually ending up in what we know as Israel.
That journey was an epic adventure of a massive group of over a million people! They must have been quite a sight to behold.
When this tribe got to the borders of the ‘promised land’ that they were aiming for, God asked that a small group should go in and spy out the land. So, they selected twelve men for this task and sent then off to explore.
They returned with some good fruit of the land, and they reported on all they had seen. They said that the inhabitants were powerful, living in large, fortified cities. They concluded by saying...
“‘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.”
Their negative report spread throughout the whole tribe in such a way that it turned them all against Moses and the leaders. They complained and spoke of returning to Egypt under new leadership!
However, there were two other explorers, Caleb and Joshua who were far more positive about the land they had seen.
This story does show how people can influence others. The bad report and negative appraisal of the situation had a major effect on the whole Jewish tribe.
But there was something a little deeper going on as well. The spies who gave the bad report lost sight of what God had already done for them and what He said He would do.
These men witnessed, first-hand, that God had delivered them from Egypt, which included the miraculous parting of the Red Sea! They had lived on His daily provision of food and water, as well as seeing a military victory for them when they were attacked.
They took their eyes off God and saw the situation before them through their own eyes. In other words, they did not trust God. That was their issue, and their lack of faith infected the whole community.
Let me encourage you not to go the same way. Look back and see all that God has said and done. Now look forward with faith, trusting that God will lead you into the future...
God bless
Gary Bastin - Hope Community Church leader