Israel had not made a complete break from Egypt.Egypt in the Bible is used as a symbol of the world or worldliness. Israel had be delivered for Egypt, but they still retained in their minds much worldly thinking. Today some believers because of a lack of obedience to the Lord also hold on to much worldly thinking.God had brought Israel out of four hundred years of being in Egypt a place that God never intended them to be. In the later years a new dynasty of Pharaohs came to power who knew not Joseph. They enslaved the Hebrews and made them build the treasure cities of Rearmost. They cried to God for deliverance. God sent them Moses who led them from Egypt. God promised them the land of Canaan over 500 years earlier. God had taken them through the parted waters of the Red Sea and then to Mt. Sinai where God gave them the Law. Now they had traveled east and north to a small place called Kadesh-Barnea.Kadesh-Barnea for Israel was the place of decision. It was more than taking the land God had promised them. It a place to make the decision to follow and trust God or not. It was a decision to trust God and obey His word or to trust their own wisdom and understanding.God told Moses to send into the land one man from each of the tribes of Israel. Deut. 1:20-22, explains that God told them to immediately go and possess the land, but they wanted to first send in spies to look over the area so they could come back and plan their strategy. God was gracious although He had told them to go immediately and take the land. He let them send in the spies who were in the land for forty days.
Of the twelve men who spied out Canaan, Joshua and Caleb were the two who brought back a good report. Only they had faith in God.
Others with the same background, Egypt, Passover, Red Sea Crossing, Mt. Sinai had seen God supply their needs. However they did not truly believe God and with eyes of unbelief -(carnal) saw the task as impossible.
Joshua and Caleb through Eyes of Faith saw no reason to delay but to immediately go and take the land.
It should be noted that BOTH REPORTS WERE TRUE!
*Two men by faith trusted God and based on their trust on His promises and saw the land as theirs.
*Ten men trusted in themselves and knew they could not defeat the Canaanites.
They were both right! two men saw God as their deliverer, 10 men believed that man must deliver him self.
*Two men were willing to let God use them,
*Ten men opposed God’s will and hindered others.
*Two men rejoiced in what God was to give to them
*Ten men murmured, denied God, and Num. 14:10, says they wanted also to kill Joshua and Caleb because they wanted to follow the Lord.
Psalm 78:12-16 (ESV)
“In the sight of their fathers he performed wonders in the land of Egypt, in the fields of Zoan. He divided the sea and let them pass through it, and made the waters stand like a heap. In the daytime he led them with a cloud, and all the night with a fiery light. He split rocks in the wilderness and gave them drink abundantly as from the deep. He made streams come out of the rock and caused waters to flow down like rivers.
“They forgot his works
and the wonders that he had shown them.”
Psalm 78:11
Caleb inherited what God had promised because his faith never wavered.
Psalm 9:10 ” And those who know your name put their trust in you, for you O LORD, have not forsaken those who seek you.”
Our present faith = future hope
– Meaning this, what Caleb knew of God’s power; Seeing the miracles God used to get the Pharaoh to let them go & saw the Red Sea parted, Caleb knew that nothing was impossible for God.
Doubting God directing you = wavering faith
– The church say they want to serve God and have the blessing of doing God’s will….yet
they run hot one minute and cold the next.
“So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth.”
Rev 3:16
1. What is it that is not letting you walk in the full potential in Christ?
– For some, it is commitment issues. One day they are all for that “special” someone, they go out of their way to please that individual. And the next day, don’t want nothing to do with that person. How does that happen? I believe it is by being selfish.
– stronghold? that pet sin you carry around with you has you chained up; in time it will get noticed. Therefore, keeping you a distance away from being committed to Christ, because you can’t seem to put your trust in an invisible God. Let’s face it, we all need a saviour. We know that on our own ability we can not do the impossible. But with God, all things are possible.
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