Dr. Rick Mandl - August 31, 2020
How Big Is Your God?
How Big Is Your God?
Monday, August 31, 2020
Hey church family. One of my favorite stories of courageous faith, and willingness to stand up for God even if that means standing all alone is the story of what happened when Joshua sent 12 spies to spy out the land that God was giving them to conquer.
Caleb and Joshua were chosen, along with ten other men, to explore the Promised Land and to come back and give a report to Moses and the people. The twelve men did as they told. They participated in a reconnaissance mission and checked out the land that God was leading them into. When they returned they NOT were united in their report. Ten of the twelve were opposed to the idea of trying to conquer the land. In Numbers 13:32-33 we read their report... “The land we traveled through and explored will devour anyone who goes to live there. All the people we saw were huge. We even saw giants there. Next to them we felt like grasshoppers, and that’s what they thought, too!”
Caleb and Joshua disagreed! They wanted to go immediately and take the land. We’re told that... “All the people began to cry and weep. Then the whole community began weeping aloud, and they cried all night. Their voices rose in a great chorus of protest against Moses and Aaron.” By this time, you would think Caleb and Joshua would have given in to this incredible amount of peer pressure, and go along with the crowd but they didn’t. Listen to what they said, “It is a rich land flowing with milk and honey. Do not rebel against the Lord, and don’t be afraid of the people of the land. They are only helpless prey to us! They have no protection, but the Lord is with us! Don’t be afraid of them!”
When everyone else was trembling in fear, Caleb and Joshua were ready to march ahead. Why would they continue to trust God, when everyone else did not? The answer is because they knew who God was! They saw the promised land through the lens of faith, while the others looked at it through the lens of fear. They remembered God’s faithfulness to them in the past. They had seen him miraculously deliver them out of their slavery in Egypt. They had seen him lead them with a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. They had seen Him provide manna for them to eat, and water for them to drink as they travelled through the wilderness. They had witnessed his constant faithfulness to them time and time again and the result was, they believed!
They saw the Promised Land through a different lens. They knew the God who created the Universe, who called the stars by name would stand with them, and would go before them and as a result they had nothing to fear! The only way to develop the kind of faith that these two had is to KNOW your God. And the best way to get to know Him is to get into His Word and discover who He is. I want to leave you with the words of Jeremiah, from Jeremiah 9:23-24. There, the prophet Jeremiah says this... “This is what the Lord says: “Don’t let the wise boast in their wisdom, Or the powerful boast in their power, or the rich boast in their riches. But those who wish to boast should boast in this alone: That they truly know me and understand that I am the Lord who demonstrates unfailing love...” I pray that that would be your boast and mine. Amen.
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