The Selfishness Of Fear
Numbers 13:27-33 [27] And they told him, and said, We came unto the land whither thou sentest us, and surely it floweth with milk and honey; and this is the fruit of it. [28] Nevertheless the people be strong that dwell in the land, and the cities are walled, and very great: and moreover we saw the children of Anak there. [29] The Amalekites dwell in the land of the south: and the Hittites, and the Jebusites, and the Amorites, dwell in the mountains: and the Canaanites dwell by the sea, and by the coast of Jordan. [30] And Caleb stilled the people before Moses, and said, Let us go up at once, and possess it; for we are well able to overcome it. [31] But the men that went up with him said, We be not able to go up against the people; for they are stronger than we. [32] And they brought up an evil report of the land which they had searched unto the children of Israel, saying, The land, through which we have gone to search it, is a land that eateth up the inhabitants thereof; and all the people that we saw in it are men of a great stature. [33] And there we saw the giants, the sons of Anak, which come of the giants: and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight.
Numbers 14:35-38 [35] I the Lord have said, I will surely do it unto all this evil congregation, that are gathered together against me: in this wilderness they shall be consumed, and there they shall die. [36] And the men, which Moses sent to search the land, who returned, and made all the congregation to murmur against him, by bringing up a slander upon the land, [37] Even those men that did bring up the evil report upon the land, died by the plague before the Lord. [38] But Joshua the son of Nun, and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, which were of the men that went to search the land, lived still.
We have a major conflict here. Joshua and Caleb come back and tell the people that the land is just as God promised and they should go up and take it. However, the others said the people were just too great. Claimed that the people were such giants that they were as grasshoppers before them. All out of fear. This fear then keep everyone except Joshua and Caleb from seeing the promised land. Their fear affected not only them, but everyone else around them. They had seen everything God had brought them through up to this point yet still decided God wasn’t big enough and allowed their fear to lead them away from what God wanted. I don’t know if it was fear of the unknown, true fear of the people in the land or what. Regardless, it was their fear that stopped them. What does our fear keep others from? Does the fear of an unknown question keep you from sharing the Gospel? Does the fear of a few harsh words keep you from sharing a Gospel tract? Does the fear of the unknown keep you from stepping out on faith and doing what God is leading you to do? That fear is all about us. We aren’t looking at what God could do through us. Instead we are focused on the reasons why I can’t or I shouldn’t do something. I’ll never forget the story Bro. Mike Goodson told us one time. If I have it correctly he walked into a service at a place he’d never been. They started singing I’ll Fly Away and God told him to take off running acting like he was flying like a bird. He said he didn’t do it. Then here come someone else doing that very thing and it just broke out! God spoke to his heart and told him see that could’ve been you. It’s no telling the blessings we miss out on all because of our own fear. Even when we’ve seen God do wonderful things through peoples lives, even our own, we still allow fear to stop us at times. Put the fear away today and just have faith in what God is speaking to your heart about!
God bless you today! Bro. Josh Richardson
Comments