Living by Faith or by Sight?

A message from reference by Phil Rogers 20/04/08

To listen to Phil's message click here mp3

We are looking a the life story of Joshua and today we come to the Kadesh Barnea in the desert of Paran a few days journey from the Promised land.

Read Numbers 13:1-20

God told Moses to send twelve leaders, one from each tribe, into Canaan to explore it and get the lie of the land. We could call them explorers but as they had a military agenda they were actually SPIES.

Joshua son of Nun secret agent 005! Their mission: to reconnoitre the land prior to their invasion of this land that God had promised to Abraham and Isaac and his descendants. God himself commanded them to go and take possession of it. So the ten spies set out to secretly reconnoitre the whole land that lay ahead of them.

Read Num 13:21-14:45

The twelve spies all saw the same things: they saw the fertile fields and abundant crops, a land flowing with milk and honey exactly as God had said, they saw the people who lived in that land many of whom were much taller, fitter and stronger and than they were, they observed the large walled cities and the military might of the peoples who lived in this land. But it was HOW they saw these things that distinguished the ten spies from Caleb and Joshua. How do we see what is around us? Do we see with eyes of faith or just what we see with our eyes? Caleb and Joshua saw the obstacles as challenges to face, confident in God to help them to overcome every difficulty.13:30 “We should by all means go up and take possession of it, for we will surely overcome it.” Their faith & confidence in God was based on all that they had seen - the plagues, the Passover, the Red Sea, Sinai, manna. Could anyone doubt God’s power and commitment to his people that he had delivered from slavery in Egypt? Their faith and confidence in the face of challenges stirred them to ACT. Faith does not lead to talk but to action and they urged action - "We should by all means go up and take possession of it, for we will surely overcome it."

The other ten spies saw all the same miracles, the same power of God and the same difficulties ahead of them. Not only did they doubt their own power to overcome these obstacles but they also doubted God’s power to meet every challenges and, worse of all, they spread their doubt, negativity and fear to everyone else. Isn’t it strange how people so readily accept the negativity, doubt and fear of others while they look suspiciously at those who express faith or confidence in God as extreme. Faith is so much more difficult to spread around than doubt.

But their most telling statement is in 13:33 “There also we saw the giants ... and we became like grasshoppers in our own sight, and so we were in their sight.” They had had a lifetime of cultivating low self-esteem while slaves in Egypt. They looked at themselves rather than at God seeing themselves as grasshoppers in their own sight. Then they 'jumped' to conclusions - ‘and so we were in their sight’. Low self-esteem often leads to projecting onto other people. Do we often make similar false assumptions? Do we think we have nothing to offer unbelievers and pressume that they see us in the same way too. The only antidote is to see that God is for us, on our side.

Actually these thousands of Hebrews with their pillar a cloud and fire and the terrifying stories of the power of their God scared the pants off these local Canaanite tribes! They hid in their walled cities. The voice of faith said “Their protection has been removed from them, and the LORD is with us; do not fear them.” 14:9 The Hebrews were more like locusts than grasshoppers, posing a huge threat. What threat do we pose amongst those we live and work with? A godly lifestyle challenges an ungodly lifesyle and people can find us intimidating. But do we step out in faith or hold back? God was furious with their unbelief, but because Moses pleaded for them God forgave them. But God is not mocked, we sow what we reap. Even through we may be forgiven we live with consequences. The Lord judged them because they listened to the doubters and doubted those with faith. Ps 95:8-11. “Therefore I swore in My anger, Truly they shall not enter into My rest.”

God swore this oath ‘on his name’ “but as surely as I live and as surely as all the earth will be filled with the glory of the LORD” 14:21. Not one of those who saw God’s glory would see the promised land, except Caleb and Joshua. It is absolutely certain that God lives, and one day all the earth WILL be filled with the Glory of God. Do we hold onto the present reality that ‘God is the living God’ and the future certainty that ‘all the earth will one day be filled with God’s glory’? What can we do? “See to it that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness.”(Heb 3:7-4:11) The consequence was they were not able to enter because of their unbelief, because they gave in to low-self esteem and to fear not to faith.

How did Caleb and Joshua manage to rise above low self-image and a slave mentality. 14:24 “But My servant Caleb, because he has had a different spirit and has followed Me fully,” What a great testimonial! We have the Holy Spirit! We can have a different spirit and follow the Lord fully like Caleb and Joshua, living by faith and not by sight. Do we?

‘For each of the forty days you explored the land, a day for a year, a day for a year, you will bear the consequences of your sin and know what it is like to be alienated from me.’ 14:34
I guess the younger generation grew up with a vivid awareness of their parents failings, determined to make every effort not to fall by following their example of disobedience. Heb 4:11. We must tell our children our failures as well as our sucesses.

The story ends with the utter foolishness of gross presumption leading to defeat. “Nevertheless, in their presumption they went up towards the high hill country, though neither Moses nor the ark of the LORD’s covenant moved from the camp.” 14:44 How can we dare do what God has said don’t? They moved out independently without two essential elements : spiritual leaders and God’s presence. If we make decisions without consulting with spiritual leaders and know the presence of God, we are going to get into trouble. But safe decisions, wise actions have the backing of our leaders and know the blessing of God’s presence.