When It Seems Impossible - Numbers 13
Moving Forward - Lessons From Exodus • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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This series started in the book of Exodus, but continues now into the book of Numbers. As I’ve stated several times throughout this series, I am so convinced that our God a God of moving forward and not just standing still.
I want to repeat one of the passages we’ve read during this series…this is from the book of Philipians:
12 Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. 13 Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.
Are you pressing on or just staying put in where you are? Paul, with all of his understanding and work that he did for Gospel still saw the need to strain toward what is ahead - that is the Gospel prize that is for all of us…Heaven. Until we are there, we still have work to do here.
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The book of Exodus gives us an account of how the nation of Israel was rescued from slavery in Egypt. The ultimate goal for Israel was to enter the promise land, but that did not take place in the book of Exodus. God first gave his people the law that is much of the book of Leviticus. Now in Numbers, we see their first look at the promise land.
Let’s see how that played out...
1 The Lord said to Moses, 2 “Send some men to explore the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the Israelites. From each ancestral tribe send one of its leaders.”
3 So at the Lord’s command Moses sent them out from the Desert of Paran. All of them were leaders of the Israelites. 4 These are their names:
from the tribe of Reuben, Shammua son of Zakkur;
While I am sure we all want to hear me mispronounce most of these names I am going to skip that. Just know that twelve men were selected, one from each tribe to got into Canaan and explore…let’s jump down to verse 16...
16 These are the names of the men Moses sent to explore the land. (Moses gave Hoshea son of Nun the name Joshua.)
17 When Moses sent them to explore Canaan, he said, “Go up through the Negev and on into the hill country. 18 See what the land is like and whether the people who live there are strong or weak, few or many. 19 What kind of land do they live in? Is it good or bad? What kind of towns do they live in? Are they unwalled or fortified? 20 How is the soil? Is it fertile or poor? Are there trees in it or not? Do your best to bring back some of the fruit of the land.” (It was the season for the first ripe grapes.)
This sounds like a solid plan. Go and look and bring back a report as well as some of the fruit of the land.
21 So they went up and explored the land from the Desert of Zin as far as Rehob, toward Lebo Hamath. 22 They went up through the Negev and came to Hebron, where Ahiman, Sheshai and Talmai, the descendants of Anak, lived. (Hebron had been built seven years before Zoan in Egypt.) 23 When they reached the Valley of Eshkol, they cut off a branch bearing a single cluster of grapes. Two of them carried it on a pole between them, along with some pomegranates and figs. 24 That place was called the Valley of Eshkol because of the cluster of grapes the Israelites cut off there. 25 At the end of forty days they returned from exploring the land.
For 40 days these 12 men explored. In this exploration, these men stayed together and they each saw what the others saw. Yet even though they saw the same scenery and the same people, they didn’t all SEE the same thing.
26 They came back to Moses and Aaron and the whole Israelite community at Kadesh in the Desert of Paran. There they reported to them and to the whole assembly and showed them the fruit of the land. 27 They gave Moses this account: “We went into the land to which you sent us, and it does flow with milk and honey! Here is its fruit. 28 But the people who live there are powerful, and the cities are fortified and very large. We even saw descendants of Anak there. 29 The Amalekites live in the Negev; the Hittites, Jebusites and Amorites live in the hill country; and the Canaanites live near the sea and along the Jordan.”
The first report by the scouts was that the land was good, but there are giants in the land.
30 Then Caleb silenced the people before Moses and said, “We should go up and take possession of the land, for we can certainly do it.”
Caleb immediately speaks up and says giants? pft…no problem we can do it. The the others retorted...
31 But the men who had gone up with him said, “We can’t attack those people; they are stronger than we are.” 32 And they spread among the Israelites a bad report about the land they had explored. They said, “The land we explored devours those living in it. All the people we saw there are of great size. 33 We saw the Nephilim there (the descendants of Anak come from the Nephilim). We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them.”
Notice what happens here. Fear has gripped these men to point where all they see is the problem, when they should have had their eyes on God instead. It doesn’t take much for a bad report to spread.
I can remember a few times in the corporate world when a project or a plan was announced by the leadership and it wouldn’t take long and something similar would happen…a bad report would begin to spread. It’s going to be too hard…It’s too big of a project…No way we can do that in that time frame.
I wish I could say that this doesn’t happen in the church, but it does. I wish I could say it only happens in other churches, but it has happened here as well. Many people don’t think word gets to me about these grumblings and naysayers, but it does.
Let’s keep reading...
1 That night all the members of the community raised their voices and wept aloud. 2 All the Israelites grumbled against Moses and Aaron, and the whole assembly said to them, “If only we had died in Egypt! Or in this wilderness! 3 Why is the Lord bringing us to this land only to let us fall by the sword? Our wives and children will be taken as plunder. Wouldn’t it be better for us to go back to Egypt?” 4 And they said to each other, “We should choose a leader and go back to Egypt.”
Why is it that when things seem impossible that we do this? Yes, we, me included. We look at a situation that is going to require us to move forward and do something hard and rather than face it, we’d rather go back to the way it was.
We are by nature ok with the status quo and resist by our nature any type of change or move. We find things to look at that make the situation impossible and rather than seek God’s view on it, we trust our own judgement about a situation.
Then we grumble and complain and cry out and just wish we could just go back to the way it was. Not all of us will resort to this reaction though…look what happens next...
5 Then Moses and Aaron fell facedown in front of the whole Israelite assembly gathered there. 6 Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh, who were among those who had explored the land, tore their clothes 7 and said to the entire Israelite assembly, “The land we passed through and explored is exceedingly good. 8 If the Lord is pleased with us, he will lead us into that land, a land flowing with milk and honey, and will give it to us. 9 Only do not rebel against the Lord. And do not be afraid of the people of the land, because we will devour them. Their protection is gone, but the Lord is with us. Do not be afraid of them.”
Notice here what happens, Moses and Aaron, in humility, fall facedown in front of the assembly. The old saying…you can lead a horse to water, but can’t make him drink applies. Moses is leading the nation of Israel while he is following God. He can lead them all he wants, but if they don’t want to go...
But then 2 of the scouts, Joshua and Caleb, speak up and by faith point the nation of Israel to trust in God. God will lead and God will give - just don’t rebel and don’t fear. They end with The Lord is with us, do not be afraid of those giants.
Quick preview to next week…look what happens to those who were speaking ill of God’s plan...
36 So the men Moses had sent to explore the land, who returned and made the whole community grumble against him by spreading a bad report about it—37 these men who were responsible for spreading the bad report about the land were struck down and died of a plague before the Lord. 38 Of the men who went to explore the land, only Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh survived.
We’ll talk more next week about rebellion, but I will say this, God will do what is necessary to remove those who oppose his plan. Not Moses’ plan, not Aaron’s plan, not my plan or the plan of the elders…God’s plan. Our role is to trust him, follow him and give him the glory for it all.
We’ll save that for next week, for this week, how do we move forward when we face what looks to be impossible?
Let’s look at what Joshua and Caleb said...
7 and said to the entire Israelite assembly, “The land we passed through and explored is exceedingly good.
They first focused on what God’s blessing would be. The promised land was by all accounts good, not just good, but exceedingly good. Does God have something exceedingly good on the other side of whatever impossibly thing that is standing between you and it? Look past the giants to see the good. See the blessings and speak them. They will need to be part of the encouragement for you to continue.
8 If the Lord is pleased with us, he will lead us into that land, a land flowing with milk and honey, and will give it to us.
So much in this verse…First, there is a part we play in getting things right with the Lord. Church if you have trusted Jesus as savior, that is the first step in your journey in getting things right with the Lord. From there, He’ll piece by piece chisel little pieces away to shape you into his disciple, his follower. All along the way, we should seek to be in right standing with the Lord. That means daily repentance, daily seeking him in prayer and reading his word.
Then they say God will lead us and God will give it. This is so key. So often we have our own ideas of where to go and how to get there and then we use our own efforts to make it happen. What a mess we make when we don’t let God lead and give.
Focus on the Good on the other side of the impossible.
Get things right with the Lord
Allow God to Lead and give.
Next verse
9 Only do not rebel against the Lord. And do not be afraid of the people of the land, because we will devour them. Their protection is gone, but the Lord is with us. Do not be afraid of them.”
Don’t rebel. Let’s talk more about this next week...
Lastly, do not be afraid, the Lord is with you, Do not be afraid.
I love how Joshua and Caleb say do not be afraid twice and then list the reason in between. I think we get fearful and afraid because we forget that God is with us. Our eyes focus on the problem, the giants in the land, the impossibility of the situation and we forget that God is right there with us.
There is a story in 2 Kings 6 about a prophet named Elisha. Elisha’s prophecies upset the king of Aram and so the king sent an army out to kill him. This army surrounded the city where Elisha was…look what happens...
15 When the servant of the man of God got up and went out early the next morning, an army with horses and chariots had surrounded the city. “Oh no, my lord! What shall we do?” the servant asked.
16 “Don’t be afraid,” the prophet answered. “Those who are with us are more than those who are with them.”
17 And Elisha prayed, “Open his eyes, Lord, so that he may see.” Then the Lord opened the servant’s eyes, and he looked and saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.
Fascinating story…recommend you read the passages before and after…I want to leave you with Elisha’s prayer…”Open his eyes, Lord, so that he may see.”
I think we need people around us who will pray this for us as we face impossible circumstances. That the Lord would open our eyes to see what God is doing and will do with our impossibilities.
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Challenge/Prayer