Deliverance to Inheritance

From Deliverance to Inheritance

Joshua 2:1, Num 13

Moses: Sent 12 spies to check out the land. It’s not that Moses shouldn’t have sent out spies. It’s what he did with the information that was wrong.

Joshua: Sent 2 spies to gather intel about enemy. The culture had changed, and the spies had a similar spirit to Joshua and Caleb

Moses led God’s chosen people and they were grumblers, mumblers and complainers. Israel had been crying out for 400 yrs to be delivered out of slavery from Egypt. They were abused, beaten, their sons were killed at birth. Life was horrible for the people of God. And He heard their cries and sent a deliverer, Moses, to lead them out of slavery so they could worship God freely. And as soon as they were out of Egypt, they wanted to go back. They wanted the leeks and onions. At every turn they complained about Moses. How many times do we read that Moses interceded for the people to God? On one occasion God said, “That’s it. I’m gonna wipe them out and start again with you Moses.” But Moses pleaded with God and God stayed His own hand. But eventually it gets to you, right? You get sick off fighting the same battle with the same people over and over and over again. So, you start to cave a little here and there. You begin to bend and compromise just a little bit. “I’m tired and just don’t want to fight on this.” You begin to listen to the voice of the masses instead of the voice of God. Can I let you in on a little secret?

Nothing great has ever happened by committee. Most of the mighty works you see in the Bible are people obeying God over popular opinion. Let me put it this way….

Spiritual leadership listens to counsel but follows God.

It is good to listen to a “multitude of counsel,” (Proverbs 11 and 15) but you MUST obey the promise of God first and foremost.

You see, we have all the information in the world at our fingertips. But has that changed God? Or have we just become educated beyond our intelligence?

When the 12 spies came back to Moses, 10 of them had lost the plot of the story. They forgot that God is the hero, not their military might. They looked around and saw things that were intimidating and formidable. They had lost sight of the God that parted the sea, led them by smoke and fire, and fed them supernaturally. They had become “grasshoppers in their own eyes.” And Moses was sick of fighting.

I love the dichotomy of Caleb and the other spies. Both of them saw the exact same places, exact same people, everything. Where fear of the new said “look at how big these grapes are”, faith says, “look at how big these grapes are!!”

Now fast forward about 40 yrs to Joshua. He only sends in 2 spies to kinda see whats going on in the promised land. Have things changed in the last 40yrs? What do we need to accomplish this mission?

They were taking the land because God was going to give it to them. You see, Joshua never doubted the promise. He was the one that said, “As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”

Moses led by committee; Joshua led by the promise.

Something I never noticed before is that the Canaanites were scared of the people of Israel back when Moses was still around. When Rehab is telling the 2 spies that the people in the land are scared, she was given reason from when they first left Egypt. The enemy was already scared of God’s people. They just didn’t know it because they let their fear of the new keep them bound to what was normal.

Spiritual transformation over information.

Joshua led from the promise of God, so the people followed the promise of God. Joshua was a thermostat in a culture full of thermometers. His leadership led them into the promised land. Imagine what would have happened if he would have allowed fear of the new to keep him in the bondage of the normal?

Where have you allowed fear to keep you bound to what is normal instead of experiencing the new?

Let me but it differently. Whose report will you believe?

Do you believe the medical report or the promise that God is with you?

Do you believe that relationship, or even that marriage, is over or the promise that God is restoring?

Do you believe that your past disqualifies you or the report that God uses the foolish and weak to confound the wise and strong?

The enemy has already lost, and he’s scared. He’s heard of the mighty things our God has done and he knows that God can and will do it again.

I’m gonna believe the promise of God. Are you?