"The Minority Report" (Num. 13:25-14:10 NLT)

“SAME STORY…DIFFERENT NARRATIVE”

Moses selected the top leader from each of the twelve tribes of Israel for a reconnaissance mission to assess the land of Canaan (aka Promised Land).

Numbers 13:27 NLT

This was their report to Moses: “We entered the land you sent us to explore, and it is indeed a bountiful country—a land flowing with milk and honey. Here is the kind of fruit it produces.

Everything the Lord said the land would be…IT WAS.

The spies confirmed it…Even brought back evidence that proved it.

Once again God showed He is faithful.

“END OF STORY”(should've been)

However, ten out of the twelve spies decided to change the narrative.

Numbers 13:28–14:3 (NLT)

But the people living there are powerful, and their towns are large and fortified. We even saw giants there, the descendants of Anak! The Amalekites live in the Negev, and the Hittites, Jebusites, and Amorites live in the hill country. The Canaanites live along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea and along the Jordan Valley.”

But Caleb tried to quiet the people as they stood before Moses. “Let’s go at once to take the land,” he said. “We can certainly conquer it!”

But the other men who had explored the land with him disagreed. “We can’t go up against them! They are stronger than we are!” So they spread this bad report about the land among the Israelites: “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, the descendants of Anak. Next to them we felt like grasshoppers, and that’s what they thought, too!”

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. “If only we had died in Egypt, or even here in the wilderness!” they complained. “Why is the Lord taking us to this country only to have us die in battle? Our wives and our little ones will be carried off as plunder! Wouldn’t it be better for us to return to Egypt?”

“PROBLEM WITH EYEWITNESSES”

Eyewitnesses are often sincere and confident, which makes them persuasive but not necessarily correct.

Memory distortion often happens unconsciously.

Witnesses truly believe their version of events, no matter how inaccurate they may be.

Memory DOES NOT record our experiences like a video camera.

It creates stories based on those experiences.

“The stories are sometimes uncannily accurate, other times completely fictional, but mostly they’re a mixture of the two; and they can change to suit the situation.”

"FULL REPORT?”

You can’t find God anywhere in their report; they don’t mention His name even once.

“THAT'S WHAT THEY THOUGHT TOO”

It's interesting that Rahab said her people were more terrified of the Israelites than the spies ever could have been of the people.

Joshua 2:8–11 (NLT)

Before the spies went to sleep that night, Rahab went up on the roof to talk with them. “I know the Lord has given you this land,” she told them. “We are all afraid of you. Everyone in the land is living in terror. For we have heard how the Lord made a dry path for you through the Red Sea when you left Egypt. And we know what you did to Sihon and Og, the two Amorite kings east of the Jordan River, whose people you completely destroyed. No wonder our hearts have melted in fear! No one has the courage to fight after hearing such things. For the Lord your God is the supreme God of the heavens above and the earth below.

“WE CAN’T…WE CAN’T…BUT GOD CAN”

Some people only see the dangers and the difficulties in a situation; others see the promises and the power of God.

Grasshoppers can conquer giants when God gets involved…BUT FIRST…you gotta seek His counsel.

WHO’S IDEA WAS IT?

Sending spies was never God’s plan in the first place…it was the peoples’.

Deuteronomy 1:21–23 NLT

Look! He has placed the land in front of you. Go and occupy it as the Lord, the God of your ancestors, has promised you. Don’t be afraid! Don’t be discouraged!’ “But you all came to me and said, ‘First, let’s send out scouts to explore the land for us. They will advise us on the best route to take and which towns we should enter.’ “This seemed like a good idea to me, so I chose twelve scouts, one from each of your tribes.

“IT SOUNDED GOOD AT THE TIME”

(Thinking back on it, maybe I should’ve prayed about it first.)

Sounds good vs sounded good

Slight difference in wording BIG difference in meaning

As far as God was concerned, THE DEED WAS ALREADY IN THEIR NAME…

ALL THEY HAD TO DO WAS SHOW UP AND TAKE POSSESSION OF THE LAND.

“RICH UNCLE”

It’s like a rich uncle buying you a brand new Ferrari, but you won’t drive it anywhere.

You keep it parked in the same spot he left it.…and every day you go out and peek inside of it, BUT YOU DON’T DARE SET FOOT IN IT because you’re afraid you might scratch the leather.

Here is a nation that had already defeated Egypt , a country greater and stronger…they didn’t even have to lift a sword.

WHY?

BECAUSE THEY PUT THEIR FAITH IN GOD.

“Mention the word ‘giant,’ now all of the sudden they’ve got amnesia.”

“IT’S BACK TO OLD HABITS”

Once fear entered the picture, the report changed from a statement about God’s faithfulness to another example of their hopelessness without God.

I mean, I get it…

The giants weren’t just tall ; they were battle-tested.

(Picture a whole army of Goliaths)

God wanted the people to walk by faith so that they would see that no obstacle was too great for His power and His might .

“WHO PAYS?”

Because of their unbelief, God sentenced the people to forty years of wandering in the wilderness (14:33).

The children would have to suffer the forty years as well because of the sins of their parents.

This is often the case even today…Children often pay for the sins and poor decisions of their parents.

“WHAT’S REALLY GOING ON?”

Often the issues we experience are really between God and Satan .

Satan is not trying to defeat us so much as seeking to stop God’s plan and purposes .

Since he knows God’s purposes and magnificent power , his obstacles are going beyond our ability

They can ONLY be resolved by God.

( Satan is a powerful angel— look at what he did to Job)

If we don’t exercise faith , Satan knows we have no ability to defeat him.

When we view what we face through our ability, it creates doubt and drives fear , leading us to resist God .

Maybe this is why John writes ,

1 John 5:19 NLT

We know that we are children of God and that the world around us is under the control of the evil one.

John also says,

1 John 4:4 NIV

You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.

“MINORITY REPORT”

Joshua and Caleb gave the “Minority Report.”

They didn’t care what the most popular narrative was because they trusted the Author…they had faith in how their story was going to end.

They never doubted the Israelites could take the land…BECAUSE THEY NEVER DOUBTED GOD.

Caleb and Joshua had shared the same view as the others, but NOT the same vision.

The people looked at the giants and themselves, but they didn’t look at God.

When we leave God out of the picture, we have the wrong picture.

This is the difference between the spies and Joshua and Caleb.

Their convictions concerning God’s promises were greater than their fears.

WHO OR WHAT IS YOUR GIANT?