Friday 23 October 2026
Numbers 13 & 14
THE 12 SPIES & THE PROMISED LAND
*it wasn't God's initial plan for the Israelites to spend 40yrs in the wilderness, Numbers 13 vs1 - 3 shows us that, Moses is actually tasked to send out 12 men, one from every tribe of Isreal - the sons of Jacob into the promised land. The choice of words by God is distinct "the land I am giving to the Israelites". It wasn't a senseless trial and error, or test driving or window shopping it was actually already meant for them.
*Moses's instruction was for them to find out as much as they could about this place, the people, the land, the towns, their security, the crops etc.
*40days later the men return with reports of what they saw, these were divided into two.
***Report A by the 10 is very negative, it opens up with "the land you sent us to explore", remember how God said it to Moses in vs 2, now look at how they talk about the same land in vs 27. They complain about the powerful giants, large fortified cites etc.
***Report B by Caleb & Joshua is very positive, "let's go on to take the land, we can certainly conquer it"
*let's closely look at the choice of words on both reports, they show us their state of mind, their faith in God, and what they knew the LORD to be capable of.
*Romans 12 vs 1 & 2 calls us to the renewal of our minds, not being conformed to the world, part of that renewal is the Holy Spirit transforming your mind into that which can receive and partner up to see what God is calling us to.
*they already had a track record of God at this point, the plagues, being set free from Pharaoh's captivity, the parting of the Red Sea & even the manna, yet they couldn't stop to look back at the nature of the God who was backing them up.
*the end result was the 40yr wilderness experience where they all died and their kids 19 & below would get to enter that promised land (Numbers 14 vs 26 - 36)
***KEY NOTES***
1. Are you able to see what God is calling you to, what God calls you to is always bigger than you, bigger than what you can imagine and it needs total faith in Him for you to be able to see it through & through.
2. Do you know your advantage, Numbers 14 vs 7 - 9, Joshua & Caleb know that they have the mighty God on their side, so taking over this land was going to be walk in the park. When you start recognising the advantages you have as a child of God you stop being a victim and unnecessarily wandering in the wilderness.
3. Let's be in the habit of asking the Holy Spirit to transform our mind through His power, that way we're not going to be giving negative reports that subject us to unnecessary 40yrs in the wilderness.
4. God is faithful, you have enough track record of His faithfulness and love and mercy and grace to trust Him, be in the habit of pausing and reflecting back before you utter negative reports.