The Land is Extraordinary

Twelve Scouts (to Moses): We checked out the land, just as you’d instructed us to do, and here’s what we discovered: It is rich, very rich. One could say that it flows with milk and honey; and look, here is some of its fruit. The land is highly desirable, but the people who already live there are really strong. Their cities are enormous and fortified. What’s more, we saw the Anakites there. In the Negev, there are Amalekites; and in the high hill country are Hittites, Jebusites, and Amorites. As for the seacoast, Canaanites live there and along the Jordan River too.-Numbers 13:27-29 (The Voice)

In Numbers 13, we learn that Moses sent scouts to search out the promised land. These twelve men went and learned about where God was sending them. When they came back, they told Moses and the rest of the Israelites, "the land is truly amazing. It is lush and beautiful and plentiful, but...BUT...the people who live there are really strong. They're huge." Caleb, one of the scouts said, "let's go! we should go in right away and take it over." The rest of the dejected scouts replied, "No way. We can't do it. The people who are already there are two strong for us." (13:31). 

As the story continues in Numbers 14, we find that the Israelites are groaning and weeping. They are hopeless. They told Moses and one another, "it would be better if we were dead. It would be better if we just went back to Egypt." And again Joshua and Caleb responded and said, "the land is extraordinary! the best ever! Let's go." 

As believers, we still do this, don't we? We see the beauty of the promises of God, yet we become more concerned that we can not overcome the strongholds. We look at the threats and think, "I might as well be dead. I might as well just go back to a life of misery." 

Friends, though there are strongholds to overcome, let's go! The land is extraordinary!