April 13th, 2015
Today’s reading from Encounter with God

Giants and Grasshoppers

Please see the links to our EXTRA Bible Study notes at the bottom of the page.

Opening Prayer

Mighty God, breathe Your Spirit into me. Sweep through my soul, touch all the hidden currents, and fill all the deep crevices.

Read NUMBERS 13:1-33

[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; [5] from the tribe of Simeon, Shaphat son of Hori; [6] from the tribe of Judah, Caleb son of Jephunneh; [7] from the tribe of Issachar, Igal son of Joseph; [8] from the tribe of Ephraim, Hoshea son of Nun; [9] from the tribe of Benjamin, Palti son of Raphu; [10] from the tribe of Zebulun, Gaddiel son of Sodi; [11] from the tribe of Manasseh (a tribe of Joseph), Gaddi son of Susi; [12] from the tribe of Dan, Ammiel son of Gemalli; [13] from the tribe of Asher, Sethur son of Michael; [14] from the tribe of Naphtali, Nahbi son of Vophsi; [15] from the tribe of Gad, Geuel son of Maki. [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.) [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. [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.” [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.” [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.”

Scripture taken from the THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION, NIV Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Meditate

“Shine, Jesus, shine, fill this land with the Father’s glory” (Graham Kendrick). A great song and prayer for our country.

Think Further

Most Christians have a deep concern for the spiritual welfare of their country. We long to see our land honor the Lord. But so often our vision is dulled by reality. The forces of unbelief are “stronger than we are” (31). So we grasshoppers retreat into the security of our swarm while giants stalk the land. As N. T. Wright comments, “In God’s master plan the whole world is now God’s holy land.” He commissions us to possess this land for him by respecting the integrity of the physical environment, and also by exhibiting love and justice in private and in public. Jesus expects us to be “the salt of the earth” (or the land).

So often we are inhibited by the strength of forces raged against us. Verbal blitzkriegs are regularly unleashed by the giants of new atheism. Some atheistic diatribes “make the Taliban look tame” (John Humphrys). Not only are there giants. Walled cities exist where those who affirm Christian principles are refused employment or denied a voice. Believers are not the only victims. Today’s secular utopias devour their citizens (32). It is ordinary people, not the elite, who pay the price of financial corruption, industrial bribery, political opportunism and casual workplace cynicism.

So we can sympathize with the majority in Israel’s reconnaissance party: “We can’t attack those people; they are stronger than we are” (31). For the majority, Canaan was a problem. On the other hand, Joshua and Caleb saw advancing into the land as a great opportunity to prove that God keeps his promises. For these two, Canaan was the land the Lord swore to give them (14:16, ESV). For us, the nations of the world have been promised to Christ as his inheritance (Psa. 2:8). Do we have the faith and vision of Joshua and Caleb to see this promise becoming a reality in our lifetime?

Apply

When have you felt like a “grasshopper” (13) as you faced difficulties? How did God help You deal with the situation?

Closing prayer

Lord, I need to lift my eyes from noticing the cracks in the path of life to seeing the stars in the skies. I need to turn from focusing on heartaches to celebrating Your blessings.

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