The Lord has taken me back to review the story of the twelve spies surveying the land God was giving them. I'm sure you remember the salient details - the land was awesome, the spies came back, and 10/12 made up stories about the residents being Nephilim and recommend against going forward. Only Caleb and Joshua brought the true report and recommended going forward.
As I meditated on this message I had two immediate questions:
1. WHY? Why did God even send the scouts? Why didn't he do as he had done in other occasions and simply told his people to go, that he would be with them? Of course we won't know this answer until Glory, but I this it probably has something to do with trying to develop character and backbone. Dare I say it - Spiritual Maturity.
2. Why were 10 of 12 "leaders" liars? What would cause them to return, misrepresent the facts, knowing it would mean staying in the desert? This, I think, is a little easier to comprehend. I think it's the fear factor. Fear of the unknown. Fear of making changes. Fear of disrupting "routine". They quickly learned that, while fear is a proper motivation, it is so only when we talk about fear of the Lord. I walk away from the story fearing God more - but endeavoring to fear NOTHING or NO One else. After all, If god is with me, why should I fear?
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