~~~~~Lesson: Numbers: Chapter 13 (reading after lesson)

This chapter is one of my personal favorites out of these three books. In one chapter, we cover a period of over 40 days, but the entire chapter is pointing to one conclusion:
"People don't trust God when it counts."

At first, the Israelites obeyed perfectly...."send out scouts"...no problem. They send them on their way and wait for forty days with no dissent (that we hear of).

The scouts themselves go off into a foreign land to see what it is like, apparently trusting that the inhabitants aren't going to kill them on the spot (a possibility in those times....and in some parts of the world, a possibility today).

BUT, when the Israelites hear that, "yes, the land is great" and "see this fruit we brought back!"
and (finally), "well, these warriors live there"

They decide, "Nope, we've trusted God this far, but now we're not going any further."

(Yes, I am being a bit flip, but it is to make a point, I promise).

In the next chapter (and I'm sure we all know this), but they will be punished for their lack of faith by wandering in the desert for 40 years.

Now, this is an easy lesson to say or teach. (Example: I'm not having any trouble typing this, ha-ha).
But, living it is another thing. (Which I do struggle with).

So,
if you're facing a situation that seems impossible, or are trying to follow in Jesus' footsteps and feel like you're lost on the trail:
Have faith!

Question:
Can you name on little "everyday" thing you should/could give over to God?

Can you name one large thing you are either facing or have faced in which you just had to throw up your hands and say "God, it's all yours...I'm just trusting you"?

What is one way you could help others have faith? (By teaching, praying for them, being nice to strangers....throw out whatever feels good to you)


~Reading: Numbers: Chapter 13

(1-3) The Lord said to Moses, "Send men to reconnoiter the land of Canaan, which I am giving the Israelites. You shall send one man from each ancestral tribe, all of them princes." So Moses dispatched them from the desert of Paran, as the Lord had ordered. All of them were leaders among the Israelites.

(17-21) In sending them to reconnoiter the land of Canaan, Moses said to them, "Go up here in the Negeb, up into the highlands, and see what kind of land it is. Are the people living there strong or weak, few or many? Is the country in which they live good or bad? Are the towns in which they dwell open or fortified? Is the soil fertile or barren, wooded or clear? And do your best to get some of the fruit of the land." So they went up and reconnoitered the land from the desert of Zin as far as where Rehob adjoins Labo of Hamath.

(25-28) After reconnoitering the land for forty days they returned, met Moses and Aaron and the whole community of the Israelites in the desert of Paran at Kadesh, made a report to them all, and showed them the fruit of the country. They told Moses: "We went into the land to which you sent us. It does indeed flow with milk and honey, and here is its fruit. However, the people who are living in the land are fierce, and the towns are fortified and very strong. Besides, we saw descendants of the Anakim there."

(30-33) Caleb, however, to quiet the people toward Moses, said, "We ought to go up and seize the land, for we can certainly do so." But the men who had gone up with him said, "We cannot attack these people; they are too strong for us." So they spread discouraging reports among the Israelites about the land they had scouted, saying, "The land that we explored is a country and consumes its inhabitants. And all the people we saw there are huge men, veritable giants, [the Anakim were a race of giants]; we felt like mere grasshoppers, and so we must have seemed to them."