One of the greatest stories of courage in the Bible is in Numbers 13, of all places. God orders Moses to send spies into the Promised Land to check it out. So twelve spies went, and this is their story.
Numbers 13
17 Moses sent them to spy out the land of Canaan, and said to them, "Go up there into the Negeb, and go up into the hill country, 18 and see what the land is like, and whether the people who live in it are strong or weak, whether they are few or many, 19 and whether the land they live in is good or bad, and whether the towns that they live in are unwalled or fortified, 20 and whether the land is rich or poor, and whether there are trees in it or not. Be bold, and bring some of the fruit of the land." Now it was the season of the first ripe grapes.
25 At the end of forty days they returned from spying out the land. 26 And they came to Moses and Aaron and to all the congregation of the Israelites in the wilderness of Paran, at Kadesh; they brought back word to them and to all the congregation, and showed them the fruit of the land. 27 And they told him, "We came to the land to which you sent us; it flows with milk and honey, and this is its fruit. 28 Yet the people who live in the land are strong, and the towns are fortified and very large; and besides, we saw the descendants of Anak there. 29 The Amalekites live in the land of the Negeb; the Hittites, the Jebusites, and the Amorites live in the hill country; and the Canaanites live by the sea, and along the Jordan." 30 But Caleb quieted the people before Moses, and said, "Let us go up at once and occupy it, for we are well able to overcome it." 31 Then the men who had gone up with him said, "We are not able to go up against this people, for they are stronger than we." 32 So they brought to the Israelites an unfavorable report of the land that they had spied out, saying, "The land that we have gone through as spies is a land that devours its inhabitants; and all the people that we saw in it are of great size. 33 There we saw the Nephilim (the Anakites come from the Nephilim); and to ourselves we seemed like grasshoppers, and so we seemed to them."
Reflections
All the spies agreed on two things: the land was amazing, but it was filled with giants. They disagreed on what to do next. Ten of them said, “There’s no way we can go into the land. The giants will devour us!” But two of them, Caleb and Joshua, remembered God’s promises. They had the courage to trust God more than even themselves. They were high on self-awareness and low on self-reliance.
When have you been like the ten spies, afraid of the giants in your life?
When have you been like Joshua and Caleb, confident not in your own ability but in the Lord’s?
Prayer
O God, give us the courage to trust you in all things so that whether life is pleasant or difficult, whether we are well-liked or persecuted, whether living or dying, we might live with integrity and great faith. Through Christ, our Lord, Amen.
