Before the people entered the Promised Land, Moses sent out men to survey and spy out the land.
After exploring the land for forty days, the men returned to Moses, Aaron, and the whole community of Israel at Kadesh in the wilderness of Paran. They reported to the whole community what they had seen and showed them the fruit they had taken from the land. This was their report to Moses: “We entered the land you sent us to explore, and it is indeed a bountiful country—a land flowing with milk and honey. Here is the kind of fruit it produces. But the people living there are powerful, and their towns are large and fortified. We even saw giants there, the descendants of Anak!" (Numbers 13:25-28, NLT).
Ten of the scouts saw the problems in the Land while two only saw the promise of God: "But Caleb tried to quiet the people as they stood before Moses. 'Let’s go at once to take the land,' he said. 'We can certainly conquer it!'" (Numbers 13:30). The ten responded by basically saying, "Let's be realistic!": "But the other men who had explored the land with him disagreed. “We can’t go up against them! They are stronger than we are!” (Numbers 13:31, NLT).
What do you see when you try to fulfill your purpose or express your creativity? Do you want to start a business but only see how poor the economy is and how much money you need but don't have? Do you want to take a missions trip but are afraid because the world is a big place and you are so small and insignificant? Do you want to open an art studio but then think, "Who am I to think such thoughts?" The truth is, who are you not to think them?
If you want to do great things, you will have to stop being "realistic" and focus on the truth in Ephesians 3:20: "Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think." Amen and amen. What could you do if you were more like Caleb and less like his ten comrades?
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