Fear is the other obstacle in our way of serving God. We can be humble and strive to follow God’s
direction, but if we are too fearful to do what He says, we fail miserably. We see the consequences of fear and what God
thinks of fear in the story of the 12 spies that Moses sent into the land of
Canaan.
In Numbers 13: 25-33 we read “When they returned from spying out the land, at the end of forty days,
they proceeded to come to Moses and Aaron and to all the congregation of the
sons of Israel in the wilderness of Paran, at Kadesh; and they brought back
word to them and to all the congregation and showed them the fruit of the
land. Thus they told him, and said, “We
went in to the land where you sent us; and it certainly does flow with milk and
honey, and this is its fruit.
Nevertheless, the people who live in the land are strong, and the cities
are fortified and very large; and moreover, we saw the descendants of Anak
there. Amalek is living in the land of
the Negev and the Hittites and the Jebusites and the Amorites are living in the
hill country, and the Canaanites are living by the sea and by the side of the
Jordan.”
Then Caleb
quieted the people before Moses and said, “We should by all means go up and
take possession of it, for we will surely overcome it.” But the men who had gone up with him said,
“We are not able to go up against the people, for they are too strong for
us.” So they gave out to the sons of
Israel a bad report of the land which they had spied out, saying, “The land
through which we have gone, in spying it out, is a land that devours its
inhabitants; and all the people whom we saw in it are men of great size. There also we saw the Nephilim (the sons of
Anak are part of the Nephilim); and we became like grasshoppers in our own
sight, and so we were in their sight.” (NASB)
Ten of the twelve spies were filled with fear and did not want to
enter the Promised Land. The bad report
resulted in the Israelites becoming fearful and rebelling against God’s appointed
leadership in Aaron and Moses. God
offered to wipe the Israelites out and start over with Moses and his
descendants. Why, all because of fear
that was crippling the people from going in and taking possession of the land
that God had promised to the Israelites.
Moses pleaded on behave of the Israelites and then God pardoned and
rebuked them.
God’s rebuke is recorded in Numbers 13:20-25. “So the Lord said, “I have pardoned them according to your word; but indeed, as I live,
all the earth will be filled with the glory of the Lord. Surely all the men who have seen My glory and
My signs which I performed in Egypt and in the wilderness, yet have put Me to
the test these ten times and have not listened to My voice, shall by no means
see the land which I swore to their fathers, nor shall any of those who spurned
Me see it. But My servant Caleb, because
he has had a different spirit and has followed Me fully, I will bring into the
land which he entered, and his descendants shall take possession of it. 25 Now
the Amalekites and the Canaanites live in the valleys; turn tomorrow and set
out to the wilderness by the way of the Red Sea.” (NASB) The Israelites then spent the next 40 years
wondering in the wilderness while that fearful generation passed away one by
one.
God cannot use fearful people because fear kills the mind and prevents
action to follow God’s leading and direction.
God has promised over and over to be with us and to “Fear not”. Those crippled with fear may be forgiven if
they repent, but will fall by the wayside and not be used as God had intended. Those filled with confidence in their God
will be victorious and conquer their enemies and the land! Fear indeed is the mind killer that keeps us
from fulfilling the destiny that God desires for us!
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