Text: Numbers 13: 1- end
What made it possible for only 2 out of the 12 leaders to see the promise land? Was it because they were more anointed, spiritual or talented? The answer is NO.
It’s not just the anointing, gift or talent that determines how far you get in life. To fulfill our God-given purpose on earth is all a matter of perspective, where you choose to look and what you choose to focus on. Like Christine Caine of Hillsong puts it, “WHAT YOU LOOK FOR YOU WILL FIND & WHERE YOU LOOK YOU WILL END UP GOING.”
Numbers 13:1- God told Moses to send spies to the land of Canaan, WHICH I AM GIVING to the Israelites. With God this was already a done deal, he had concluded matter on giving the children of Israel the land of Canaan. God knew about the political situation, economic situation or whatever situation it was in that land before he concluded the deal. Moses sent them out with detailed instructions in vs. 17-20. They were just supposed to check out the land, as far as Moses was concerned the Lord had done it, but there inability to see with the eye of faith, what they focused their gaze on (the impossibilities), they found and this distracted them & prevented them from following the instructions precisely given to them.
They came back and gave the bad report vs. 26- 29, and even brought evidence of how fertile the land was from the grapes. The grapes symbolized a manifestation of the fruitfulness God was bringing into their lives. However, they began to come up with human logic to truncate God’s plan for their destiny. Many times, when we begin to see with our human eyes, we are like these 10 male leaders. Rather than 12 men possessing the land, only 2 did. The reason for this was because the 2 men (Caleb and Joshua Chp 14:30) focused their gaze on the eternal (what God had promised), on what was beyond their line of vision and not on the present circumstance (what they could see). The remaining 10 focused their gaze on what they could see, the impossibilities, and the “can’t-do’s.” There are times in our life when we have evidence of the miracles of God, yet we still focus on the “can’t-do’s.”
Chapter 13: 32: God never promises us something that will bring destruction unto us. What was once considered a promise of God; a blessing of God has now become what they refer to as wanting to devour them. For example the job, husband, children you prayed for and God has blessed you with has now become what is preventing you from serving God. The land God has given them (already promised) has now become a devourer in vs. 32. The land did not change, the men’s perspective changed. Be careful.
It is very sad, because the moment we do not believe God’s promise, we are treating him with contempt (Chp 14: 23) and we make him out to be a liar. God never promises what he cannot fulfill. Challenges, obstacles, failure, defeat will be encountered along the way, but that still does not and cannot change God’s ability to do that which he has promised.
Keep your focus on God. God that started it (whatever that it may be, will complete it). God’s plan was for all 12 men to go to the promised land, but only 2 did because of the different perspectives they had. They were all gifted, talented. To achieve anything in life, we need to have a Caleb attitude, knowing that it’s not about our abilities or us but about all about God.
Sometimes you could be right in the midst of greatness/ divine opportunities and not see. Many times we get so used to things around us that we fail to realize and count our blessings. It takes an outsider’s perspective to make you see and appreciate what you really have. In life, that which you fear most and always look for/ pay attention to you will inevitably find. Where your gaze and focus is in life, you will go and what you pay attention to and look for you will find even if it’s not there. For example, there are those that are always pre-occupied with one witch or the other in their family or from their village who is looking for their downfall, even when there’s no witch and you are the one not doing what you’re supposed to.
In 2Cor. 4:16-18, the church in Corinth was going through so much persecution, yet Paul chose to look for the good in that situation, he fixed his eyes on the eternal things that are unseen, because he knew that where you look you will end up going. Despite the chaos going on in the world today, shooting in Arizona, war in Iraq, earthquake in Haiti, recession, the reason we do not lose hope as children of God is because we do not focus on what is seen temporarily around us in the world, but on the eternal unseen ‘cos we know our God is the one who made the heaven and the earth, our God is the one who makes the heavens his throne and the earth his footstool, our God is the one whose invisible hand can change the course of things in an instant.
If all you see right now is your present situation that is challenging or all that is not going right in your life and all the "can't- do's", then you are suffering from being short sighted because you will never see all there is to see that’s ahead of you and that is beyond your line of vision. Whether you will fulfill your destiny is directly proportional to what it is you’re looking for in your life, because what you look for you will find. If you’re looking for impossibilities in your life, you will find it. If you want to find something bad, you will find it because everything possible will mask itself as being bad and vice versa.
How do we keep our focus on God (the God-perspective)?
By constantly magnifying God in our everyday life, despite the other things trying to gain attention and prominence in our lives. Every other thing, besides God’s plan and promises for us will be screaming for our attention.
QUESTIONS BROUGHT ON BY THE DISCUSSION?
Can your actions change God’s plan for your life, even if he has made a promise to you?
Yes. However, the fact that God has made that promise he will perform it, but you can truncate it. Jer. 17: 4- only through your hand will you loose your inheritance. God also said no word will come out of my mouth without it being fulfilled. Example is if God has promised you a blessing for 100 years and then you continue to doubt, he may still bless you but maybe cut it down to 50 years. The plan was for David to build the temple, but since his hands were not clean, his son ended up building the temple- David’s line built the temple. God still took the children of Israel to the promise land, not the generation that doubted him.
Is it okay that as humans (even Christians) it is only natural that we have doubts?
Doubts will come, but the intention of our heart is what God looks at. Gideon had doubts, but he never doubted the power of God. He knew God could do it, but doubt came when he wanted to be sure that the message was from God. When we start to grow as a Christian, that is the only room for doubt God allows. God overlooks our doubts of him being able to do the miraculous when we are still baby Christians, but as we grow there’s no room for that especially after we’ve seen him do the miraculous for us in times past. We have to remember the great things God has done to continue to grow, not God’s hand still trying to convince us that he is able to do the miraculous.
When we were baby Christians we fed on milk, but now as mature Christians, God expects us to be eating meat. What got God upset was the fact that these 10 people were leaders who had seen God do the miraculous in delivering them from Egypt. These people had limited the holy one of Israel in Ps. 78: 41 and did not believe God could do it.
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