Numbers 13-14 April 18, 1999 Few American heroes epitomize bravery as Theodore Roosevelt. The legend of the Rough Rider leading his troops up San Juan Hill in his early days was proved again later in life here in Milwaukee when an assassin’s bullet only momentarily interrupted his speech. But while known for his fearlessness, his ability to speak softly and carry a big stick, TR was not always the consummate hero. As a small child, his mother once found Teddy hiding from her on a Sunday morning. As the family prepared to attend the Madison Square Church, he refused to set a foot inside. After much prodding, he confessed his fear was being terrorized by the zeals. The minister read from the Bible about these creatures and he feared for his life. His mother pulled a concordance from the shelf, looked up the various passages in which the word zeal was found and began to read. Then suddenly little Teddy very excitedly told her to stop. The passage was John 2:17 (KJV): "And his disciples remembered that it was written, "The zeal of thine house hath eaten me up." We all have fears; some of them are common phobias many people face, others are just plain irrational. Louis Pasteur is reported to have had such an irrational fear of dirt and infection he refused to shake hands. President and Mrs. Benjamin Harrison were so intimidated by the newfangled electricity installed in the White House they didn't dare touch the switches. If there were no servants around to turn off the lights when the Harrisons went to bed, they slept with them on. What are your fears? According to most studies, people's number one fear is public speaking. Number two fear is death. Death is number two!!! Now, this means, Jerry Seinfeld once commented, “to the average person, if you have to go to a funeral, you're better off in the casket than doing the eulogy!!" ("Seinfeld" episode 61) We all face a variety of fears; that may include public speaking or death. Your fears may involve concerns for your children, your job. Your fears may focus on what others think of you or what you think of yourself. Your fears may heighten when confronted by a superior or questioned by an underling. What is the problem with those fears? We may not be immobilized by them, so what harm do they present? It is not as though we can’t function, so why worry about them? The problem with our fears is not the fear itself, but what they reveal about our concept of God. In Numbers 13 we read about the 12 leaders in Israel, ten of whom were gripped with fear despite the promise of God. They could not see past their own inadequacies and so rejected what God had offered them. Two others, on the other hand, saw the problems before them, but knew there was a God over them.
FEAR REFUSES TO SEE WHAT GOD PROMISES After only two months since leaving Sinai, and only two years since leaving Egypt, the Israelites are on the brink of completing their time in the wilderness. They are at the edge of the promised land, at the verge of receiving all that God promised them. In verse 2 the promise is restated: God is giving them the land. All they must do is send one leader from each of the 12 tribes to check out the land. I didn’t read through the list, but their names seem to indicate their worthiness for the task in front of them. Shammua means renowned. Shaphat means judge. Igal means He will vindicate. Ammiel means my kinsman is God. Geuel means majesty of God. Poor Caleb, his name means “dog.” He seemed to be off to a bad start from the get-go. Their mission was to head north through the Negev desert into the hill country which was to become Judah and onto the area later known as Galilee. Their task was check out the land and the people. Their trek covered a distance of 250 miles each way and would take 40 days. The one request was to bring back some fruit, since it was July and the first harvest of grapes was about to begin in August. After they returned the 12 spies gave their report, but there is a bit of a twist. In verse 27 it appears to be a favorable report, but their attitude is seen in what is not said. Usually when Canaan is described it is qualified by a relative clause “which the Lord swore to give them.” (see verse 2) But whenever the majority of the spies speak of the land they leave this exclamation of faith out. It is the land to which “you,” Moses, sent us. They do agree with what was promised about the land; it does flow with milk and honey. The expression "milk and honey" signifies the richness of the land. An abundance of milk means rich pasture land for the herds and the delicacies of cream and cheese for the people. An abundance of honey means many flowers and bushes and that the people's craving for sweets can be satisfied. At that point they pull out a sample of the land’s yield: a cluster of grapes so extensive that it could only be slung over a pole and carried by two men. That symbol of the land’s richness is evident today as one Israeli taxi company uses that logo on their cars. The land is everything God said it would be. But then comes the “but!” They saw that what God said was true, but their focus was elsewhere. The land is great, but in verse 28 there is a problem; the people are just as large as these grapes. Instead of seeing God’s great promises in the land as confirmation that they can enter Canaan, they see insurmountable obstacles to their entry in the form of fortified cities and powerful armies. These spies had a case of "sticker shock." Ever go new car shopping? You love the car but you just can't get around the price. Their fear clouded the vision. Unlike you and me - we have to pay for the car. They forgot that God was "giving" them the land. The problem they face is in the form of the descendants of Anak. This name in Hebrew comes from the word “neck” and these people were famed for their height. In verse 33 they help make a connection for us which explains their fear. The Anak were reputed to be descendants of the Nephilim. At this point their fear takes them beyond rational thinking. The Nephilim in Genesis 6 were considered mighty giants destroyed in the flood. The majority of the spies, in order to convince the leaders of Israel, made their point through exaggeration - their opponents were not just their descendants - they were the mighty men of old. And they? They were nothing more than insects, waiting only to be squashed. Even though Caleb tries to quell the turmoil, the ten spies continue their negative view of the land. Not only are the people there giants, the land itself consumes those who live in it. Their attitude toward God’s promise to give them the land is one of distrust. They picture God as a father who takes his kid to Toy’s R Us, showing him all the wonders which could be his, telling him how wonderful they are and how he, as his father could buy every one. Just as the child’s beaming face can hardly contain the joy of all he is about to receive, the father turns on his heels and emphatically states: “Well, you’ll have none of this! I won’t let you have a single toy, let’s go!” Wouldn’t that child be warped? So are we when we imagine that is what God does. We can sing about God’s grace, we can read in His Word of His mighty work, but for us? He never does a thing. That is what fear does to us - we can stare at the promises of God and see only giants. God’s grace over sin? Forget it! God’s love when I fall into sin, again? You’ll have none of that! FAITH KEEPS US FROM FEAR The fearful report has its affect on the Israelites as that night the people wail in grief and complain in frustration. They turn their anger toward Moses and Aaron in 14:2: “It would’ve been better to die in Egypt, to die in the desert!” But their anger is not just against their human leaders. In verse 3 they spew their venom toward God. Then Caleb speaks up. He agrees with their first report - the land is good. But then he is able to explain how it can the theirs: “If the Lord is pleased with us, He will lead us into that land&ldots;he will give it to us.” Caleb then makes a interesting connection in verse 14:9: "Only do not rebel against the LORD. And do not be afraid of the people of the land, because we will swallow them up. Their protection is gone, but the LORD is with us. Do not be afraid of them." Fear is rebellion against God. To be afraid in a situation in which God has promised victory is to deny God’s veracity and His compassion. To reject His promise is to reject Him as well. They had forgotten God’s glory shown to them for over two years. The plagues which struck Egypt and by-passed them, the Red Sea parting for them to cross and then enclosing on the mighty Egyptian army, the water from the rock and the bread from heaven - all this was ancient history to them. They witnessed God rescue them from the mightiest military power, the greatest totalitarian regime of ancient history and now they are afraid of some two-bit armies. Caleb understood. Those Anak who frightened the people were said to inhabit Hebron. It was near Hebron that God first promised Abraham that he would inherit the land (Genesis 13:14-18). It was from that area that he set out to defeat the coalition of kings (14:13ff). It was in Hebron that Abraham acquired his only piece of real estate for the burial of his wife and where he and the other patriarchs were buried (Genesis 23; 25:9; 35:27-29; 50:13). Caleb’s understanding is borne out forty years later as the Israelites are finally allowed to enter Canaan. After this generation died off and only those who were under 20 were allowed in, Caleb and Joshua were the only two who were freed from Egypt who could enter the Promised Land. At that time, Caleb is offered a choice of land to inhabit for his family. What land does he chose? He asks for Hebron, the land inhabited by the supposed descendants of the Nephilim. He had such trust and faith in God that he knew he and his family, with God's help, would be able to drive out the giants by themselves. This man of faith knew that with God nothing is impossible – if it is done out of faith. As a church we can see the daunting task of a building and conclude that there are giants in Waukesha; the land here will devour us. The loss of Dave Rogers could easily cause us to wonder, "What next?" But fortunately we understand our status through the truth of God’s Word and not by our present circumstances. We have no reason to ever consider going back. There is nothing to grumble with how God has led us these past seven years. We can be certain that despite what happens in the months and years to come, God will be faithful to His promise; He will be kind to His people. We can either give ourselves to outreach, conquest and vision or we can turn that energy on ourselves in devolve into pettiness and arguments about procedures, policies and preservation of the status quo. No matter how big our enemy is, our faith must never imagine that God is too small. FEAR KEEPS US FROM REPENTANCE The Lord was angry with their unbelief, so much that He refused them entry into the promised land.
The ten spies who gave the bad report? They died immediately. But after Moses told the Israelites all this, they wept. When Moses reported this to all the Israelites, they mourned bitterly. Early the next morning they went up toward the high hill country. "We have sinned," they said. "We will go up to the place the LORD promised." (14:39-40). It seems as though they now understand. But do they? What they say seems impressive, but what they do shows they do not understand. It is easy to say we’ve done wrong, we’ve made a mistake. They show regret over the recent events, but only because of their negative impact inflicted on them. The people knew they did wrong, that they were cowards - so they tried to fight the Canaanites and were wiped out. This is a false repentance; they were upset with the mess they got themselves into. Human centered repentance: "My life is a mess and I want God to clean up my life." Fear is still controlling the way they look at the world, so much so they refuse to look to God. Fear of doing wrong is not the same as knowing you have offended a holy God. Their remorse driven response only leads them from one disastrous response to another. Real repentance seeks to please God. Repentance is not the hanging down of the head, but it is the working of the heart so that your sin becomes more hateful to you than your punishment. When you say, “I see that I have dishonored you, God.” So how do we repent of our fears? Is it just not being afraid? What we need to ask is: What is behind our fears? What lies beneath the surface of what we fear? Basic to all fear is failure. What makes us afraid is the sense we will fail, either ultimately, as in death, or fail before others and therefore be embarrassed. The spies refused to go any further because for them failure would mean death (or worse, public speaking!). Their fear was a response to danger, but a response that refused to take into account what God had told them to do. They were afraid because the people were so big and God was so very small. But the fear we see here and the fear of which we must repent is the fear of failure. You and I have life rafts we cling to so that we don’t sink. Those rafts tell us we are okay there, we are secure right here, to let go means we will sink, we won’t make it through. Those life rafts are those areas in which we know we are competent, we can be self reliant and feel safe. But if we fail, we will look bad. Those areas of security and concern are varied for each of us, be they our social interactions, our intellectual pursuits or our physical abilities. But whatever it is we cling to, those life rafts we love so much have another word for them: idols. Our fears surround and protect our idols. If money makes you feel secure, it is your comfort zone. If relationships are your security, that is your life raft you’re clinging to. Your fears will surround anything that touches that. Your fears attach to your idols; they surround those things which you worship. You’ll jealously guard that raft, for to lose that safety net is to lose it all. What is behind this fear of failure, this need to cling to something we are at least somewhat competent at to give us a sense of success? What is ultimate here is a mistrust of God. We believe at the deepest level that if we cling completely to God, He will let us down. At the heart of the matter that which we fear is that area in which we believe God will not be good to us, that God will leave us alone to fend for ourselves. That is why obedience is so hard for us. We think that if we obey the way God commands us, we’ll fail. If we maintain our sexual purity, we’ll be lonely. If we tithe, we’ll be poor. If we are honest, we’ll not advance in our job. If we honor our parents we’ll not have fun. As you confront your fears, don’t try to please God by eradicating the fear, thinking that is enough. We sometimes think we can rid ourselves of fears by hiding from them. In an old Charlie Chaplin film there is a scene in which he is captured in battle and attached to his leg is a ball and chain. The heavy ball keeps him from escaping and it is too securely fastened to be pried off. So he clandestinely digs a hole and buries the ball, covering it up so that it is no longer visible. With the ball completely covered, he turns to leave, only to fall flat on his face. We can try to bury our fears; we can try to ignore them. We can even try to face them head on and conquer them by our own effort. But far too often they conquer us. Instead what God wants us to do is look beyond the fear to see what those fears are protecting: what lies of self-sufficiency? What concerns about failure? What thoughts of your reputation, your own success? Instead of protecting ourselves with fear, God calls us to faith, trusting Him. How? Freedom from fear, release from the bondage of not having to fail is found in the simple realization which Caleb clung to so tenaciously. There can be no ultimate failure because the Lord is with us. This is the heart of what it means to believe. God’s presence with us is most clearly seen in what He has accomplished for us in Christ. While we face giants of economic uncertainties, future unknowns, and shadows of the undetected we cannot see - we know that we are secure in Christ. God’s constant presence is certain, for it is guaranteed by His Son. We can not fail in God’s eyes for Christ’s death paid the penalty for all those idols we bow before; those life rafts we think will give us safety may be sinking low, but the Father lovingly has provided us a real Savior. What is more, Christ’s life is also given to us. His perfect obedience is ours so that we need not try to manipulate our successes, we need not worry about whether we are doing well enough for God to love us. Like the child in the store, we need not worry that all which the Father has promised us is a cosmic joke, that He will withdraw His offer of grace in spite. We need only cling to Christ and His offer of grace. Then we will not fear. Hebrews 3:12-19:
|