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ATTEMPT IS MADE TO OCCUPY THE LAND
WEDNESDAY, JULY 7
Deuteronomy 1:19-29

Numbers 13:23-33

 

“Let us go up at once,
and possess it; for we are

well able to overcome it..”

 

ATTEMPT IS MADE TO OCCUPY THE LAND
 
The turning point came when Israel asked Moses to send spies to go and search the land of Canaan and bring a report to Moses. This is told in detail in Numbers 13-14. Twelve men were sent on that mission and when they came back they gave their report about the land.
 
Two among the spies (Joshua and Caleb) urged the people to go quickly and possess the land as the Lord had given them. Ten of them however discouraged the people. They said that the land was indeed good and full of milk and honey, they even brought a huge cluster of grapes from the valley of Eshcol to show them the fruit of the land. However, they said that the cities of that land had very high walls and the people living there were giants, and that Israel would not be able to defeat them.
 
Moses told them not to be afraid for God would fight for them, he was sure of this because it was the Lord who initiated their departure from Egypt. The Lord also knew that there would be resistance from the Canaanites to prevent Israel from occupying their land. However, God had determined that He would give it to Israel. It would have been easy for them to possess the land as the Lord had guided them. But Israel rebelled against the commandment of the Lord and used their own reasoning to conclude that it was impossible for them to take the land from the Canaanites.
 
The battles of the Lord are never lost. In his epistle to the Ephesians, Paul exhorts that they ought to take up the whole armour of God that they may overcome the wiles of the devil (Eph 6:11). It was the evil one who created fear and doubt in the hearts of those spies so that they would frighten the whole congregation of Israel.
 
Sin is in the world today because Adam ate the forbidden fruit, and sin has found habitation in the human soul since then. Faith in God is our victory.
 
THOUGHT: God will always bring to pass what He has initiated.

PRAYER: Father, help me to always stand on Thy side.

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