Choosing Fear

"'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... 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... your corpses will fall in this wilderness, even all your numbered men, according to your complete number from twenty years old and upward, who have grumbled against Me. Surely you shall not come into the land in which I swore to settle you... Your children, however, whom you said would become a prey — I will bring them in, and they will know the land which you have rejected. But as for you, your corpses will fall in this wilderness. Your sons shall be shepherds for forty years in the wilderness, and they will suffer for your unfaithfulness, until your corpses lie in the wilderness... I, the Lord, have spoken, surely this I will do to all this evil congregation who are gathered together against Me. In this wilderness they shall be destroyed, and there they will die.' As for the men whom Moses sent to spy out the land and who returned and made all the congregation grumble against him by bringing out a bad report concerning the land, even those men who brought out the very bad report of the land died by a plague before the Lord." -Numbers 14.22-23, 25, 29-30a, 31-33, and 35-37

God is angry, and for a second time offers Moses the chance to become the head of a nation. But again, Moses, the most humble man on earth, asks God to relent from His anger and spare the people. He does for a second time, but as with the first time, there are consequences for those involved.

All those who had witnessed the ten plagues in Egypt but refused to trust God when it came time to enter the land will die without seeing the land. Instead the next day began forty years of wandering in the wilderness, where one by one they would die. Every man able to go to war, those who should have courageously followed God forward and take the land, will die without ever setting foot in it. But their children will inherit the land, but not until they have spent forty years in the wilderness because of their father's choices. As for the men who brought back the report and spread fear among the people, they were the first to die.

When fear is the choice we forfeit the blessings of God. We miss out of the best things that He has in store for us because we are too afraid to go after them. We allow the thought of the giants intimidate us beyond faith in God, no matter what we have seen Him do in the past. And it is important to note that we are not the only ones who suffer because of our fear. The children of the cowardly men had to wait forty years before they could find rest in the Promised Land. For forty years they would wander the wilderness because of the choices of their fathers.

Men, are you choosing fear? Are you to intimidated to stand up and claim the blessings of God? There will be battles to fight to claim them. Their will be risks to take to receive them. But they are completely worth it, this is God after all, and He desires to bless His faithful children beyond their wildest imaginations (so that they can in turn bless others). Are you allowing fear to keep you from them?

What about your children, what difficulties is your fear causing them? What hardships will they unnecessarily have to endure because you were too afraid to claim God's promises? What wilderness will they have to wander in because you were too afraid to take on the giants whom God would have empowered you to slay?

It is not too late for us, we are still breathing, therefore we can still choose to be courageous. We don't have to forfeit the blessings of God, and we don't have to add hardships to our children. If we choose fear we will, but fear is not the only choice. Let us choose to be courageous.

"Iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another."

To God alone be the Glory!

Strength and Honor