Numbers 13-15: In the Land of Giants

The LORD replied, “I have forgiven them, as you asked. Nevertheless, as surely as I live and as surely as the glory of the LORD fills the whole earth, not one of the men who saw my glory and the miraculous signs I performed in Egypt and in the desert but who disobeyed me and tested me ten times—not one of them will ever see the land I promised on oath to their forefathers. No one who has treated me with contempt will ever see it. But because my servant Caleb has a different spirit and follows me wholeheartedly, I will bring him into the land he went to, and his descendants will inherit it. Since the Amalekites and Canaanites are living in the valleys, turn back tomorrow and set out toward the desert along the route to the Red Sea.”  - Num. 14:20-25 NIV

It was just a little sin.  The Israelites were only trying to protect themselves and their children from the threat of others bigger and stronger than themselves.  So, they decided not to trust God any more, the God who led them out of Egypt, who parted the Red Sea, who gave them manna and quail and water from the rock.

Somewhere along the line, they got it in their heads that they were responsible for their own safekeeping.  They took matters into their own hands and all of a sudden, God's promises seemed impossible.  All the good things that God promised were at hand; they were even visible in the grapes and fruit that the spies brought back, but the threat of a few giants erased all hope.

Nothing has changed today.  We know God has kept his promises in the past, but now, now there are giants in the land:  fearsome, awful, ungodly, giants and our knees quake at the thought.  We'll not go there.  We'll not confront the enemy.  We'll not claim what is ours.

God's response has not changed either.  He forgives us, but we will not see the land he promised us.  Only the faithful  ones, the ones who take him at his word, will see all he has in store for us.  Only the faithful ones will dwell in peace in the land of giants.