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. NIV
Joshua and Caleb are pleading with the Israelites to abandon their fears and obey God.
The people of Israel are terrified to take the next step that God has laid out for them. They — who have been provided for day and night by God, who have been led by a pillar of fire through the desert, who have gathered manna from heaven each morning, who walked across the Red Sea on dry ground — doubt that God can overcome the inhabitants of their new land. And, why? Because someone spread a rumor. Numbers 13:32&33 say that the people who had accompanied Joshua and Caleb on their scouting trip into the promised land “spread scary rumors among the people of Israel. They said, ‘We scouted out the land from one end to the other — it’s a land that swallows people whole. Everybody we saw was huge. Why; we even saw the Nephilim giants … alongside them we felt like grasshoppers. And the looked down on us as if we were grasshoppers.'” MSG
They doubted God. They were worried and terrified because they did not trust.
I’ve thought alot over the last several weeks about choosing to trust instead of choosing to worry. But, it never occurred to me until just now that a lack of trust is the SOURCE of worry.
Trust is not the antidote for worry … it is the vaccine against it.
Wow. I will think about that today.
365 Days of Peace 