Introduction
Faith over fear is a common phrase that you’ve probably encountered either on a tee shirt, mug or somewhere else. But what exactly does it mean? I would like to share with you what God revealed to me through His Word/The Bible.
Numbers 14
I recently read the book of Numbers. It’s a book of the Bible that is often overlooked and left unread but yet has so many valuable lessons. In Numbers chapter 14, is a story of spies that came back from searching the land of Canaan. What had happened before was 12 people ,one from every tribe of Israel, went to the Canaan and saw that it was a very beautiful and rich land, but unfortunately there were giants and big cities with walls. So, 10 out of 12 people were afraid and they told the rest of the Israelites that the people in the land of Canaan are very strong, big and they are going to kill us! But Caleb and Joshua being the only 2 out of 12 said “yes! there are giants and walled cities but God is with us and with His help we will be able to conquer them!
” And all congregation lifted up their voices, and cried; and the people wept that night. And all the children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron…” (Numbers 14:1-2a). The whole congregation said that they would rather die in the wilderness than be killed by Canaanites. So, they wanted to elect a leader and return to Egypt.
Very easy to relate
If you give this situation some thought; it’s totally understandable that they were afraid of fighting giants that most likely they heard of or perhaps seen one before. So, the better plan that they came up with was to come back to the land/Egypt where they were born and were familiar with. BUT but if you think about it; the Egypt that they had in their mind didn’t exist anymore. The crops were destroyed, the livestock died, the army sank in the water of Red Sea, and Egyptians kicked them out. Doesn’t that look like me when God tells me to do something that I’ve never done? Is fear my initial response to a similar situation, possibly murmur, and disobedience? Is my fear a result of me lacking faith/trusting God wholeheartedly? Let’s see what happened next.
Caleb and Joshua stood up against the Children of Israel and wanted their brothers to listen to them, saying that the land of Canaan is an exceeding good land and If the Lord delights; He would give them this land of milk and honey. But the Israelites didn’t listen to them and wanted to stone Moses, Aaron, Caleb, and Joshua. But the glory of God protected these faithful men. As a result, God punished the 10 men who were speaking ill and spread/brought up a slander against the land hence they died from a plague as a result of their fear, murmur, rebellion, after which they died. On the contrary, God blessed Caleb and Joshua for being obedient to and trusting God. As a result of Caleb being obedient to God; not only was he blessed by God but his children were also blessed.
Conclusion
What lesson can you and I take for ourselves from this story? I need to trust God and do what He tells me, not to be afraid, and not to murmur due to fear. As we see here: faith produces obedience and obedience produces blessings. On the contrary; fear produces murmur, which produces disobedience with the end result being death.
What a valuable lesson for us!
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