HOW BIG IS YOUR GOD?

Published September 12, 2007

I was reading a section out of Numbers chapter 13 when it hit me like a rock right between the eyes. I had turned away from God! Yes, me who write about God, His Word (living and written) and how to walk with Him. How had it come to this? What had happened and why? To get the answers to all of these questions we need to start back a year and a half ago.
I had some extra time on my hands: everything was going good. So, I decided to figure out where our economy was headed. It took me six months to accept what I had found. I was in denial. A lying Government, the hiding of M3 (money supply, the thing that causes inflation when it goes up), the rigging of the precious metals prices, the housing bust that was and still is coming, the devaluation of the U.S. Dollar, the coming stock market crash etc., etc., etc.. I got hooked. I started reading more and more trying to figure out just how bad it was going to be. Uhmmm…Bad. Even knowing this I tried to continue business as usual and now the houses that I built are not sold, yet. So I read more and more trying to figure out more and more. Then this scripture came into view. It is actually the whole chapter of Numbers 13, but, it started in verse 26.
Numbers 13:1-33
1 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,
2 Send thou men, that they may search the land of Canaan, which I give unto the children of Israel: of every tribe of their fathers shall ye send a man, every one a ruler among them.
3 And Moses by the commandment of the LORD sent them from the wilderness of Paran: all those men were heads of the children of Israel.
4 And these were their names: of the tribe of Reuben, Shammua the son of Zaccur.
5 Of the tribe of Simeon, Shaphat the son of Hori.
6 Of the tribe of Judah, Caleb the son of Jephunneh.
7 Of the tribe of Issachar, Igal the son of Joseph.
8 Of the tribe of Ephraim, Oshea the son of Nun.
9 Of the tribe of Benjamin, Palti the son of Raphu.
10 Of the tribe of Zebulun, Gaddiel the son of Sodi.
11 Of the tribe of Joseph, namely, of the tribe of Manasseh, Gaddi the son of Susi.
12 Of the tribe of Dan, Ammiel the son of Gemalli.
13 Of the tribe of Asher, Sethur the son of Michael.
14 Of the tribe of Naphtali, Nahbi the son of Vophsi.
15 Of the tribe of Gad, Geuel the son of Machi.
16 These are the names of the men which Moses sent to spy out the land. And Moses called Oshea the son of Nun Jehoshua.
17 And Moses sent them to spy out the land of Canaan, and said unto them, Get you up this way southward, and go up into the mountain:
18 And see the land, what it is; and the people that dwelleth therein, whether they be strong or weak, few or many;
19 And what the land is that they dwell in, whether it be good or bad; and what cities they be that they dwell in, whether in tents, or in strong holds;
20 And what the land is, whether it be fat or lean, whether there be wood therein, or not. And be ye of good courage, and bring of the fruit of the land. Now the time was the time of the firstripe grapes.
21 So they went up, and searched the land from the wilderness of Zin unto Rehob, as men come to Hamath.
22 And they ascended by the south, and came unto Hebron; where Ahiman, Sheshai, and Talmai, the children of Anak, were. (Now Hebron was built seven years before Zoan in Egypt.)
23 And they came unto the brook of Eshcol, and cut down from thence a branch with one cluster of grapes, and they bare it between two upon a staff; and they brought of the pomegranates, and of the figs.
24 The place was called the brook Eshcol, because of the cluster of grapes which the children of Israel cut down from thence.
25 And they returned from searching of the land after forty days.
26 And they went and came to Moses, and to Aaron, and to all the congregation of the children of Israel, unto the wilderness of Paran, to Kadesh; and brought back word unto them, and unto all the congregation, and showed them the fruit of the land.
27 And they told him, and said, We came unto the land whither thou sentest us, and surely it floweth with milk and honey; and this is the fruit of it.
28 Nevertheless the people be strong that dwell in the land, and the cities are walled, and very great: and moreover we saw the children of Anak there.
29 The Amalekites dwell in the land of the south: and the Hittites, and the Jebusites, and the Amorites, dwell in the mountains: and the Canaanites dwell by the sea, and by the coast of Jordan.
30 And Caleb stilled the people before Moses, and said, Let us go up at once, and possess it; for we are well able to overcome it.
31 But the men that went up with him said, We be not able to go up against the people; for they are stronger than we.
32 And they brought up an evil report of the land which they had searched unto the children of Israel, saying, The land, through which we have gone to search it, is a land that eateth up the inhabitants thereof; and all the people that we saw in it are men of a great stature.
33 And there we saw the giants, the sons of Anak, which come of the giants: and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight.
What the ten men did is similar to what people, even Christians do today: they denied the power of God! There were only two of the twelve sent out to spy the land that had it right, Caleb and Joshua.
Numbers 13:30 And Caleb stilled the people before Moses, and said, Let us go up at once, and possess it; for we are well able to overcome it.
Numbers 14:6-9 6 And Joshua the son of Nun, and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, which were of them that searched the land, rent their clothes:
7 And they spake unto all the company of the children of Israel, saying, The land, which we passed through to search it, is an exceeding good land.
8 If the LORD delight in us, then he will bring us into this land, and give it us; a land which floweth with milk and honey.
9 Only rebel not ye against the LORD, neither fear ye the people of the land; for they are bread for us: their defence is departed from them, and the LORD is with us: fear them not.
Israel had just come up out of the land of Egypt they had see the waters of the land turned to blood Exodus 7: 20&21. They had seen the inundation of frogs Exodus 8:6. they had seen the dust turned to lice, Exodus 8:17; the swarms of flies, Exodus 8:24: the death of the Egyptian cattle, Exodus 9:6; the boils upon the Egyptians, Exodus 9:10; the hail mixed with fire, Exodus 9:23-26; the locusts, Exodus 10:12-16; the darkness that you could feel, Exodus 10:21&22; the angel of death that killed the first born of every Egyptian 12: 21-23,29. All of this to deliver Israel from the enslavement that they had been in for hundreds of years. The children of Israel had even gone through the midst of the sea on dry ground and watched as the waters destroyed the great army of Pharaoh King of Egypt. Yet, these ten men that went out to spy the land said God couldn’t do it. They turned away from God! These were leaders of the tribes. What was worse was that all of Israel believed the bad report. The end result was that no one over the age of twenty entered into the promised land except Joshua and Caleb. The rest died in the wilderness over the next forty years.
Do you want results? Do you want deliverance? What are you looking at and who do you believe, The circumstances or God? I was doubting the outcome of my dilemma and by doing that I was doubting God.
God says that He will deliver us
II Corinthians 1:10 Who delivered us from so great a death, and doth deliver: in whom we trust that he will yet deliver us.
II Timothy 4:18 And the Lord shall deliver me from every evil work, and will preserve me unto his heavenly kingdom: to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.
Hebrews 2:14&15 14 Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil;
15 And deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.
God is our refuge, He is our protector, He is our All in All. God knows how to keep you out of trouble and if you are there He knows, better than you, how to get you out.
Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.
6 In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.
Proverbs 3:5&6
How big is your God? My God WILL deliver!

Posted in Believing