November 14, 2021: Facing Our Giants
Numbers 13 & 14 (selected verses)
Rev. Rhonda Blevins
The Lord said to Moses, 2 “Send men to spy out the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the Israelites; from each of their ancestral tribes you shall send a man, every one a leader among them.” 3 So Moses sent them from the wilderness of Paran, according to the command of the Lord, all of them leading men among the Israelites.
25 At the end of forty days they returned from spying out the land. 26 And they came to Moses and Aaron and to all the congregation of the Israelites in the wilderness of Paran, at Kadesh; they brought back word to them and to all the congregation, and showed them the fruit of the land. 27 And they told him, “We came to the land to which you sent us; it flows with milk and honey, and this is its fruit. 28 Yet the people who live in the land are strong, and the towns are fortified and very large; and besides, we saw the descendants of Anak there.
30 But Caleb quieted the people before Moses, and said, “Let us go up at once and occupy it, for we are well able to overcome it.” 31 Then the men who had gone up with him said, “We are not able to go up against this people, for they are stronger than we.” 32 So they brought to the Israelites an unfavorable report of the land that they had spied out, saying, “The land that we have gone through as spies is a land that devours its inhabitants; and all the people that we saw in it are of great size. 33 There we saw the Nephilim (the Anakites come from the Nephilim); and to ourselves we seemed like grasshoppers, and so we seemed to them.”
Then all the congregation raised a loud cry, and the people wept that night. 2 And all the Israelites complained against Moses and Aaron; the whole congregation said to them, “Would that we had died in the land of Egypt! Or would that we had died in this wilderness! 3 Why is the Lord bringing us into this land to fall by the sword? Our wives and our little ones will become booty; would it not be better for us to go back to Egypt?” 4 So they said to one another, “Let us choose a captain, and go back to Egypt.”
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Let’s have some fun with the Old Testament!
We could begin earlier, but let’s start with Abraham (Father Abraham had many sons, many sons had Father Abraham!) God called Abraham to set out to a foreign land that God would give to him and his descendants . . . the “Promised Land.” You may remember that Abraham and his wife, Sarah, had trouble conceiving, but at Abraham’s ripe old age of 100, Sarah gave birth to Isaac. But when Isaac was just a kid, God told Abraham to take Isaac up a mountain and sacrifice Isaac on an altar he built there. At the last minute, God provided a ram, a substitute for child sacrifice, and Isaac was spared.
That must have left quite a scar on Isaac’s young psyche . . . we don’t learn much more about Isaac except that he married Rebekah, who was barren for a long time like Isaac’s mother, Sarah. When Isaac was 60 years old, Rebekah gave birth to twin boys, Esau and Jacob. Esau was born first, with Jacob holding on to his twin’s heel. When Isaac was old and blind, Jacob tricked his father, Isaac, into giving him the blessing of the firstborn which belonged, rightfully, to his brother Esau. Jacob, later to be named Israel, would marry Leah and her sister Rachel (family values, right?) and would have twelve sons, hence the “12 Tribes of Israel.”
Of the twelve sons, Joseph was his daddy’s favorite. Joseph’s brothers were jealous and sold him into slavery. The brothers lied to Israel, causing him to believe that Joseph was mauled by wild animals. Joseph ended up a slave in Egypt, but he had a special talent for dream interpretation. Because of that talent, Joseph eventually became Pharoah’s right-hand man, in charge of basically everything in Egypt. Back home in Canaan, Jacob and sons were struggling to survive because of a severe drought and famine, so Joseph’s brothers went to Egypt for help, showing up at Joseph’s feet. Joseph recognized them, but they did not recognize him. He made them go home empty handed, but told them to come back to Egypt with the whole family and he would help them. The whole family appeared before the powerful Joseph, and he revealed his identity to them. Joseph forgave his brothers and invited them to live in Egypt. Because of Joseph’s authority, the twelve tribes of Israel lived in peace and harmony in the land of Egypt
But Joseph eventually died, and so did the kindly Pharoah. A few generations later and new Pharoah reigned; he had no love for Israel and in fact, felt threatened by their numbers. He made life hell for the 12 Tribes of Israel . . . a harmonious life in Egypt devolved into slavery for the Israelites with grueling labor and torture at the hand of the Egyptian slave masters.
Enter: Moses. Born an Israelite, raised in Pharoah’s house, self-exiled to the desert for 40 years, called by God to lead the Israelites out of slavery and to return to the “Promised Land.” So Moses returns to Egypt and leads his people out of Egypt. Victory, right?
Not so fast.
After the miraculous escape from Egypt with plagues and the parting of the Red Sea, the Israelites wandered around the desert for 40 years. Nearing the end of their 40 years in the desert, Moses sent 12 spies, one man from each of the 12 Tribes of Israel, into Canaan (the “Promised Land.”) That’s where our scripture lesson picks up today.
So the 12 spies enter the land and explore it for 40 days. They describe it as “a land flowing with milk and honey.” But, 10 of the 12 caution, there are men of great size in the land the Israelites want to inhabit.
Giants. “We seem like grasshoppers next to them,” they report to their fellow Israelites upon their return from their reconnaissance mission. My paraphrase: “We cannot take the land. We are doomed.”
But were they doomed? Was God going to abandon them now? Just so we’re clear, let’s review all the ways God brought them to this juncture:
God spared the Israelites the plague of the first-born sons
God parted the Red Sea
God gave the Israelites a cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night in the desert
God gave them manna (not good enough) so God gave them quail
And now the children of Israel stand at the precipice of the Promised Land, so close to recapturing the land God gave to their Father Abraham generations before. But 10 of 12 of the spies are scared of . . . wait for it . . . Giants?!? “Heck no, we won’t go!” “Let us choose a captain (other than Moses) and go back to Egypt,” they whine. Dream over. The Promised Land . . . a ridiculous fantasy. “We choose slavery over giants.”
That’s where this part of the scripture ends . . . the majority of the Israelites giving up on God’s call and their own dream because . . . giants.
Let’s stop there for just a moment and think about giants. We may not be terrified of literal giants, but maybe each of us has some kind of “giant” in front of us:
A Giant can be something that STANDS between you and what God wants for you.
A Giant can be something that SEEMS bigger than you and your abilities.
A Giant can be something STRONGER than you and cannot be faced alone.
Let me ask you . . . what’s something you sense God calling you to be or do that you haven’t quite done or become? Is it because of one of these “Giants?” Listen, we all face Giants from time to time. Maybe you’re facing a giant right now. What’s your Giant? Is there something keeping you from living into God’s call for your life?
Now back to the Israelites. If you think about it, it wasn’t the giants that prevented them from wanting to enter the Promised Land, but it was their FEAR of the giants. What were they afraid of? They were afraid the giants would wipe them out and take their women and children. Valid fear . . . but fear nonetheless.
Now back to your giant. Your Giant is real. If you’re afraid, probably your fear is valid. Challenges and difficulties and problems . . . they’re all too real. But I invite you to ask yourself, related to your giant, “what am I afraid of?” and/or “what’s preventing me from facing this giant?” Like the Israelites afraid of the Giants slaughtering them, your fear is probably a valid fear.
And what does the Bible say about fear?
FEAR NOT! The most-oft-repeated command in all of scripture. Be not afraid.
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I (What?) I will fear no evil (Why?) For thou art with me. . .
And when you recognize your fear of the giants, that’s a good time to think back over your life and remember how God has:
Spared you from some sort of plague (That’s salvation.)
Parted some sort of Red Sea for you (That’s opportunity.)
Provided you a cloud by day and pillar of fire by night (That’s direction.)
Gave you manna and quail (That’s provision.)
Remembering God’s presence throughout your life’s journey prompts us to think, “God’s brought me this far . . . what do I have to be afraid of?” You’ve faced giants before . . . this giant may have a different face and a different name, but you know what to do.
So what happened to the children of Israel? They faced their Giants. They claimed the Promised Land. It hasn’t always been smooth sailing there in the Promised Land (understatement of the century), but they were faithful to do what they believed God was calling them to do despite their fear and despite the Giants that stood in their way.
My dear friends, whatever giant you face, and some of you I know face some incredible giants . . . whatever form your giant takes today, fear not! Know that God is with you.
I close with a poem I read as a teenager that meant something to me then . . . maybe you will find it meaningful as well.
The will of God will never take you,
Where the grace of God cannot keep you.
Where the arms of God cannot support you,
Where the riches of God cannot supply your needs,
Where the power of God cannot endow you.
The will of God will never take you,
Where the spirit of God cannot work through you,
Where the wisdom of God cannot teach you,
Where the army of God cannot protect you,
Where the hands of God cannot mold you.
The will of God will never take you,
Where the love of God cannot enfold you,
Where the mercies of God cannot sustain you,
Where the peace of God cannot calm your fears,
Where the strength of God cannot empower you.
The will of God will never take you,
Where the comfort of God cannot dry your tears,
Where the Word of God cannot feed you,
Where the miracles of God cannot be done for you,
Where the presence of God cannot find you.[1]
[1] Author unknown.