We Were In Our Own Sight

In the book of Numbers, Chapter 13, the nation of Israel had come out of Egypt, and was walking through the desert, on their way to Canaan. The Lord spoke to Moses:

1)    AND The Lord said to Moses,

2)    Send men to explore and scout out [for yourselves] the land of Canaan, which I give to the Israelites. From each tribe of their fathers you shall send a man, everyone a leader or head among them.

3)    So Moses by the command of the Lord sent scouts from the Wilderness of Paran, all of them men who were heads of the Israelites…

17) Moses sent them to scout out the land of Canaan, and said to them, Get up this way by the South (the Negeb) and go up into the hill country,

When they returned to the report what they had discovered, even though they saw the land was fertile with milk and honey, and even brought back a cluster of grapes so big that two men had to carry it on a stick between them.

Yet, the inhabitants of the land were their problem, as so it seemed.

28) But the people who dwell there are strong, and the cities are [a]fortified and very large; moreover, there we saw the sons of Anak [of great stature and courage].

29) Amalek dwells in the land of the South (the Negeb); the Hittite, the Jebusite, and the Amorite dwell in the hill country; and the Canaanite dwells by the sea and along by the side of the Jordan [River].

30) Caleb quieted the people before Moses, and said, Let us go up at once and possess it; we are well able to conquer it.

31) But his fellow scouts said, We are not able to go up against the people [of Canaan], for they are stronger than we are.

32) So they brought the Israelites an evil report of the land which they had scouted out, saying, The land through which we went to spy it out is a land that devours its inhabitants. And all the people that we saw in it are men of great stature.

33) There we saw the Nephilim [or giants], the sons of Anak, who come from the giants; and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight.

How many times have you come across a problem (giants) in your own life? In your family; at work; suppose that “giant” has many accomplices. What do you do then? How do you see yourself? Does fear come in? Do you go directly into reason?

Sometimes we seek advice from others, and their advice or counsel is usually based on their view of their own “giants”.

The Spies

 Many today think that God told Moses to send these men out to scout the land without provision for their victory. However, this is not quite true. God had already told them that the land was theirs, yet they had to go in and possess the land. The people were afraid of the unknown inhabitants of Canaan, so they asked Moses to send out spies to see if it was as God had told them. (unbelief). Moses took their request to God and so it was to be as they requested.

So it is with many of us today. We seek the advice of friends, Christian leaders, worldly advisors (doctors, psychiatrists, psychologists, pharmacists), authors, and the list goes on. We pray, yet do not believe… The answers come and they seem too difficult to achieve, so we, look for a proxy or a go between. We look for “inside information”, or anything that we think will give us an advantage, not truly understanding that anything the world brings to us is inferior to what God brings, or what he already has in store for us.

Actually, God has told us that “He has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus”. (Ephesians 1:3)  So, that means that anything and everything we could ever want or need, God has already given it to us, placed it at our disposal in Christ.

So then, why do we hesitate? What is it that keeps us wandering around in the desert places of the world? Why do we have to send out spies to investigate? Are we looking for a sure thing? Confirmation? What actually holds us back? Is hearing from God so foreign to us that we are not sure of His Word or direction?

Recently, I put this idea in another blog (I think). This came to me while out walking, that this is the order Christians should live. Since we are “spirit”, we have a soul, and we live in a body, then the order of how we live should be: Think from the sprit, speak from the spirit, act from the spirit.  (Walk by faith and not by sight) It is never wrong!!! Try it. It is more difficult than you think. Actually, most of us don’t even know the difference between thinking from the spirit and thinking from the soul (worldly), let alone speaking and acting from the spirit. Where would we start? Oh, yes the Bible! But do you understand the mystery of the Jesus? Faith? Kingdom of God? Your position in Christ? What Jesus did for mankind? The “new creation”? The Holy Spirit?” Acting on the Word of God?

Our spirit, being born again, “a new creation”, “the righteousness of God in Christ”, has access to all the power of the Holy Spirit; all the knowledge we could ever need, and all the resources of God to fulfill His purposes for us.

Why do we hesitate then? Jesus said it best in Matthew 17:20 “ So Jesus said to them, Because of your unbelief; for assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you.”

In Your Own Sight

We send all types of spies out, instead of trusting in God. We see so much fear, crime, mistrust, anger, and corruption in the world that it is difficult to believe that a place exists that is free of worldly influences. A very strange thing happens. We see all these things happening every day, yet we turn to that same world to find answers or comfort in times of distress. Our lives are shaped from the news, television shows, movies, and music, all designed to get you feel something, and it is usually detrimental to our true spiritual nature. As a college professor once told me, “we want them to think, fell, and know” whatever we want them to know. And I add, whether it is true or not, this is the objective.

So immersed in this life of worldly indoctrination from birth we grow into thinking that our physical being is who we are. We become grasshoppers in our own sight to this massive and frightening (illusionary) world. We have been told and shown that we can’t fight “the system”, “the government”, “evil” and everything else the world tells us. We have been fed the lie that we are powerless against the “world’s systems”.

2 Corinthians 4:4

“For the god of this world has blinded the unbelievers' minds [that they should not discern the truth], preventing them from seeing the illuminating light of the Gospel of the glory of Christ (the Messiah), Who is the Image and Likeness of God.”

Yet, God tells us that He has given us, through Jesus, power over that all the power of the enemy (the god of this world who has blinded). To add insult to injury, they are the ones who have been feeding us this worldly garbage, that we’re are helpless victims of a world filled with all those horrible human conditions, and we are powerless to do anything about it. All lies!! Jesus says that this “little god” is the father of lies. You can be assured that if Jesus said it, it is true, and if the world says it, the likelihood of it being true is on shaky ground to say the least. This is in regards to who you really are in Christ Jesus!!

Don’t let the father of lies shape your self-image! If he has, it is time to look into the mirror of who you really are (the Bible) and find the real you. Be transformed by the renewing of your mind, by hearing the Word of God. Study the Word of God. Build your faith by acting on the Word. Think, speak, and act from the spirit. Learn to hear the voice of the Holy Spirit. He knows all things and He lives in you!!

Your re-created (by God) spirit is perfect. Period! It does not need improvement! It has the love, power, wisdom, and knowledge of God inherent in its being. What it needs is a renewed mind with whom it can communicate; That will “take the lid off” off and release the light of God, so that your “joy will be made full”. What is stopping you?