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By Hellen J. Kuleskey
When Israel was about to enter the Promised Land, the Lord said to Moses, “Send some men to explore the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the Israelites. From each ancestral tribe send one of its leaders” (Num.13:1). Moses obeyed and sent the 12 spies as God commanded. The spies’ return, their report of the exploration and Israel’s reaction are recorded in Num. 13:26-33 and chapter 14.
The spies gave Moses this report: “We went into the land to which you sent us, and it does flow with milk and honey! Here is its fruit. But the people who live there are powerful, and the cities are fortified and very large. We even saw the descendents of Anak there” (13:27-28).
Caleb, one of the spies said, “We should go up and take possession of the land, for we can certainly do it.” But the men who had gone up with him said, “We can’t attack those people; they are stronger than we are.” And they spread a bad report about the land they had explored. They said, “The land we explored devours those living in it. All the people we saw there are of great size.... We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them” (13:30-33).
At those words the people of the community rebelled. They wept aloud all night, grumbled against Moses and Aaron, their leaders, and wished they had died in Egypt or in the desert. They talked about choosing a leader and returning to Egypt.
What is it that caused Israel to rebel? Discouragement. The definition of discourage is: To deprive of confidence, hope or spirit; dishearten; daunt; to dissuade or deter.
1) How Discouragement Comes:
Discouragement comes when we hear bad reports, when we are faced with what seem to be impossible situations, and when our view of ourselves and of God is distorted.
a. Through bad reports:
The bad report of the ten spies affected the whole camp adversely (unfavorably). The negative things that we hear can discourage us if we agree with them and receive them. The fact that the majority gave a bad report seemed to have carried weight with the general public. The majority isn’t always right! What looms before us as impossibilities then causes us to grumble and sin against God. It also causes us to think and act irrationally (contrary to reason). When Joshua and Caleb begged the assembly not to rebel against God and exhorted them not to be afraid but to go up to possess the land, the people responded by talking about stoning both of them!
b. Through what we see:
All the spies saw the giants and the large fortified cities. Two of the spies, Caleb and Joshua, responded positively to the challenge and they sought to encourage the whole assembly. “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” (14:9). But the bad report of the ten spies prevailed (won out).
c. How we view ourselves:
The ten spies saw themselves as grasshoppers. And they imagined that is how they appeared in the eyes of the giants. They confessed to the whole assembly that the people they would be fighting were stronger than Israel. They saw themselves as weak and little, and they believed it. We are what we think we are. “For as he thinks in heart, so is he” (Prov. 23:7). In his epistle to the Roman church, Paul wrote to those facing trouble, hardship, persecution, famine, nakedness and sword, “In all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us” (Rom. 8:37).
d. How we view God:
The glory of the Lord appeared at the Tent of Meeting as the whole assembly was talking of stoning Caleb and Joshua. The Lord said to Moses, “How long will these people treat me with contempt? How long will they refuse to believe in me, in spite of all the miraculous signs I have performed among them?” (14:11)
The overwrought (extremely nervous) assembly forgot all the miracles the Lord performed on their behalf—getting their release from Egypt, walking on dry land through the Red Sea, the miraculous provision of food and water in the desert, and His promise to keep them in health and in clothing. They didn't realize that they were viewing God with contempt and unbelief through their rebellion, but that is how God saw them.
2) What Discouragement Produces:
Discouragement led to the sins of unbelief and contempt (14:11). And it nearly led to the sin of murder. Because Israel did not repent of those sins against a holy God, punishment was about to fall on them. The Lord said to Moses, “I will strike them down with a plague and destroy them, but I will make you into a nation greater and stronger than they” (vs. 12). Truly, the “wages of sin is death” (Rom. 6:23).
3) Deliverance From Judgment:
Deliverance from the judgment that unbelief and contempt brought came through intercession.
Moses’ prayer of intercession stayed God’s hand of judgment. The meekest man on the earth (see Num. 12:3) did not take God’s gracious offer for a dynasty (family line), but beseeched God to spare Israel. He said, “Then the Egyptians will hear about it! ...And they will tell the inhabitants of this land about it. They have already heard that you, O Lord, are with this people and that you have been seen face to face, ...and that you go before them in a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire at night. If you put these people to death at one time, the nations who have heard this report about you will say, ‘The Lord was not able to bring these people into the land he promised them on oath; so he slaughtered them in the desert’ ” (14: 13-16).
Then Moses reminded God of His Word when He said, “The Lord is slow to anger, abounding in love and forgiving sin and rebellion.” Because of God’s declared great grace, Moses pleads: “In accordance with your great love, forgive the sin of these people, just as you have pardoned them from the time they left Egypt until now” (14:18-19).
Moses’ intercession turned the heart of God. The Lord replied, “I have forgiven them, as you asked” (14:20).
4) Results Of Sin Remain:
God forgives sin, but the consequences (results) remain. Immediately after the Lord told Moses that He forgave the people’s rebellion, He added, “...Not one of the men who saw my glory and the miraculous signs I performed in Egypt and in the desert but who disobeyed me and tested me ten times—not one of them will ever see the land I promised on oath to their forefathers. No one who has treated me with contempt will ever see it” (14: 22-23).
All the adults from 20 years old and upwards who rebelled would die in the desert. Even the children suffered as a result of Israel’s sin. The Lord declared, “Your children will be shepherds here for 40 years, suffering for your unfaithfulness, until the last of your bodies lies in the desert” (14:33).
When Moses reported what God said to the assembly, they mourned bitterly and acknowledged their sin, but the next morning they decided to go up to the hill country of the promised land. Moses begged them not to disobey the Lord’s command and told them the Lord was not with them. He warned them that they would be defeated and killed by their enemies. But they went anyway. Chapter 14 concludes with these words, “Then the Amalekites and the Canaanites who lived in that hill country came down and attacked them and beat them down all the way to Hormah” (14:45).
The Israelites had to learn the hard way that trying to fix things in their own strength didn’t work. Only God-directed service is blessed and aided by Him.
5) Facing Our Giants:
What should our attitudes be when faced with what looks impossible, the giants in our lives and situations? The words of Caleb and Joshua will stand us in good stead: “Do not be afraid; do not rebel against the Lord.” Let us not become discouraged through fear and get angry with God. He does not bring the evil into our lives. He does, however, allow it to come to conform us to the image of Christ. In the heat of spiritual battle, let us stand firm, reminding God of His Word and claiming the promises as Moses did. God is faithful to keep His promises. He says, “...I say the word and will perform it” (Ezek. 12:25).
6) Dealing With The Root:
No matter how many times we cut down a weed, it will grow again. It can only be destroyed at the root. What is the root of discouragement? If we look back on the above account of Israel’s discouragement, we see the root of it was grumbling and complaining. God has a cure for grumbling—death to the self-life (See Rom. chapter 6.)
The Apostle Paul in his letter to the Colossians wrote, “...You have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator” (Col. 3:9).
Paul continues: “Let the peace of God rule in your hearts, since...you were called to peace. And be thankful. Let the Word of God dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the father through him” (Col. 3:15-17).
God’s cure for grumbling and it’s result, discouragement, can be summed up in these words: Let God’s peace rule in your heart; let the Word of God dwell in you; praise God and fellowship with the brethren; let gratitude be your attitude. It will affect your work and your speech. You will be working as unto the Lord; you will be speaking the Word of God. To the glory of the Father, Jesus will be reigning in your life!
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