Numbers 13:26 - 33  (NIV)They came back to Moses and Aaron and the whole Israelite community at Kadesh in the Desert of Paran. There they reported to them and to the whole assembly and showed them the fruit of the land.  27 They gave Moses this account: "We went into the land to which you sent us, and it does flow with milk and honey! Here is its fruit.  28 But the people who live there are powerful, and the cities are fortified and very large. We even saw descendants of Anak there.  29 The Amalekites live in the Negev; the Hittites, Jebusites and Amorites live in the hill country; and the Canaanites live near the sea and along the Jordan."  30 Then Caleb silenced the people before Moses and said, "We should go up and take possession of the land, for we can certainly do it."  31 But the men who had gone up with him said, "We can't attack those people; they are stronger than we are."  32 And they spread among the Israelites 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.  33 We saw the Nephilim there (the descendants of Anak come from the Nephilim). We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them."  


What is the difference between faith and fear?

It is the object of our trust. Do we trust God or self?

What do you see? Many times it is not what we see but how we see that causes fear. One similar event can evoke emotions of fear in one person and excitement in the other depending on how they see it.

 

Joshua and Caleb saw what the 10 spies saw, but they saw it differently. Whereas Canaan was a scene of terror and hopelessness to the 10 spies, it was a place of excitement and anticipation for Caleb and Joshua. They couldn’t wait to see the time when they would finally take possession of the land that was promised to them.

 

So what was the problem with the other 10 spies? It was the question of their object of trust. Fear arises from false assumptions about reality.

 

How do we overcome fear?

1.    Trust God and His promises. God promised he will never leave us or forsake us. (Heb. 13:5-6). You learn to trust God even when you don’t feel his presence. You confess the promises of God. “Father you promised that you will never leave me nor forsake me, so I know that you are with me right now even if I can’t feel your presence.” Hebrews 13:5-6  5 Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, "Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you."  6 So we say with confidence, "The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?"  Psalm 23:4  4 Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me. There is power in the word of God. The devil fears God’s word. Situations bow to the Word of God.


 2.   Remember what God did for you in the past.  If he did it in the past, he can do it now.  1 Samuel 17:37  37 The LORD who delivered me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine."

 

 3.   Focus on your divine assignment. Do not allow yourself to be distracted by fear. You tell yourself and whatever is causing you fear that “my mission is too important to give in to anything – not fear” Cf. Nehemiah 6:3   3 so I sent messengers to them with this reply: "I am carrying on a great project and cannot go down. Why should the work stop while I leave it and go down to you?" 


FOOD FOR THOUGHT:

“I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear.” -  Nelson Mandela

 

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