October 20, 1999

EXPLORE THE BIBLE:
Is your God big enough
to slay your giants?
___ Numbers 13:1-2, 30-32; 14:19-24
___By Mark Bumpus
___First Baptist Church, Mineral Wells
___Imagine how you would have felt if you had been one of those 90 Spanish sailors on the Nina, the Pinta and the Santa Maria with Columbus in the fall of 1492. You had set sail from the Canary Islands Sept. 6 and after 30 days on the "sea of darkness," an attitude of mutiny sets in. Visions of sea monsters and the edge of the earth come to mind. Mistrust of Columbus sets in. The sailors want to "shrink back," turn around and go back to Spain while they still have a chance. Columbus bargained for three more days. On Oct. 12, 1492, land was sighted.
___Isn't the attitude found in these Spanish sailors much like the attitude found in 10 of the 12 spies who explored the Promised Land?
___ Sizing up the giants (Numbers 13:1-3). Moses asked the 12 spies to "spy out the land of Canaan" (13:2). God was ready to give the land to the children of Israel. But Moses wanted to determine what it would take to seize the land.
___Answers to these questions were important for military strategy: (1) Are the people strong or weak--courageous and brave or spiritless and timid? (2) Are there few or many--numerically, what are our odds? (3) Is the land good or bad--will the climate and soil sustain us? (4) Are the cities open camps or walled fortifications--can they be taken (13:18-19)? Like Nehemiah's midnight ride around ancient Jerusalem (Nehemiah 2:12-16), Moses wanted to assess the situation.
___ "Shrinking back" syndrome (Numbers 13:30-32). Ten of the 12 spies brought back a negative majority report. The land is fertile, the people strong, the cities large--it's a place of great difficulty and danger. And listen to this: We saw giants in the land! Compared to them, we felt as small as grasshoppers!
___The report depressed the whole congregation of Israel. Their hearts melted. They were thrown into utter despair. They began to "shrink back" from any thought of forging forward into the Promised Land. One of the most difficult times of life is to enter the Promised Land only to discover that there are giants in the land! A church must focus on possibilities, not problems; faith, not fear; ministry, not maintenance.
___ "Can do" spirit (Numbers 14:19-24). But Caleb "had a different spirit" (14:24). He was ready to take the land (13:30). He wasn't rebellious. When given the choices of "fight or flight," he chose to fight. He and Joshua brought a positive minority report.
___What an encourager Caleb must have been! He warmed you with his "sunny" disposition! He was one of those "balcony people" of whom Carlyle Marney spoke--a person up in the balcony always cheering you on, saying: "I believe in you. You can do it. You've got what it takes. You are going to make it."
___Are you an encourager? Farrar Patterson, my seminary preaching professor, scribbled seven little words on a sermon evaluation sheet that still sustain me 22 years later. You might be surprised how far a few encouraging words can take somebody. They may even help someone slay a giant!

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