There is a temptation that comes to every person who seeks to discern God’s will for their life. It is the temptation to associate God’s will with the easier path.
The temptation is powerful because it appeals to our selfish desires. The temptation is powerful because it takes a truth about God’s character (God loves us and desires the best for us) and ties it to a false assumption (the best thing for me is my comfort). The temptation especially is powerful in difficult times, assuring us God will remove the difficulties entirely.
We see this temptation at work in our passage this week. The 12 Hebrew spies entered the Promised Land to gauge its strengths and weaknesses and returned with their report. They reported the people the land was rich and fruitful just as they had been promised, but occupied by fierce people living in fortified cities who would violently resist any incursion into their lands.
In other words, the reward was great, but the way difficult. One of the spies, Caleb, encouraged the people to embrace the challenge, but 10 of the spies saw only the difficulties and were persuaded that possessing the land was not in their best interests. The entire congregation was motivated by the negative report, so much so that when Caleb and his fellow spy, Joshua, reiterated the goodness of the land before them and the faithfulness of God who had called them, the people considered stoning them.
In his book What’s Wrong with the World, G.K. Chesterton wrote: “The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting. It has been found difficult and left untried.”
Such is the story of Israel’s rebellion at the border of the Promised Land. All too often, it is our story as well. Can you think of examples in your own life when you felt the leading of God but knew that obedience would be difficult, costly or intimidating?
For many Christians, the prospects of sharing the gospel with an unchurched neighbor fits this description. The rewards are obvious, but there are giants in the land—the giant fear of offending them, of looking incompetent, of being laughed at or of being asked a question to which you don’t know the answer. How do you respond when you are faced with these supposed giants?
Other Christians struggle with the clear commands of God to forgive or to love an enemy. Here the rewards may be less obvious and other giants build fortified objections, but the clarity of God’s command is the same. It may appear far easier to live in the wilderness of broken relationships, well-nurtured hatred, and bitterness than to actively love someone who has hurt you. Such broken relationships become convenient topics of conversation and accessible excuses for problems in our lives, but they are unhealthy. Though seemingly easier, they will kill our spirits and keep us from enjoying the greater blessings God has for us.
Other Christians struggle with specific aspects of service. They refuse to teach because they feel they don’t know enough. They refuse to serve on a committee or team because they feel themselves unworthy. They refuse to commit to a ministry because it may make demands of their time they do not want to give. They turn back from loving someone who is needy because they are afraid of where that relationship might take them.
The fact is, there are giants in every promised land, but God has called. The things to which God calls us are not necessarily easy or comfortable. They will stretch our faith, upset our comfortable routines and bring us into contact with people that challenge us with the depth of their need.
God, being an honest God, does not hide this from us, but rather tells us plainly that with obedience comes both difficulty and reward (Matthew 5:3-12). Into this honest space, the Tempter offers crowns without crosses, resurrection without death, cheap grace of all kinds and a form of religion without power. With Moses and Aaron, we should fall on our faces before God and ask that we be delivered from such temptation.
To what task is God calling you? What ministry or mission has God set before your church? What kingdom activity awaits in a land of giants? And how do you respond? If God is in it, then we can be assured of his presence and his power. Joshua and Caleb spoke the truth to their tempted and fearful people: “The Lord is with us. Do not be afraid of them” (Numbers 14:9).
The same is true for all who are obedient. David expressed it in Psalm 23 when he says, “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil for you are with me” (v. 4). He does not say God will lead him around the valley. Instead, he trusts God’s presence and power in the middle of the valley.
Sign up for our weekly edition and get all our headlines in your inbox on Thursdays
Will you trust God’s sufficiency and be obedient in the face of difficulty, sacrifice and fear?
We seek to connect God’s story and God’s people around the world. To learn more about God’s story, click here.
Send comments and feedback to Eric Black, our editor. For comments to be published, please specify “letter to the editor.” Maximum length for publication is 300 words.