Faith on Trial

GOLDEN TEXT: “Be of good courage, and he shall strengthen your heart, all ye that hope in the Lord.” —Psalm 31:24

NUMBERS 14:2, 3, 26-33, 36-38

THE Lord instructed Moses to select a ruler from each of the tribes of Israel, twelve men in all, and send them into Canaan to spy out the land, and to determine the nature of the land, its crops, and its people. This group of spies was not asked to determine whether or not it would be possible to defeat the Canaanites and take possession of the land; this had been determined before by the Lord. That is why he brought the Israelites out of Egypt, and had promised to take them into Canaan, the land promised to father Abraham.

The spies brought back a very good report of the land and its crops. They stated that it was a land flowing with milk and with honey. They even brought back some huge bunches of the grapes which were being grown in the Promised Land. The twelve spies seemed to be unanimous on this part of their report.

But ten of the spies had been filled with fear by the people they saw in Canaan. The Canaanites were a very strong people, they said, and many of them were unusually large, like giants. These ten spies reported that they were as grasshoppers by comparison with these giants. Their conclusion was that it would be useless for the Israelites to undertake a conquest of the land.

Joshua and Caleb, on the other hand while agreeing enthusiastically with their ten brethren as to the richness of the land, disagreed with them as to their ability to possess this land of promise. They had faith that with Israel’s God on their side, they would be victorious over the Canaanites. However, the majority report swayed the people to rebel against Moses, and to refuse to co-operate in the conquest of Canaan.

The result was that the Israelites were compelled to wander in the wilderness for forty years, until all those of twenty years old and above who had left Egypt died. Because of this rebellion of the Israelites against Moses, and thus against the Lord, the Lord proposed to destroy them all, but Moses pleaded with him and the Lord agreed to let them live, except for those who would die in the wilderness.

This was not the first time the Israelites had murmured against Moses and against the Lord. On other occasions also they asked why they had been taken out of Egypt, expressing their short-sighted view that it would have been better to have remained slaves in a foreign land than to have come out into the wilderness to die.

One would think that the many manifestations of the Lord’s protecting providences over them would have given them more faith. They were delivered from Egypt by a miracle; brought through the Red Sea by another miracle. Water had been supplied to them from the rock, and manna from heaven. But despite these and other manifestations of God’s care, with the least difficulty they encountered they lost their faith and complained, and in the case of today’s lesson, rebelled.

However, not all of the Israelites were rebellious. There was always a faithful minority, or remnant, which was pleasing to the Lord. Paul wrote, “Some, when they had heard, did provoke [God]: howbeit not all that came out of Egypt by Moses. But with whom was he grieved forty years? was it not with them that had sinned, whose carcasses fell in the wilderness? And to whom sware he that they should not enter into his rest, but to them that believed not? So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief.”—Heb. 3:16-19

The accomplishments of faith recorded in the Bible are many. A number of them are mentioned in the 11th chapter of Hebrews: “By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain”; (vs. 4) “By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear [margin, or, being wary], prepared an ark to the saving of his house”; (vs. 7) “By faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac: and he that had received the promises offered up his only begotten son, of [margin, or, to] whom it was said, That in Isaac shall thy seed be called: accounting that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead; from whence also he received him in a figure.”—vss. 17-19

Our Golden Text is to the point. Those who have faith and courage to do the Lord’s will, and who put their full trust in him, will be given strength to face the difficulties they encounter as they endeavor to serve him. God wants his people to manifest their faith in him by stepping out on his promises, and by obediently doing all they can to serve and please him. God will help us take the second step if we, even though imperfectly, take the first one.

QUESTIONS

Relate the story of the twelve spies sent into Canaan, and state what lesson there is in this for us.

Were all the Israelites unfaithful to the Lord? What did Paul say? Mention some of the works of faith recorded in the Bible.

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