The great philosopher Soren Kierkegaard said, “There are two ways to be fooled. One is to believe what isn’t true; the other is to refuse to believe what is true.” He could very well have been speaking about the children of Israel.
It had been only a couple of months since their deliverance from Egypt when they found themselves at the foot of Mt. Sinai. Remember, that’s where God delivered the Ten Commandments to Moses. They resided there for eleven months when God said, “It’s time to get moving. The Promised Land is just over there. Get going!” [My loose translation of Deuteronomy 1.6-8; 19]
They took off and made their way to Kadesh Barnea on the southern border of Canaan. God assured them that the Land was their’s for the taking. He would allow them to possess wherever they put their feet down.
But something happened when they sent spies to investigate what the land was like. They came back with a glowing report of “a good land” [Deuteronomy 1.25]. However, they saw something else that disturbed them. “Giants are roaming around there. We’re like grasshoppers in their sight” [ Numbers 13.33].
What they saw made them disbelieve what God had promised. In fact, they claimed that God had brought them out there “to be slaughtered” [Deuteronomy 1.27].
At that moment, they were living by sight and not by faith. Sight sees giants. Faith sees the promise of God. Sight brings fear. Faith brings hope. Dear friends, let’s live by faith, OK, trusting in His promises.
For we walk by faith, not by sight. 2 Corinthians 5.7
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