Numbers 13: Is God Bigger Than Your Fears?

Introduction

When were you last afraid? Olivier Charvin opens this message, part of the Action Biblique des Montagnes Neuchâteloises series on the book of Numbers, with that simple question. Is fear good or bad? It all depends on how real the threat is. If a grizzly bear is walking toward you, fear is useful. If you no longer dare leave your house for fear that a piece of a comet will land on your head, it is far less so.

He then asks three odd questions. Why did people once bleed patients who were already weak, and why did they stop? Why take an umbrella when the forecast says it will be dry? Why, in La Chaux-de-Fonds, board the train to Le Locle when you want to go to Neuchâtel? These situations have one thing in common, and he only reveals it at the end.

In between comes Numbers 13: the sending of the twelve spies into Canaan, a pivotal episode with major consequences, both in Scripture and for us. The people stand at the gates of the promised land, and they shrink back from giants that, to a large extent, exist only in their hearts.

Outline of the Message

1. Twelve spies to prepare the conquest

The LORD tells Moses to send men to explore the land of Canaan, one from each tribe, all of them leaders (Numbers 13:1-3). They are to observe the land, its people, its cities and its soil, and bring back some of its fruit.
Deuteronomy 1:22-23 specifies that the request came from the people. For the preacher, there is not necessarily a contradiction: the people ask, Moses consults the LORD, and the LORD answers.
The mission is not to decide whether to attack. God is giving the land. The point is to gather information for a well-planned conquest, and to check what had been said about the land in order to encourage the people.
"God promises, God gives, but human beings must act responsibly." God takes care of you, and that does not stop you from eating and drinking.
Moses renames Hoshea, son of Nun, as Joshua (verse 16). Hoshea means "salvation." Add God's name and you get Joshua, the same name as Jesus in Hebrew: "the LORD saves." Right before entering the land, this name recalls what matters most: salvation comes from the LORD.
The same principle applies to us. God provides for our needs and often asks us to take part through our efforts. Sanctification is the work of the Holy Spirit alone, and God asks us to make an effort, not to be saved or even to become holier, but to leave room for his work. He also involves us in evangelism by sending us out as witnesses, but it is God, and God alone, who saves.

2. Hebron, the place of promises

The spies travel through the land from the wilderness of Zin to Rehob, pass through Hebron, and in the valley of Eshcol cut down a cluster of grapes carried by two men on a pole, along with pomegranates and figs (Numbers 13:21-24).
Hebron is no minor detail. It is where God had promised the land to Abraham, five centuries earlier. "Imagine a promise made to Luther, and it is fulfilled today."
From Hebron, Abraham set out to defeat the kings who had captured Lot (Genesis 14). It is where he bought a piece of property (Genesis 23), where he is buried with Sarah, as are Isaac and Jacob.
The spies saw the places where God had acted with power, the tombs of witnesses to his faithfulness. What will they say when they return?

3. Two reports, two reactions

After forty days, the first report begins well: the land flows with milk and honey, and here is its fruit (Numbers 13:27). After a year of manna, the preacher imagines the photos posted in the Israelites' group chat.
Then comes the "but": the people are strong, the cities are fortified, and we saw the descendants of Anak. The detail matters. There is no empty area where they could settle without a fight, and God had announced a gradual conquest (Exodus 23).
Caleb silences the people: "Let's go up at once, and possess it; for we are well able to overcome it" (verse 30).
The second report piles up errors and exaggerations. "The people are stronger than we are": stronger than God? The land becomes one that "eats up its inhabitants," the milk and honey are forgotten, and they no longer speak of the land God promised but of "that land."
Three descendants of Anak become a whole race of giants. "We were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight." How do they know? The spies read the minds of the inhabitants. Then the people, won over by this report, claim to read God's mind, accusing him of wanting them to die.
The people weep all night, grumble against Moses and Aaron, and propose appointing a leader to go back to Egypt (Numbers 14:1-4).

4. Going back to Egypt, a red line

The ten spies who slandered the land die of a plague before the LORD. Only Joshua and Caleb stay alive (Numbers 14:36-38). They carried great responsibility, and God holds them accountable.
The people themselves will not enter: those who were counted from twenty years old and up will fall in the wilderness, except Caleb and Joshua (Numbers 14:28-30).
This people had already rebelled many times, and God had forgiven again and again through Moses' intercession. But wanting to go back to Egypt means rejecting God's gifts and all of his work of liberation: a red line is crossed.
Today, God saves sinners, unworthy people who regularly rebel against him. "Welcome to the club." Our mediator is not Moses, it is Jesus, and his forgiveness is renewed again and again.
But to long with all your heart for a life without God is the spiritual equivalent of going back to Egypt. It amounts to despising the sacrifice of Jesus. All that remains then is the Judge's word: "I never knew you" (Matthew 7:23). If you have not yet chosen to turn to God, it is urgent: the stakes are eternal.

5. The giants are in our hearts

What giants kept Israel from entering the land? Not a land full of giants: that land does not exist. The frightening land is found in hearts.
God was walking ahead of his people in the cloud and promising victory. In the spies' report, God has vanished, replaced by a bad land and giants. Their security is no longer in God, and Egypt, which was the hell of slavery, ends up seeming less bad to them.
"What I believe will shape my life." If your security rests on your friends, losing your friends means losing all your security. If it rests on your body, its beauty or its performance, maintaining it becomes the absolute priority.
Taking care of yourself is legitimate: the Christian's body is the temple of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 6:19). What is condemned is excess and false security that forgets the value God gives to every human being.
The same goes for work: if it is your whole identity, you risk lying, cheating, or denying God to keep it. The same goes for marriage or children. Good things become giants that take up all the space and drive God out.
Caleb reminded the people who God is and what his promises are. It is a choice to renew every day, all the more so because our series, our news feeds and our social media feed our hearts. "If we set God aside, what we believe will feed our fears and change our lives."

6. Who is leading me: God or my fears?

Fear is the perception of a threat, and some fears are good. The preacher remembers a big dog chasing him, barking, while he was on his bike: fear made him speed up. But if the fear of having no friends, of growing old, of losing your job or of being left alone is leading you, it becomes stronger than God.
First path: never long to go back to Egypt. Remember everything you have in God: forgiveness, peace, comfort, grace, adoption into his family, his Spirit who transforms you, hope.
Second path: refuse to act on your fears. Our emotions, touched by the fall, tell us what is happening inside us, but they are not reliable guides for how to live. Like anger, fear must be questioned: is the threat real, significant, imminent? Sometimes I am afraid because I forget that God controls every detail, down to the hairs of our head (Matthew 10:30).
Third path: face your fears. Mentally running away from a worry is the best way to make it grow. Come back to the question: who is God, and what are his real promises? And seek the help of a brother or sister to pray together.
Fourth path: watch what feeds your soul. What you look at, what you read, your screens, your conversations, your daydreams of revenge or envy: does it feed you, or does it leave room for imaginary giants that take God's place?
Fifth path: choose to follow God and learn gratitude. The spies passed through Hebron without mentioning everything God had done for their fathers. They forgot the greatness and faithfulness of a God who does not lie.

7. Entering the battle: Christ is victorious

The rest of the episode will be covered with Numbers 14. One central truth is already laid down: Israel was meant to follow a God who is a warrior king, and since the cross we know that Christ is victorious.
"In the world you have trouble; but cheer up! I have overcome the world" (John 16:33). At the cross, Christ triumphed over the rulers and authorities (Colossians 2:14-15).
Back to the opening questions. People practiced bloodletting because they believed it did good, and stopped because they stopped believing it. We take an umbrella because we do not believe the forecast. We board the wrong train because we are convinced it is going in the right direction. What I believe, consciously or not, influences everything I do.
False beliefs too: God touched my heart, but he can never touch that neighbor I have been witnessing to for years. God directs the nations, but this medical test is beyond his control. God came all the way to us in Christ, but my story does not interest him. This sin is unforgivable, this habit, I will never get out of it.
The Church is "the pillar and ground of the truth" (1 Timothy 3:15). Hold on to this truth proclaimed by Scripture and embodied by Jesus Christ, who came to fight the father of lies. "Let us constantly feed on the truth, because what we believe influences our whole life."
In his closing prayer, the preacher takes up Jesus' prayer before the cross: "Sanctify them in your truth. Your word is truth" (John 17:17).

Key Takeaways

God gives the land, but he asks us to act responsibly. And it is always he who saves: Joshua means "the LORD saves."
The spies' second report made God disappear from the picture. The most fearsome giants were in their hearts.
God forgives again and again through Jesus, but longing for a life without God amounts to wanting to go back to Egypt.
A fear is not a compass: question it, face it in the light of who God is, and watch what feeds your soul.
What you believe directs your whole life. Christ has overcome the world: feed constantly on the truth.

Personal Application

Which fear concerns you most right now, and is the threat as real and as big as you think?
What does your security rest on: your friends, your body, your job, your marriage, your children? Which of these good things has become a giant that pushes God aside?
Which false belief is discouraging you today: a loved one God would never reach, a situation beyond his grasp, a sin you think is unforgivable?
What are you feeding your soul with this week: your screens, your reading, your conversations, your thoughts?
Like the spies at Hebron, have you forgotten what God has already done? What can you thank him for today?

Verses Cited

Frequently Asked Questions

Why were the spies afraid to enter the land of Canaan?

For Olivier Charvin, the giants that stopped Israel were mostly in their hearts. In the second report, God has vanished: all that is left is a land that eats up its inhabitants and a people of giants. The people no longer found their security in God, and their fear drove them to want to go back to Egypt.

What does the name Joshua mean in Numbers 13?

Moses changes the name of Hoshea, son of Nun, to Joshua. Hoshea means "salvation"; with God's name, Joshua means "the LORD saves." It is the same name as Jesus in Hebrew. Right before the entry into the land, this name recalls that salvation comes from the LORD.

How can I avoid being led by my fears?

The preacher offers several paths: never long for a life without God, refuse to act on your fears by questioning them, face them in the light of who God is and his real promises, pray with a brother or sister, watch what feeds your soul, and learn gratitude.