the heart-shatterers
21Jul07
God gave the same Israelites who passed through the Red Sea on dry land both a command and an opportunity to march right into the promised land. Yet 10 influential men convinced the people it was impossible, dooming them to a forty year lap in the desert in which they all died.
What does it mean to shatter people’s hearts, and could it be happening today?
they were not mature in love?
“…perfect love casts out all fear.”
well, funny you should ask if it’s an issue of love. it was most directly an issue of faith; but then faith only operates by love - so it really was about love. and you’re totally correct in saying that anytime fear is identified as the enemy, perfect love is the answer.
now in this account (told consistently from like 4 angles), the 10 spies are seeing the same things joshua and caleb see. amazing crops, spacious land, giant well-armed enemies, etc.
they’re just filtering it differently?
yeah. they saw the enemy and not the blessing of the promise. like it say in hebrews about faith being assurance of things hoped for and evidence of things unseen….
bad filter. need to change the water purifier.
is true. they had the same word Moses had - & it wasn’t Moses who called for the spy party. he was ready to go into the land with nothing more than the word GO. & even after seeing all the obstacles, Joshua & Caleb stuck with the original word GO.
man has this centuries-old habit of taking everything God says and making it pass through the lame filter of what is humanly possible. it’s probably accurate to say that about one-third of the New Testament has been safely watered down from its original literal meaning (by human philosophy). for instance, God tells us over and over and over that we can have anything we ask from him. yet almost all the teaching you can find today tells you why shouldn’t expect that to be literal. people don’t realize they’re choosing to avoid disappointment at the cost of entering and inheriting the promise.
even so, all it takes is one person who dares to take God naively at his promises and not back down for anything >>