YOUR REPORT MATTERS

• DAY 36
• Fear File: The Israeli Spies
• Scripture: Numbers 13:32

And they gave the children of Israel a bad report of the land which they had spied out, saying, “The land through which we have gone as spies is a land that devours its inhabitants, and all the people whom we saw in it are men of great stature.

NUMBERS 13:32

Today we continue our discussion and study on Numbers 13-15. If you have missed any part of this series, click here to start off where we started. 

Now, let’s dive into today’s study. Buckle up, this is about to be long.

The Assignment

These 12 spies were basically sent to check out 4 things: The strength and population of the people. The fruitfulness of the land. The defense of the city. And the basic lay of the land. And in case you missed it, he told them to be of good courage. (but we will come back to this later) This was a pretty straightforward task. Why did God send them? Because He is tactical. This strategy has been used by every single country that wants to go to war since. I believe that all human tactic today has their origin in the bible. Before any country can attack another, they need to know this basic information. God instituted the first spy agency in existence.

The Selected

When God wanted to select those who would go on this very important assignment, he chose leaders. God is very intentional about his selection process. He doesn’t just pick anybody even though he can use anybody. Sometimes he chooses leaders but other times he chooses slaves, shepherds, virgins, etc. The spies he chose were leaders. They were heads of clans and as we read in exodus their qualities included being strong, fearing God, and being truthful amongst other things. So whatever report they brought would carry weight in the hearts of the people. So it was important how they presented the report of their findings.

The Sender

In our study on imposter syndrome, we talked about how important the sender is to the assignment. Your sender should affect how your report is presented. When Jeff Bezos sends you to inquire about a property you desire, your report will be different from when the cobbler on your street sends you. Why? Because you know that Jeff Bezos has the capacity to fund the purchase of that property. There will be confidence and hope in the way you report it and you might not even go at the word of the cobbler. The spies were sent by God and hope, faith and the might of their sender should have been reflected in their report. 

The Report

When these spies return we hear them confirm what God had promised his people. The land is good, fruitful, and full of Anakites as God had earlier said and this was comforting. Isn’t it a blessing to know that when you investigate what God said you find it to be true to the letter? That He isn’t a liar and He can in fact be trusted. Apparently, this wasn’t a unanimous opinion. Because we see that the group becomes divided 10-2. One group says that they cannot and the other group said that they can. And we saw in our study yesterday the people listened to the larger group. It is easy for us to judge them for sticking with the crowd but let us not forget that the 10 naysayers were leaders. These were no ordinary men. These were trusted men believed to be strong and truthful. No wonder the people believed them.

A Little Extra

The problem here was that they exceeded the parameters of their report. God never asked them what they thought about their findings. He didn’t ask them to decide whether or not the people could take the land or not, He said to check their strength, population, fruitfulness, and living conditions. He was the one to decide what to do with the information. That whole grasshopper stuff was them being a little extra. And in any case, shouldn’t the sender have even affected the report?

Watch Your Words

What the spies didn’t account for was that their report will make the people rebel against God. they didn’t account for their position as leaders and they sowed seeds of fear and doubt with their simple words.

Beloved, we have taken a long way around to tell you how important your words are. You may not be a leader over people but you are a leader over your own life and I guarantee that there is at least one person who believes your words. Your words are released by breath and backed by life and since you belong to God and He is in you, that breath is RUACH, and that life is  ZOE. 

Your report can produce faith or fear in the heart of the listeners. Watch what you say.

A Prayer

Father, we repent of the word we spoke to the hearts of your precious people and even to our hearts. We know now that life and death are in the power of our tongue and we want to use it wisely. So we plead the blood over the hearts of everyone that has been affected by our words and we plead the blood over our own lives. We nullify these words by your blood and we replace them today with the words that the blood is speaking. Holy Spirit. Teach us to master our tongues and to choose our words by filling our hearts with your words. We pray In Jesus’ name.

Shalom.

Catch up on yesterday’s post here

Watch today’s video here

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