Numbers 14:4 So they said to one another, “Let us select a leader and return to Egypt.”

Who said these words? Was the leadership so bad that an immediate change at the top was needed? What was so bad that a return trip to Egypt was imminent?

This was a quote from the children of Israel, after a select group of 12 leaders were sent into the Promised Land. They were sent to prepare an assessment of an unfamiliar place they were destined to occupy; a promised gift from their leader. Oh did I mention that the leader they so anxiously wanted to replace was Jehovah God, the very God who’d created them. Yes, Moses was the human put in charge, but the people knew he was merely a figurehead as all of his direction came straight from the mouth of God.

Don’t be so quick to judge; how many times have we latched on to someone else’s leadership (especially our own) and gone in the opposite direction of God’s leading? Yeah, we’ve been there….each and every one of us. Even though God’s not speaking to us like He did with Moses, in a cloud during the day and fire at night, we’ve chosen our ways as better than God’s.

Well why they were so opposed to God’s plan, that they would even consider going back to the enslaved life of bondage and despair they’d recently been delivered from?????   They were PETRIFIED of their destiny and could not believe that God loved them enough to keep His promise. Fear will challenge faith and distort reality. The devil knows that fear hinders faith; which is why God’s perfect love casts out all fear. The Israelites felt they we’re a mess, a failure, weak and insignificant. There is no way they could go up against the Giants of this new land and win. There is no way this unbelievable land, new homes and gorgeous resort style country could be for them. God could not possibly love them enough to keep that promise he made back when they left Egypt. After all, they’d broken His commandments and complained. He would never follow-through on His promise because they did not deserve it.

That was their mindset, it was what they believed about God. Oh, it’s hitting home now isn’t it?? You’ve felt like this before, maybe even right now. I’ve been there. With all of the wrong that I’ve done in my life, how could God possibly want to see me “living the dream?” The dream that is salvation, freedom, blessings, health and prosperity….you know the blessed life. I do not deserve it…..but God loves me so much (John 3:16).

You know what we have that the Children of Israel didn’t? A receipt for God’s promise. Jesus Christ is our blood stained receipt for God’s love and destiny for our lives. God has paid for our future, one of eternal life with Him, by giving His Son as a sacrifice for all of our sin, past and future. So God knew our future before we started our past and just like us He knew the promise for the Children of Israel. They did not see God as Joshua and Caleb did (we’ll dig into that a different time).   It’s time for us to check our receipt and know that because of Jesus’ work on the Cross, the destiny God has given us is paid for. Although there are giants occupying that place now, they will fall because Our God is Greater, Stronger and More Loving than anything that will ever stand in our way.

Change your mind and like Joshua and Caleb say, “The land we passed through to spy out is an exceedingly good land. If the Lord delights in us, then He will bring us into this land and give it to us, ‘a land which flows with milk and honey.’   Only do not rebel against the Lord, nor fear the people of the land, for they are our bread; their protection has departed from them, and the Lord is with us. Do not fear them.”