Just the Facts
Between the Waters: Part 6
October 19, 2025
When Moses sent them out to explore the land of Canaan, he said to them, “Go up there into the arid southern plain and into the mountains. You must inspect the land. What is it like? Are the people who live in it strong or weak, few or many? Is the land in which they live good or bad? Are the towns in which they live camps or fortresses? Is the land rich or poor? Are there trees in it or not? Be courageous and bring back the land’s fruit.”
~ Numbers 13:17-20
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If you’ve ever watched a press conference, the tragic scene in Numbers 13 and 14 may feel familiar. The strategy is simple: if you don’t like the question, change it to one you would rather answer.
Moses asked for a report on the land. Just the facts. And the facts were clear: the land was flourishing just as God promised, but it was not without its challenges. Nobody ever said life would be easy. Presenting both pros and cons was fine. The problem came when they changed the question. Instead of, tell us about the land, they asked, can we handle it? Their answer is a resounding “No!” “We can’t go up against the people because they are stronger” (Num. 13:31).
To solidify their opinion, they started rumors. Exaggerations spread quickly. “The land devours its people,” they said. “It’s filled with giants that made us look like grasshoppers.”
They weren’t interested in the facts, or in planning how to navigate the inevitable challenges they would face. Instead, they went straight to fear, and fear always grows best in the soil of rumors and propaganda.
Only Joshua and Caleb trusted that God would lead them, and in the end, they will be the only two from this generation to inherit God’s promise. For now, their voices are drowned out by the fear of the mob.
“If only we had died in Egypt or in the desert. Let’s go back.” This well-worn refrain is getting old, but it seems that going back to “the way things used to be,” or at least the way we think things used to be, is the most natural reaction to any difficulty or trouble we may face, in their world and in ours.
God never intended the people to wander for 40 years. They were to spend a year at Sinai learning how to be God’s people and then move into their new home. But fear delayed the promise for another generation.
How many generations today will have to pass away in the wilderness before we finally say enough is enough? We will not give into fear. We will not keep wandering. God has already laid the path before us. This is the way, let us walk in it.
Where in your life do you find yourself changing the hard questions into easier ones?
How might you trust God to move forward instead of looking back?