Daily Devotions
July 13th, 2009 by Pastor SolleyNum 13:17-21
17 And Moses sent them to spy out the land of Canaan, and said unto them, Get you up this way southward, and go up into the mountain:
18 And see the land, what it is; and the people that dwelleth therein, whether they be strong or weak, few or many;
19 And what the land is that they dwell in, whether it be good or bad; and what cities they be that they dwell in, whether in tents, or in strong holds;
20 And what the land is, whether it be fat or lean, whether there be wood therein, or not. And be ye of good courage , and bring of the fruit of the land. Now the time was the time of the firstripe grapes.
21 So they went up, and searched the land from the wilderness of Zin unto Rehob, as men come to Hamath.
“And be ye of good courage”. We find that phrase good courage in verse 20 of our reading this morning. For Israel to enter into the Promised Land, to enter into the unknown would demand good courage on the part of the people. Here is an example of having the good courage to look into what God wants, but not the good courage to possess it. Here the spies entered the land, saw it goodness, saw the rich earth and the watered planes, saw what God wanted them to have. But they also saw the great walled cities and the giants in the land. They had the good courage to look, but not to enter. Ten of these men that looked into the land advised Israel not to enter.
It is easy at times to get discouraged in the things of the Lord. To look at what God wants us to do, how God wants us to live and act, and then see the world and what it does. To get discouraged at what it is going to take to live for Jesus Christ. We see just like they saw the Promised Land, but we do not enter in. Think of what it cost them. Forty years of emptiness, forty years of aimless wondering. We don’t to just wonder through this world I hope. We ought to want to dwell in the Promised Land of God. Don’t just look, enter in. Be of good courage.