Thoughts From Bob

 God likes positive thinkers

The Holy  Bible is full of stories that illustrate the love of  God for those people who love  Him and keep  his commandments.  I am sure the stories are meant to inspire us and encourage us.  Sometimes when we are facing a serious problem it is fun to allow you to admire the heroes in the Bible stories.  RGSJr.

One of the great quotes in the Bible is found in  the book of  Hebrews,  Chapter 11 :6

⁶But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.

The story I like that illustrates the blessing of the Lord on men of faith is found in the  Old  Testament in the  book  of  Numbers Chapter 13

¹And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, ²Send thou men, that they may search the land of Canaan, which I give unto the children of Israel: of every tribe of their fathers shall ye send a man, every one a ruler among them. ³And Moses by the commandment of the LORD sent them from the wilderness of Paran: all those men were heads of the children of Israel.

I will list these two men because they are the only two out of twelve men that were the   positive thinkers  the other ten did not believe they could win the conquest.

⁶Of the tribe of Judah, Caleb the son of Jephunneh.  And ¹⁶These are the names of the men which Moses sent to spy out the land. And Moses called Oshea the son of Nun Jehoshua.   Sometimes it is spelled Joshua.  Caleb and Joshua will please God.

These are Moses’ orders:

¹⁷And 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: ¹⁸And see the land, what it is; and the people that dwelleth therein, whether they be strong or weak, few or many; ¹⁹And 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; ²⁰And 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.

²¹So they went up, and searched the land from the wilderness of Zin unto Rehob, as men come to Hamath. ²²And they ascended by the south, and came unto Hebron; where Ahiman, Sheshai, and Talmai, the children of Anak, were. (Now Hebron was built seven years before Zoan in Egypt.) ²³And they came unto the brook of Eshcol, and cut down from thence a branch with one cluster of grapes, and they bare it between two upon a staff; and they brought of the pomegranates, and of the figs. ²⁴The place was called the brook Eshcol, because of the cluster of grapes which the children of Israel cut down from thence. ²⁵And they returned from searching of the land after forty days.

Page 2

The spies searched for 40 days and then came back with the report

²⁶And they went and came to Moses, and to Aaron, and to all the congregation of the children of Israel, unto the wilderness of Paran, to Cades; and brought back word unto them, and unto all the congregation, and showed them the fruit of the land. ²⁷And they told him, and said, We came unto the land whither thou sentest us, and surely it floweth with milk and honey; and this is the fruit of it..

They gave a good report but then the negative thinkers made these complaints.

²⁸Nevertheless the people be strong that dwell in the land, and the cities are walled, and very great: and moreover we saw the children of Anak there. ²⁹The Amalekites dwell in the land of the south: and the Hittites, and the Jebusites, and the Amorites, dwell in the mountains: and the Canaanites dwell by the sea, and by the coast of Jordan.

The negative thinkers attempt to insert a spirit of fear into the people but Caleb counters with this statement:

³⁰And Caleb stilled the people before Moses, and said, Let us go up at once, and possess it; for we are well able to overcome it.

But notice that when the spirit of fear enters the negative ones, this is their response:

³¹But the men that went up with him said, We be not able to go up against the people; for they are stronger than we. ³²And they brought up an evil report of the land which they had searched unto the children of Israel, saying, The land, through which we have gone to search it, is a land that eateth up the inhabitants thereof; and all the people that we saw in it are men of a great stature. ³³And there we saw the giants, the sons of Anak, which come of the giants: and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight.

Next we hear the outcry of the people who have been infected with fear by the ten other spies who went on the reconnaissance trip.  Lack of faith and fear is interpreted by God as faith in the devil.

Numbers 14

¹And the entire congregation lifted up their voice, and cried; and the people wept that night. ²And all the children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron: and the whole congregation said unto them, Would God that we had died in the land of Egypt! or would God we had died in this wilderness! ³And wherefore hath the LORD brought us unto this land, to fall by the sword, that our wives and our children should be a prey? were it not better for us to return into Egypt? ⁴And they said one to another, Let us make a captain, and let us return into Egypt.

Page 3   The murmuring of the  people continues

⁵Then Moses and Aaron fell on their faces before all the assembly of the congregation of the children of Israel. ⁶And Joshua the son of Nun, and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, which were of them that searched the land, rent their clothes: ⁷And they spake unto all the company of the children of Israel, saying, The land, which we passed through to search it, is an exceeding good land. ⁸If the LORD delight in us, then he will bring us into this land, and give it us; a land which floweth with milk and honey. ⁹Only rebel not ye against the LORD, neither fear ye the people of the land; for they are bread for us: their defense is departed from them, and the LORD is with us: fear them not.

Unfortunately the negative ten other spies have infected the people with fear and they have lost their faith in God and have begun to doubt which is displeasing to God.

God  looks on their  lack  of faith as  faith in the Devil and it displeases God.

¹⁰But all the congregation bade stone them with stones. And the glory of the LORD appeared in the tabernacle of the congregation before all the children of Israel.

Now the open rebellion and the threat to  kill  Moses and  Aaron and Caleb and Joshua.  So God threatens to kill them all and  Moses explains to  God why He should not.  I am reminded again the passage in  Hebrews,  Without faith it is impossible to please  God.  You should not go to God without faith any more than you would go to a store without money or a good credit card.  Jesus’  sacrifice is our credit card.  And if  God be for us, who can be against us?  Romans 8:31

¹¹And the LORD said unto Moses, How long will this people provoke me? And how long will it be ere they believe me, for all the signs which I have showed among them? ¹²I will smite them with the pestilence, and disinherit them, and will make of thee a greater nation and mightier than they.

Obviously God is disgusted with the lack of faith his people showed to Him.  He tells Moses he will make a great nation from him.  Listen to the wisdom of Moses.  

¹³And Moses said unto the LORD, Then the Egyptians shall hear it, (for thou broughtest up this people in thy might from among them;) ¹⁴And they will tell it to the inhabitants of this land: for they have heard that thou LORD art among this people, that thou LORD art seen face to face, and that thy cloud standeth over them, and that thou goest before them, by day time in a pillar of a cloud, and in a pillar of fire by night.

¹⁵Now if thou shalt kill all this people as one man, then the nations which have heard the fame of thee will speak, saying, ¹⁶Because the LORD was not able to bring this people into the land which he sware unto them, therefore he hath slain them in the wilderness.

Page 4  Moses continues to ask  God to pardon the lack of faith

¹⁷And now, I beseech thee, let the power of my Lord be great, according as thou hast spoken, saying, ¹⁸The LORD is longsuffering, and of great mercy, forgiving iniquity and transgression, and by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation. ¹⁹Pardon, I beseech thee, the iniquity of this people according unto the greatness of thy mercy, and as thou hast forgiven this people, from Egypt even until now.

So the   Lord answers Moses

²⁰And the LORD said, I have pardoned according to thy word: ²¹But as truly as I live, all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the LORD. ²²Because all those men which have seen my glory, and my miracles, which I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and have tempted me now these ten times, and have not hearkened to my voice; ²³Surely they shall not see the land which I sware unto their fathers, neither shall any of them that provoked me see it: ²⁴But my servant Caleb, because he had another spirit with him, and hath followed me fully, him will I bring into the land whereinto he went; and his seed shall possess it. ²⁵(Now the Amalekites and the Canaanites dwelt in the valley.) To morrow turn you, and get you into the wilderness by the way of the Red sea.

²⁶And the LORD spake unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying, ²⁷How long shall I bear with this evil congregation, which murmur against me? I have heard the murmurings of the children of Israel, which they murmur against me. ²⁸Say unto them, As truly as I live, saith the LORD, as ye have spoken in mine ears, so will I do to you: ²⁹Your carcasses shall fall in this wilderness; and all that were numbered of you, according to your whole number, from twenty years old and upward, which have murmured against me, ³⁰Doubtless ye shall not come into the land, concerning which I sware to make you dwell therein, save Caleb the son of Jephunneh, and Joshua the son of Nun. ³¹But your little ones, which ye said should be a prey, them will I bring in, and they shall know the land which ye have despised. ³²But as for you, your carcasses, they shall fall in this wilderness. ³³And your children shall wander in the wilderness forty years, and bear your whoredoms, until your carcases be wasted in the wilderness. ³⁴After the number of the days in which ye searched the land, even forty days, each day for a year, shall ye bear your iniquities, even forty years, and ye shall know my breach of promise. ³⁵I the LORD have said, I will surely do it unto all this evil congregation, that are gathered together against me: in this wilderness they shall be consumed, and there they shall die.

Only Caleb  and  Joshua survived to enter the promised Land!

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