Word Wednesday by KM Wilsher

No crossword puzzles, vocabulary or word games, I don't have the mind to come up with those. On Word Wednesday I want to talk about what we are reading in the bible this week. It’s not a Bible study, sermon or deep devotional, just a place to reflect on a verse or passage that may have touched us this week.

So this week I’m reading in Numbers. What a difficult book to read, at least in the beginning with all the lists. But Numbers 14:1-4 is what really guided me this week. You remember the story from Sunday school? God had Moses send a few men into the land of Canaan to see whether the land was good or bad, what the people were like, what the cities were like. Canaan was the Promised Land. God was hoping to give them a preview of its glory.

When the men returned they told the Israelites all about Canaan it’s huge, delightful fruit, beautiful cities and large peoples. They reacted in fear.
Numbers 13:31
31 But the men who had gone up with him said, We can't attack those people; they are stronger than we are.

32 And they spread among the Israelites a bad report about the land they had explored. They said, The land we explored devours those living in it. All the people we saw there are of great size.

And even negativity!

Numbers 14:1-4
1 That night all the people of the community raised their voices and wept aloud.
2 All the Israelites grumbled against Moses and Aaron, and the whole assembly said to them, If only we had died in Egypt! Or in this desert!
3 Why is the LORD bringing us to this land only to let us fall by the sword? Our wives and children will be taken as plunder. Wouldn't it be better for us to go back to Egypt?
4 And they said to each other, We should choose a leader and go back to Egypt.

However, in Numbers 13:30, a man named Caleb had Faith:
30 Then Caleb silenced the people before Moses and said, We should go up and take possession of the land, for we can certainly do it.

I then thought about my reaction to my own future “land of Canaan”. I’m going to open a business this year. My education is proving to be a huge mess. I joined a new church last summer. Most of the time when I think on these things, I begin to fear them. I thought, “Well, that is just what the Israelites felt – fear”. It really got me thinking that my reaction to my future must be Faith and not fear! I want to be like Caleb! I don't want to return to Egypt - No Way!

What verse has touched you this week?