Deuteronomy 1:21 See, the Lord your God has set the land before you. Go up, take possession, as the Lord, the God of your fathers, has told you. Do not fear or be dismayed.’
The promises of God inculcate confidence. The rudiment of our faith is on the rumination of the promises of God. The embryo of faith is nurtured in the womb of our belief system however, fear grows wild in the tomb of disbelief. Philosophy, principles and practices have the ability to build or burn us down. Meditating on the promises builds our confidence but wallowing in the problems/probabilities burns it down.
Twelve spies went to explore the country that the Lord had promised to the Israelites. Ten came back with a bad report that sucked the confidence and proliferated fear, failure and defeat. There were no TV or technological transmissions, yet, bad news spread fast. They reported “we seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them” (Numbers 13:33), as the land was inhabited by giants(descendants of Anak). How you perceive yourself is how others will see you. Fear prints and posts imagery and portraits in our mind. Fear over exaggerates the problem and undervalues the promises. There is no record of these explorers meeting with the Canaanites yet, their presumptions fooled them. The rebellious disobedient people quivered in fear and did not trust in the promises of God. Disobedience after witnessing the glory(miracle working power of God) made them lose the grace of God.
Dwelling on the promises breaks down fear and builds up faith:
- Courage: Courage is a variable term. Our meditation can scale down our confidence from 10 to 0 in just a few seconds. When we face challenges, we must watch our conversations and our thought process. One phone call can derail our confidence and completely destroy our peace. Talk to those who verbalize the glory of God, not those who jabber about the giants. Only do not rebel against the Lord. And do not be afraid of the people of the land, because we will devour them (Numbers 14:9). Deliberations will determine the degree of our courage.
- Composure: Confidence controls one’s composure. A qualm will turn into a quarrel if we allow apprehension to print fearful placards of failure. The people complained, “If only we had died in Egypt! Or in this wilderness! Why is the Lord bringing us to this land only to let us fall by the sword?” (Numbers 14:2&3). They pronounced judgment for their disobedience with their own mouths. Hence the rebellious generation died in the wilderness. The words of our mouth will determine our composure.
- Confidence: The difference between the 2 faithful and the 10 rebellious explorers was their perception. These two men saw the giants in Canaan as grasshoppers whereas the others saw themselves as grasshoppers. Caleb deep-fried them like ‘grasshopper delicacies’ in his imagination and said, for they are bread for us. Whereas, others saw themselves being consumed by the giants. The vision and the voice in our mind will determine the level of our confidence.
Dwelling in the promises and not in the problem will drive out contention and build confidence.
Numbers 14:11 How long will they refuse to believe in me, in spite of all the signs I have performed among them?
Prayer: Heavenly Father, may your faithfulness be my confidence. I witness your glory every moment of the day. May disbelief, doubt or disobedience never creep into my heart and steal your grace from my life. Amen.
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