The Great Debate—Part 3: Life in the Promised Land

After the ten scouts freak out and panic the other two scouts, Caleb and Joshua, make a desperate plea.  “The land that we went through as spies is an exceedingly good land.  If the Lord is pleased with us, he will bring us into this land and give it to us, a land that flows with milk and honey.  Only, do not rebel against the Lord, and do not fear the people of the land, for they are no more than bread for us; their protection is removed from them, and the Lord is with us; do not fear them” (Numbers 14:7-9).

Their argument lacks the guttural appeal of the Egypt argument.  Their argument hinges on trusting that God will act.  Evaluating whether or not it is worth trusting one’s life in God’s hands is not an easy decision.  It is not nearly as tangible as seeing big fortresses defended by giants.

However, upon closer reflection there was a lot of good evidence to think God would act.  These people have seen God send ten plagues against Egypt, part the Reed Sea, bring water from rocks, and bring bread and quail from the heavens along with a lot of other stuff.  God has acted.  But, in fairness, God could have acted more and could have acted faster—it hasn’t been an easy journey—in fact at multiple times they’ve been on the verge of death.

And, I find this dynamic very present in the 21^st century.  God saved me from killing myself only to let me wake up the next day to a string of 500 of the worst days of my life—no magical solution.  God let me finish a 67,000 manuscript—but it took six drafts, five years, every paragraph was a war, and it currently still sits unpublished.  And I could give many more examples.

There is more to the Great Debate though.  At stake is life in the Promised Land—a land of overflowing abundance.  And although getting out of Egypt and surviving in the wilderness has not been easy God has always shown up in desperate moments when they most needed him.  So, as counter-intuitive as it seems, the Promised Land is theirs.  Joshua and Caleb are right.  They’ve come this far with God and they need to trust him one more time.  They are so close to their dreams of freedom in a land of abundance.

And in the 21^st century it still rings true.  After trudging through almost two years of severe depression and loneliness I was able to trust God just barely enough to choose to go to Westmont College.  Although I was all but certain I wouldn’t fit in, I’d fail my classes, and that I’d be a loner I thought that was where God wanted me.  Within 30 minutes of being on campus God had greatly surprised me.  I had already gotten my first date and people were already starting to call me “the Greek God” and “BMOC” (Big Man On Campus).  As a sophomore in high school I sat all by myself for most of the year—now, in the Promised Land of Santa Barbara everyone thought I had been the quarter back for my high school’s football team—it was awesome.

I find it easy to be fearful in life that things will not work out—that maybe God won’t do anything—or that maybe everything is just too hard.  And yet, ultimately I trust Caleb and Joshua’s words (and yes I write out v 9 from memory every day) that, “the Lord is with us; do not fear them.”  As hard as it is, I do not want to let fear keep me from the Promised Land.