Numbers 13 Devotional

Measured by the Wrong Ruler

“Then Caleb quieted the people before Moses and said, “We must go up and take possession of the land, for we can certainly conquer it!””Numbers 13:30 (BSB)

God's instructions frame the whole mission. The spies are to explore Canaan, the land God says he is giving them (13:2). They find what God said. The land is rich. Two men carry a single cluster of grapes on a pole between them (13:23). Even the doubters admit it is as rich as promised (13:27).

But they also saw fortified cities and the descendants of Anak, and by the end of their report the land has become a place that destroys its own people (13:28, 32). They even saw themselves as grasshoppers (13:33). They measured the giants against themselves. Caleb measured them against the God who had promised, and urged the people to go up at once (13:30). Both groups saw the same walls, but only one remembered who was giving the land. Paul asks who could stand against those whom God is for (Romans 8:31). When a challenge looks larger than you, it was never meant to be measured against you alone.

To think about: What challenge are you measuring against your own strength instead of against God's promises?