The LORD now said to Moses, “Send out men to explore the land of Canaan, the land I am giving to the Israelites. Send one leader from each of the twelve ancestral tribes.” Numbers 13:1-2 NLT
Have you ever wondered about this command? I have. Laying aside the whole thorny issue of foreknowledge, why didn’t God just let the people go ahead and confront the difficult challenge and perhaps in the difficulty be driven to their knees to trust him?
Here is a possible answer. God wanted them to know that they could not do this thing in their own strength. If they blithely walked into that situation trusting in their own strength, as they in fact did after they were ordered back into the desert, they would be soundly defeated and would conclude that God had failed them (again)!
Or maybe even worse, suppose they had gone up in ignorance and succeeded? What would they have come to believe? They would have believed they did not need God! This is one of the great tragedies of life. This is why the Apostle says, “not many wise…, not many mighty, not many noble” (1 Cor 1:26 KJV) enter into God’s promises. They wrongly think they don’t need to.
So God wanted to clarify the issue for his people. He wanted them to know in advance that this task was simply not possible for them to accomplish in their own strength. In this, the ten spies were absolutely correct. Where they failed was at the point to which Joshua and Caleb came: “their protection is gone and Yahweh is with us!” (Num 14:9). The task was possible for God working through them. This is why God directed Moses to send the spies. The people needed to settle the issue in their minds at the outset. So do we. Is God directing you to do this? (This is important!) Do you recognize that the only way you will succeed is through his power? Are you willing to go forward with that kind of faith? Then you will succeed (by God’s definition of success).
Called To Be Transformed 