Two Against Ten
Two Against Ten
That's the way it was with the Hebrew people. Moses and the people marched and stopped and marched again and waited and WAITED. And then, suddenly - there it was! The Promised Land. Just a few miles away!
The pillar of cloud stopped. The people stopped. They put up their beautiful Tabernacle, and unpacked their things - and waited for God to tell them what to do. And he did.
"God has told me to send spies into the land," Moses told them.
Spies?
"Yes," said Moses, "I'm going to send twelve spies to look over the land and come back and tell us what they saw."
Everyone talked at once. Spies - into the new land! It wouldn't be long now!
They talked about it while Moses chose twelve strong men to go. They talked about it while they gathered around the Tabernacle to ask God to be with them. They talked about it while the twelve men said good-by to their families and started off. And they were still talking about it when the men left, and disappeared - just specks in the distance. The Promised Land!
The people could hardly wait.
They looked and listened and talked about it. Ten days went by. What would the men find? Twenty days went by. How would they be treated? Thirty days went by. What would they have to tell when they got back? Thirty-five days went by. What if they DIDN'T come back? Ohhhhhhhh. Forty days went by. And then -
"They're coming, they're coming!" The shout went up all over the camp. And sure enough - first just specks in the distance - and then - the men - all twelve of them. They were safe! The people gathered around.
"There is fruit in the land," the spies said, and they swung a big pole off their shoulders with a bunch of grapes tied to it - nearly as big as a wheelbarrow! "There are figs and pomegranates too," they said, and they took fruit out of their packs such as the people had never seen before. "And there's grass and water - and grain - everything!" they said - "BUT-!"
Everybody was quiet. Ten of the spies scowled. "We can't go," they said.
Can't go? The people's hearts almost stopped.
"We can't go over," the men went on. "The people are strong and BIG - almost like GIANTS. And their cities have high walls that nearly reach to the sky. They'll kill us all. We can't go over!"
"Wait!"
It was the two other spies. Their names were Joshua and Caleb. "Wait!" they said, and they held up their hands. The people listened.
"We CAN go!" said Caleb. "God is with us. We needn't be afraid. Let's go!"
"No!" shouted the other spies.
"God will help us!" said Joshua and Caleb.
And the ten spies shouted and the people shouted, until you couldn't hear Joshua or Caleb at all.
"We can't go!" shouted the ten spies. And the people answered, "That's right! We can't go!"
And they didn't.
Those foolish people stayed in the wilderness. They stayed for years and YEARS. There was the Promised Land they'd been waiting for - but they didn't go over because they were afraid. And there was God, waiting to help them - but they didn't let him - because they didn't believe!

THINK!
How do you think YOU would have felt if you heard the spies say there were people like giants in the new land? Have you ever been afraid? When? Did you ask God to help you? How did God answer your prayer?
A VERSE TO LEARN
"Fear thou not; for I am with thee:...I will help thee" (Isaiah 41:10).