By Pastor Phil Stanley. November 19, 2023
https://www.youtube.com/live/tNcrrgbhAfA?feature=shared&t=3429
This morning I have a message I’d like to share with you called Count Your Blessings.
I’m sure that if I told you to write a top five blessings of 2023 list that some of you could do it in a heartbeat. I also know some of you would be more comfortable making a top five battles of 2023 list and that’s fair. I know the struggle some of you have faced or are facing and y’all are probably ready to put 2023 behind you and move on.
Blessings and battles. They go together like peanut butter and jelly. Sometimes they feel inseparable.
The problem is that when blessings and battles appear at the same time, it tests your perspective.
Let’s look at our main text this morning in Numbers chapter 13:
As you turn there, let me summarize for you. The Israelites have been radically set free from slavery to the Egyptians, after watching Egypt go through 10 miraculous plagues, crossed the Red Sea on dry ground, and are now marching up to the border to the land God has promised them. The Lord instructs Moses to send 12 spies into the land to scout it out. Now, these were leaders, one from each tribe so it wasn’t just anyone they sent, they sent out the men they could trust.
We’re going to read a good bit here so let’s dive in Picking up in verse 17:
17-20 When Moses sent them off to scout out Canaan, he said, “Go up through the Negev and then into the hill country. Look the land over, see what it is like. Assess the people: Are they strong or weak? Are there few or many? Observe the land: Is it pleasant or harsh? Describe the towns where they live: Are they open camps or fortified with walls? And the soil: Is it fertile or barren? Are there forests? And try to bring back a sample of the produce that grows there—this is the season for the first ripe grapes.”
21-25 With that they were on their way. They scouted out the land from the Wilderness of Zin as far as Rehob toward Lebo Hamath. Their route went through the Negev Desert to the town of Hebron. Ahiman, Sheshai, and Talmai, descendants of the giant Anak, lived there. Hebron had been built seven years before Zoan in Egypt. When they arrived at the Eshcol Valley they cut off a branch with a single cluster of grapes—it took two men to carry it—slung on a pole. They also picked some pomegranates and figs. They named the place Eshcol Valley (Grape-Cluster-Valley) because of the huge cluster of grapes they had cut down there. After forty days of scouting out the land, they returned home.
26-27 They presented themselves before Moses and Aaron and the whole congregation of the People of Israel in the Wilderness of Paran at Kadesh. They reported to the whole congregation and showed them the fruit of the land. Then they told the story of their trip:
27-29 “We went to the land to which you sent us and, oh! It does flow with milk and honey! Just look at this fruit! The only thing is that the people who live there are fierce, their cities are huge and well fortified. Worse yet, we saw descendants of the giant Anak. Amalekites are spread out in the Negev; Hittites, Jebusites, and Amorites hold the hill country; and the Canaanites are established on the Mediterranean Sea and along the Jordan.”
30 Caleb interrupted, called for silence before Moses and said, “Let’s go up and take the land—now. We can do it.”
31-33 But the others said, “We can’t attack those people; they’re way stronger than we are.” They spread scary rumors among the People of Israel. They said, “We scouted out the land from one end to the other—it’s a land that swallows people whole. Everybody we saw was huge. Why, we even saw the Nephilim giants (the Anak giants come from the Nephilim). Alongside them we felt like grasshoppers. And they looked down on us as if we were grasshoppers.”
14 1-3 The whole community was in an uproar, wailing all night long. All the People of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron. The entire community was in on it: “Why didn’t we die in Egypt? Or in this wilderness? Why has God brought us to this country to kill us? Our wives and children are about to become plunder. Why don’t we just head back to Egypt? And right now!”
4 Soon they were all saying it to one another: “Let’s pick a new leader; let’s head back to Egypt.”
5 Moses and Aaron fell on their faces in front of the entire community, gathered in emergency session.
6-9 Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh, members of the scouting party, ripped their clothes and addressed the assembled People of Israel: “The land we walked through and scouted out is a very good land—very good indeed. If God is pleased with us, he will lead us into that land, a land that flows, as they say, with milk and honey. And he’ll give it to us. Just don’t rebel against God! And don’t be afraid of those people. Why, we’ll have them for lunch! They have no protection and God is on our side. Don’t be afraid of them!”
10-12 But, up in arms now, the entire community was talking of hurling stones at them.
Just then the bright Glory of God appeared at the Tent of Meeting. Every Israelite saw it. God said to Moses, “How long will these people treat me like dirt? How long refuse to trust me? And with all these signs I’ve done among them! I’ve had enough—I’m going to hit them with a plague and kill them. But I’ll make you into a nation bigger and stronger than they ever were.”
20-23 God said, “I forgive them, honoring your words. But as I live and as the Glory of God fills the whole Earth—not a single person of those who saw my Glory, saw the miracle signs I did in Egypt and the wilderness, and who have tested me over and over and over again, turning a deaf ear to me—not one of them will set eyes on the land I so solemnly promised to their ancestors. No one who has treated me with such repeated contempt will see it.
24 “But my servant Caleb—this is a different story. He has a different spirit; he follows me passionately. I’ll bring him into the land that he scouted and his children will inherit it.
So what went wrong with this whole operation? They successfully explored the various parts of the land and learned a great deal about how amazing it was. They followed instructions and brought back evidence of the gigantic produce they found and they traveled approximately over 300 miles total on their 40 day journey. So on the surface it seems like they did a pretty great job.
Look back at their report to the entire nation of Israel:
27-29 “We went to the land to which you sent us and, oh! It does flow with milk and honey! Just look at this fruit! The only thing is that the people who live there are fierce, their cities are huge and well fortified. Worse yet, we saw descendants of the giant Anak. Amalekites are spread out in the Negev; Hittites, Jebusites, and Amorites hold the hill country; and the Canaanites are established on the Mediterranean Sea and along the Jordan.”
It went from good to great then came crashing down to bad to worse. You can almost feel them talking themselves out of taking the land.
How many of you have been tempted to do that? You know what God has promised you but you’ve seen how hard it will be to receive it so you start talking yourself out of it.
If we are ever to realize the promise and purpose for our lives, we have to keep our eyes on the coming blessing, and not the battle.
All twelve leaders saw the fruit, the land, and the potential but once the ten started up on how difficult it was going to be, they caused the entire nation to falter in their faith and fall into complete chaos.
When we start valuing our opinions more than our obedience, we forfeit our God-given opportunities.
Thankfully, not everyone caved into the doom and gloom as we see Joshua and Caleb take a stand to trust God. But how sad is it for the others? Later in the chapter the ten spies with a negative report were struck with a plague and died.
I find it fascinating that the scripture doesn’t say anything about Caleb and Joshua disagreeing with the ten about their assessment of how strong the enemy was.
30 Caleb interrupted, called for silence before Moses and said, “Let’s go up and take the land—now. We can do it.”
6-9 Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh, members of the scouting party, ripped their clothes and addressed the assembled People of Israel: “The land we walked through and scouted out is a very good land—very good indeed. If God is pleased with us, he will lead us into that land, a land that flows, as they say, with milk and honey. And he’ll give it to us. Just don’t rebel against God! And don’t be afraid of those people. Why, we’ll have them for lunch! They have no protection and God is on our side. Don’t be afraid of them!”
They knew God was on their side and it didn’t matter what they faced, as long as they were facing it with God’s blessing.
That’s the heart of what I’m sharing with you this morning.
Some of you have scouted ahead and have seen the good, the bad, and the ugly that you will undoubtedly experience. I’m cautioning you not to keep on sizing up the battles. Start counting the blessings.
Don’t spend your thanksgiving saying you’re grateful for something but then add a “but I wish this bad thing didn’t have to happen” to the end of it.
We need to learn to trust God regardless of our present circumstances, or we’ll suffer unintended consequences.
It’s not that we deny the battle exists or that we ignore it altogether, it’s the mindset that “I’m going to choose to count my blessings and trust the battle in the hands of the Lord.”
Proverbs 3:5-6
Contemporary English Version
5 With all your heart
you must trust the Lord
and not your own judgment.
6 Always let him lead you,
and he will clear the road
for you to follow.
The consequences of giving up look different for each of us but if you look at the rest of this chapter you’ll find that all of the Israelites that gave up were kept from the promised land. And it’s not like they could just change their minds and go take the land. Some of them thought they could and they attempted to take the land anyway even though they were warned that God was not with them. They were driven back and none of them received the blessing of their inheritance.
Some of you are right on the border of your blessing, but you’ve been tempted to focus more on the battles you’ve been going through. Just be careful to realign yourself and not give up.
