“They came back to Moses and Aaron and the whole Israelite community at Kadesh in the Desert of Paran. There they reported to them and to the whole assembly and showed them the fruit of the land. They gave Moses this account: ‘We went into the land to which you sent us, and it does flow with milk and honey! Here is its fruit. But the people who live there are powerful, and the cities are fortified and very large. We even saw descendants of Anak there. The Amalekites live in the Negev; the Hittites, Jebusites and Amorites live in the hill country; and the Canaanites live near the sea and along the Jordan.’
Then Caleb silenced the people before Moses and said, ‘We should go up and take possession of the land, for we can certainly do it.’ But the men who had gone up with him said, ‘We can't attack those people; they are stronger than we are.’ And they spread among the Israelites a bad report about the land they had explored. They said, ‘The land we explored devours those living in it. All the people we saw there are of great size. We saw the Nephilim there (the descendants of Anak come from the Nephilim). We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them.’" (Numbers 13:26-33 NIV)
September 1, 2007 will be indelibly etched in the minds of those living in Ann Arbor, Michigan and Boone, North Carolina. It was the day the Division 1-AA Appalachian State Mountaineers went into the “Big House” of the University of Michigan Wolverines, filled with 109,000 fans, and pulled off what is being called the greatest upset in college football history. Nobody thought it was possible. Some Michigan fans had even complained before the game about scheduling a “cupcake” team as a tune-up for the rest of the season. Even the most ardent Mountaineer fans expected only a good showing, not a win. Yet, Coach Jerry Moore saw something that the fans on both sides didn’t—a flaw in the Michigan defense his team could exploit.
Of course, Coach Moore did not publicize his observations. Nobody would have believed him if he had. Michigan was Division 1, the winningest program in college football, a team with three All-American candidates, and home of the largest football stadium in the country. Yet, despite this, Moore believed his team could win. And they did, to the shock of the nation.
As I read this passage, it seems the Israelites viewed themselves as Division 1-AA and the Amalekites as Division 1. They were big and powerful and no way would they be defeated. Yet, Caleb saw something different—a weakness. He saw the Amalekites living life without God. The Israelites had God and He had promised them the land the Amalekites were occupying.
True, the Amalekites were big and strong. If this had been a football rivalry, no one would have given the Israelites a chance. And most of the Israelites believed the press and did not want to take them on, but Caleb never doubted because he knew God would be with them.
Sometimes we give into our own fears and believe God is not big enough to handle a big foe in our life. It looks too big to overcome and so we run from it or concede defeat. What are these foes, these big strong temptations that loom domineeringly over you, just daring you to challenge them? Are they worry and stress? Are they sins that have a tight grip on your life? Whatever they are, though it may seem impossible to defeat them, today know they all have one weakness—they cannot overcome the power of God, which is available to you (Ephesians 1:19). As a follower of Jesus, you can exploit that and win!
© Jim Musser 2012
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