Isn’t it interesting how fear can change the perspective of something? There is a Calvin and Hobbes comic where Calvin is climbing up the ladder for a playground slide. And throughout the comic we see Calvin’s perspective that, apparently, the ladder continues going up forever. He climbs way above the landscape, through the clouds, and reaches the top of the slide at the very edge of space. He is an incredible height off of the ground. In the last frame of the comic we see what’s really going on; even though the ground seems far below, Calvin is sitting on the top of a slide that is only about 5 feet tall. How, then, was his view of it that he was miles in the air?
In Numbers 13 and 14, Moses sent out spies into the land of Canaan. And when they came back, ten of the twelve relayed what that had seen in the land. Yes, it was a good land flowing with milk and honey, but the cities were large, well-fortified, and full of strong people (some of whom were giants). Just a few weeks after Israel was released from Egypt, the Amalekites attacked them. Guess who the spies saw in Canaan? Yep, their old enemies, the Amalekites. Caleb spoke up saying that Israel should go at once and start occupying the land. So the ten spies started spreading the bad news: the land devours its inhabitants and all the people are giants (Num 13:32). Before long, all of Israel jumped on the bad-news-band-wagon. Moses, Aaron, Joshua, and Caleb tried reasoning with the congregation, saying that it is a good land and God is against the inhabitants. But Israel wasn’t thinking logically and rationally. Instead they called for the death of Moses, Aaron, Joshua, and Caleb. (Remember that other time when Pilot rationally said there was nothing wrong with Jesus but the crowd irrationally called for his execution? Group mentality can be very dangerous).
What caused the 10 spies (and by extension all of Israel) to see the land differently than Joshua and Caleb? They all spied the same land. They saw the goodness of it and the fruit it produced. But yet, to ten of the spies, the problems were bigger than the solution. What caused them to see it differently? It was the same thing that cause Calvin to see the slide differently: fear. Fear prevents us from seeing the reality of things, but rather a skewed version with a negative slant. Fear took the potential for negative outcomes and made them way bigger while reducing the potential for positive outcomes. Fear didn’t change the reality of things, but drastically changed the perception of things. And the perception, the fear, is what the 10 spies made their decisions based on (and by extension, all Israel made their decision based on fear).
Long story short, God wasn’t please with His children, said that they couldn’t have this good land now, and sent them back into the wilderness to die off. Their kids would get the chance to take the land.
Fear never provides an accurate picture of reality. When we make decisions based on fear, we are making decisions based on inaccurate information. If a military campaign is planned and executed based on inaccurate information, you can imagine how poorly it will go. The mission will likely fail, and it is probable that there will be fatalities. In our fight against the spiritual forces of evil, Satan wants us to make our decisions based on inaccurate information. He lies to us. He inflames our perception of negative outcomes while distracting our view of the positives. The mission is already compromised if our decisions are made out of fear because we are going off of false intel.
Rather, we need to recognize the truth of God’s Word and be strong and courageous to act according to what is right, “For God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control” (2 Tim 1:7).
Today, may you make your decisions, not because you are afraid something will happen, but because you have faith that something will happen.
-Shawn