Report of the Spies
At the end of forty days they returned from spying out the land. And they came to Moses and Aaron and to all the congregation of the people of Israel in the wilderness of Paran, at Kadesh. They brought back word to them and to all the congregation, and showed them the fruit of the land. And they told him, “We came to the land to which you sent us. It flows with milk and honey, and this is its fruit. However, the people who dwell in the land are strong, and the cities are fortified and very large. And besides, we saw the descendants of Anak there. The Amalekites dwell in the land of the Negeb. The Hittites, the Jebusites, and the Amorites dwell in the hill country. And the Canaanites dwell by the sea, and along the Jordan.”
Data based decisions are a thing. We have many organizations in our country who spend billions looking at the data before they make a decision. That certainly is a wise thing. In the above story we read about the spies Moses sent into the promise land to see what it was like. After their 40 days of walking about in this land that God had promised them, the above report was filed. This is the data they brought back from their research. But the data did not resonate with them or the people. God had chosen this lot of people to have the promise land. The only data point they really needed was that God had promised them and said He would give it to them. But their data conflicted with God’s plan. Their interpretation of the data caused them to fear the land and prevented them from following God by faith. It seemed logical to them. They gathered the data and saw that the people of the land were stronger and more fortified than the people of Israel. That seems like a logical choice. But the data point they failed to consider was God’s promise, God’s power and God’s plan. We can mock them for missing this but we do it every day, ourselves. We look at the life data we have in front of us and we fail to step out in faith on God’s promises because that data tells us something contrary to God’s plan. There is nothing wrong with man’s data points. But if we fail to consider God as an additional data point we will certainly fail to step out in faith and instead cower in fear. Most organizations are not spiritually run. But those that our (especially churches) need to do their data research and then look at it all through the lens of God’s plan, power and promises. God’s data points trump our own data points. This entire section of Numbers is based upon the nation of Israel forgetting to include God in their data. The people repeatedly made calculations based upon their external data and their internal fears. That is a terrible combination for the people of God. We can make better decisions for God when we first look at all data we see through the lens of God’s plan, power and promises.
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