My wife has a sign that says: Faith is not believing that God can, it is knowing that God will. Unbelief is a powerful force that the enemy uses to short circuit God’s work in the earth. Most of the spys that came back from the survey of promised land didn’t believe that God’s people could overcome the giants that they saw there. “The land through which we have gone, in spying it out, is a land that devours it’s inhabitants (settlers)….. There we also saw the Nephilim and we became grasshoppers in our own sight, and so we were in their sight.” Numbers 13: 32&33. Notice that they say: “in our own sight, and so we were in their sight”. I find it very interesting that how these men viewed themselves is exactly how they were viewed by the inhabitants. That is because what they believed in their hearts is what they became. I think it says somewhere in the Sccriptures that “as a man believes in his heart, so he is”. I also see that Caleb came into his inheretance at this point when he said: “Do not rebel against the Lord; and do not fear the people of this land, for they shall be food for us. Their shadow has been removed from them, and the Lord is with us; do not fear them.” Numbers 14:9  Notice too, that Caleb mentions fear twice in two sentences (the first giant). He also addresses their beliefs: “they shall be food for us”, and ” their shadow has been removed from them”  (they’re an apparition). I love that. Obviously God did as well.  They will be food for us. Sound familiar? Jesus said his food was to do the will of the One who sent him. John 4:34  The second point Caleb makes is that they don’t have any substance, no shadow. Do you remember the old “Star Trek” T.V. episode where Spock has to convince the rest of the landing party that what they see is not real; in order that the bullets of their advisaries won’t kill them? This is the picture that I get when I read what Caleb said. In essence he is saying that this is a problem only because you believe it is. Caleb didn’t see it that way. He saw it as an opportunity to see God’s power and glory manifested in the presence of his people. He also saw it as an opportunity for God to show the rest of the world who his people were and, who He is.

I’ll leave you with one final thought: Do you live your life in such a way so that God can show the world who He is and what He is? Do you and I obey God in such a way so that the world see who His people are and those who are not His people? Do we believe that God will, not just that God can? Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote this in his book The Cost of Discipleship: ” Those who believe obey, and only those that obey show that they believe.” After all, what we do is what we believe, not what we profess to. By the way, perhaps you should know that when God’s messengers declare Him to be Yahweh of Hosts; they are telling everyone that He is a Tribal War God. Joshua 5:15 I understand that there is alot of questions around about God’s love and mercy these days. I personally subscribe to what Rich Mullins wrote it in his song“Awesome God”:

 “His judgement and wrath He poured out on Sodom, His mercy and grace He gave us at the cross. I hope that we have not too quickly forgotton that our God is an awesome God.”