SUNDAY LESSON, 5/21/23
FAITH VS FEAR: THE EFFECTS OF FEAR
Numbers 13:1-14:4
For the next two Sunday we will be exploring Numbers 13 and 14 as we study the effects of fear and faith in the lives of the children of Israel as they come to the threshold of entering the land promised to them by God, shortly after escaping Egyptian bondage. I’ve titled this two-part series: “FAITH VS FEAR”.
With The Promised Land in sight, Moses sends twelve men, one from each tribe of Israel, to spy out the land that God described as “flowing with milk and honey” (Exodus 3:8). When the spies returned, they report that the land was everything that God had promised except there were occupants of the land who were of “great size” who lived in fortified cities. Two of the spies in faith said that with God on their side they can take land, but ten of spies in fear said they could not and convinced the people to rebel against the leadership of Moses and Aaron. As a result of their fear, the children of Israel were made to wander in the desert for 40-years until that fearful generation died off. Only the two spies of faith, Joshua and Caleb, were allowed to enter The Promised Land.
