In (Numbers 13) we read of the famous account of the Lord telling Moses to send out men to spy out the land of Canaan. For we read: “Send men to spy out the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the children of Israel; from each tribe of their fathers, you shall send a man, every one a leader among them.” (Numbers 13:2). I encourage you to read this entire chapter for it contains many lessons on the power of discouragement.
If you remember the story ten of the twelve spies came back and issued “a bad report.” We read of this in (Numbers 13:31-33): “But the men who had gone up with him said, ‘We are not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we.’ And they gave the children of Israel a bad report of the land which they had spied out, saying, ‘The land through which we have gone as spies is a land that devours its inhabitants, and all the people whom we saw in it are men of great stature. There we saw the giants (the descendants of Anak came from the giants); and we were like grasshoppers in our own sight, and so we were in their sight.’”
Only two of the spies, Joshua and Caleb, trusted God’s word that they could indeed go in and take possession of the land. Sadly, with the vote ten to two, Israel turned back and instead of going in and taking possession of the land they were forced to wander in the wilderness for forty years. (Numbers 14:34) tells us: “According to the number of the days in which you spied out the land, forty days, for each day you shall bear your guilt one year, namely forty years, and you shall know My rejection.”
My friends, discouragement can be a deadly cancer that can wipe out our trust in God and cause us to sacrifice our peace and joy in the Lord. A bad report, like we read in (Numbers 13), had a monumental negative impact on the people of Israel and we must be careful as Christians not to issue similar “bad reports” in our walk with the Lord. As Christians we can either be grumblers or glorifiers. We can either lift up one another or discourage our brothers in the Lord. The ten negative spies were classic grumblers that walked by sight and not by faith. Joshua and Caleb, however, were glorifiers who walked by faith and not by sight.
Joshua and Caleb were rewarded for their great faith while the ten negative spies suffered quite a different fate as we read in (Numbers 14:36-37): “Now the men whom Moses sent to spy out the land, who returned and made all the congregation complain against him by bringing a bad report of the land, those very men who brought the evil report about the land, died by the plague before the Lord.”
God is not happy when we complain and grumble, especially when He has blessed us with so many blessings. My prayer is that as Christians we all realize that we are of infinite value to the Lord, and that we can trust Him, even when the circumstances look bleak, to bring forth a blessing. I challenge you to be an encourager, not a discourager, to be a glorifier and not a grumbler, and to not look at the negative circumstances, but at the One who is in control of all circumstances. And remember that God will never leave you nor forsake you so be of good courage and be an encourager!