Numbers 13:32 records a conscious decision on the part of not just any Hebrews but, according to verse 3, "heads of the sons of Israel" to reject the promise of the Lord. They determined in their rebelliousness to give "a bad report" of the land and their chances of being able to take what God had already promised them. That generation chose to doubt the Word of the Lord, and consequently that generation fell in the wilderness without receiving the promise. But, God did keep His Word. He fulfilled the promise to another generation, one that would trust Him. We were born into a generation which has in vast numbers abandoned faith in the Lord and His Word. And, like the Hebrews, even many of our most respected figures have forsaken the truth and aligned themselves with popular philosophies. Many Christian denominations have embraced the self-destructive sin of homosexuality, and employ homosexual "ministers" and perform homosexual "marriages." Many churches have ceased to teach the Bible as the absolute and infallible Word of God. Most of our ivy league schools began as seminaries and universities that were founded with the stated purpose of teaching the Bible. Most of them, possibly all of them, are now gaping chasms of stupidity where truth, and even common sense are protested, threatened and run out of town. They have become stages for the most unbelievably idiotic displays of ignorance that the world has to offer. A rebellious generation is working systematically to raise another generation to come after them who will be even more senseless, depraved and ignorant than they are.
But, in Numbers 13 and 14, two voices arose out from among those that provoked the Lord. Joshua and Caleb reminded the people of Israel who their God is. (To my fellow English teachers and any other grammar enthusiasts, I said "is" in a sentence that is otherwise past tense intentionally. Think it over.) In chapter 14, verse 8 Joshua and Caleb said that "If the Lord is pleased with us, then He will bring us into this land, and give it to us." In verse 9 they said: "Only do not rebel against the Lord; and do not fear the people of the land, for they shall be our food. Their shadow has been removed from them, and the Lord is with us; do not fear them."
Gentlemen, we are not doomed to mope around in the midst of a generation that suppresses the truth. Joshua and Caleb are not meant to be two men who existed only once in history, and whose deeds died with their bodies. In fact, they were not their deeds at all, but the fruit of the Word of God that had taken root in them. We have that same Word. "The Word is very near you, in your mouth and in your heart, that you may observe it"-Deuteronomy 30:14. And, He has given us His Spirit.
In 2007 The Newsboys released a song called "Stay Strong" a few lines from the second verse say:
"We've come through wilderness and watched
The cloud by day
The burning sky into dawn
Have you forgotten who you are?
Did you forget whose trip you're on?"
He calls us His. His promise is sure and irrevocable. He says "I AM."
"But My servant Caleb, because he has had a different spirit and has followed Me fully, Him I will bring into the land where he entered, and his seed shall take possession of it."-Numbers 14:24