We Need to Get Our "buts" Out of the Way!
In Numbers chapter 13 verses 18-20, the Israelites sent 12 spies to check out the promise land to see if it was good or bad . Ironically, God himself had already checked it out and told them that it was a good and productive land. God had also told them that the land was his and that he was giving it to them as an earthly possession. But their moral condition was one that did not fully believe and trust God and His ability to do whatever He says. Israel had both the presence of God and the promise of God's word and testimony and yet, because of unbelief, they would not go forward and possess the land until they had a human report concerning the land. When the spies returned, 10 of them, in essence said that the land itself was just like God said it would be. Whatever God promises us in his word, it ought to be enough for us to say, "If God said it, I believe it and that settles it for me." Israel should have believed God's report and moved on into their promise. In unbelief, they began to shut God out by their unwillingness to trust him.
Our unbelief will shut out God's presence in our lives and it will also, either shut out His word and His personal testimony completly or attempt to add human effort and thought to it. That is exactly what the spies began to do starting in Numbers 13, verses 28 and 33. They said that the people that live in the land are giants and compared to them, we are like grasshoppers. Their cities are large and the walls around those cities are tall. Fear and unbelief into the hearts of all of Israel and it was done so with the prhase, "nevertheless" in verse 28. Nevertheless is an old English prhrase that can accurately be translated into our modern English word, "but". The "buts" of the 10 spies resulted in an entire generation failing to move out in faith and possess what God had for them. It was their "buts" that fed a lack of faith in God that was already present in the hearts of the people. It is our "buts" that shuts God out in our lives today. And it is when we shut God's presence and His word out of our lives that we loose the object that our faith should be focusing on. Their "buts" got in the way and they started focusing on themselves and their difficulties rather than on God and His resources.
Their "buts" got in the way and caused them to view God from the perspective of their problems. We have to get our "buts" out of the way in order to view our difficulties and problems from God's perspective. It was their "buts" that caused them to focus on giants, large cites and high walls. It was their "buts" that made them see themselves completley different than the way God saw them. They said that they looked like grasshoppers. But notice that it was not God that saw them as grasshoppers and it was not the inhabitants of Canaan that saw them as such. They were grasshoppers in their own eyes because they put their "buts" in the way. It was God who delivered them from Egypt and opened up the Red Sea. It was God who fed them in the wilderness and guided them to the brink of their blessing. The nation's focus was totally on God at first. When they crossed over the red sea we hear them singing a song of praise, victory and hope. But somewhere between the red sea and the borders of Canaan,their focus on God lessened and thier "buts" got bigger and the bigger their "buts" got, the more their "buts" got in the way.
As their "buts" got bigger they developed a moral conditon of not trusting God. The cared more for their "buts" than they did for God's promises. Too many of us today are guilty of liking big "buts" and I am not talking about somebody who God has given an enhanced body part. I'm talking about something that we have attached to our life because of unbelief. The bigger our "buts" get, the smaller our God becomes in our lives. We need to be like Joshua and Caleb who spied out the land and saw the same things that the other 10 saw. Yet they chose to focus on God's promise instead of letting theïr "buts" get in the way. In essence they said that God is with us and He has given us this land and we need to go up at once and possess it. When we get our "buts" out of the way we will be able to see our giants from our God's perspective. The giants were tall but our God is taller. The cities are large but our God is larger. The walls are high but our God is higher. But none of us are able to see that when our "Buts" are in the way.
Our unbelief will shut out God's presence in our lives and it will also, either shut out His word and His personal testimony completly or attempt to add human effort and thought to it. That is exactly what the spies began to do starting in Numbers 13, verses 28 and 33. They said that the people that live in the land are giants and compared to them, we are like grasshoppers. Their cities are large and the walls around those cities are tall. Fear and unbelief into the hearts of all of Israel and it was done so with the prhase, "nevertheless" in verse 28. Nevertheless is an old English prhrase that can accurately be translated into our modern English word, "but". The "buts" of the 10 spies resulted in an entire generation failing to move out in faith and possess what God had for them. It was their "buts" that fed a lack of faith in God that was already present in the hearts of the people. It is our "buts" that shuts God out in our lives today. And it is when we shut God's presence and His word out of our lives that we loose the object that our faith should be focusing on. Their "buts" got in the way and they started focusing on themselves and their difficulties rather than on God and His resources.
Their "buts" got in the way and caused them to view God from the perspective of their problems. We have to get our "buts" out of the way in order to view our difficulties and problems from God's perspective. It was their "buts" that caused them to focus on giants, large cites and high walls. It was their "buts" that made them see themselves completley different than the way God saw them. They said that they looked like grasshoppers. But notice that it was not God that saw them as grasshoppers and it was not the inhabitants of Canaan that saw them as such. They were grasshoppers in their own eyes because they put their "buts" in the way. It was God who delivered them from Egypt and opened up the Red Sea. It was God who fed them in the wilderness and guided them to the brink of their blessing. The nation's focus was totally on God at first. When they crossed over the red sea we hear them singing a song of praise, victory and hope. But somewhere between the red sea and the borders of Canaan,their focus on God lessened and thier "buts" got bigger and the bigger their "buts" got, the more their "buts" got in the way.
As their "buts" got bigger they developed a moral conditon of not trusting God. The cared more for their "buts" than they did for God's promises. Too many of us today are guilty of liking big "buts" and I am not talking about somebody who God has given an enhanced body part. I'm talking about something that we have attached to our life because of unbelief. The bigger our "buts" get, the smaller our God becomes in our lives. We need to be like Joshua and Caleb who spied out the land and saw the same things that the other 10 saw. Yet they chose to focus on God's promise instead of letting theïr "buts" get in the way. In essence they said that God is with us and He has given us this land and we need to go up at once and possess it. When we get our "buts" out of the way we will be able to see our giants from our God's perspective. The giants were tall but our God is taller. The cities are large but our God is larger. The walls are high but our God is higher. But none of us are able to see that when our "Buts" are in the way.
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