AVOID SPYING AND INVESTIGATING EVERYTHING GOD HAS PROMISED.
Blessed be the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. I welcome you to reflect on the words of life from our God. Welcome.
One thing we must be careful about is examining, scrutinizing, or spying on the promises God has made to us in our lives. It’s not that investigating is inherently wrong—no—but the result of doing so may be that what we encounter will turn out differently from our expectations, and at the end of the day, we may become disheartened, even leading us to offend God, or even reject what He promised us.
To understand this, let’s look at an example of the children of Israel. We know that when they left Egypt, God led them in the wilderness for a very short time. Now, as they were about to enter the Promised Land—a land God had promised them as a land flowing with milk and honey—they were not content to follow God patiently; instead, they wanted to rush things.
What they did was approach Moses and say, “Send men to spy out the land for us, to see if what God promised us is really there or not.” Remember, God did not command this; it was their own idea. Later, God allowed it through Moses, but He did not command it.
As most of us know, it’s true that they saw the beauty of the land and acknowledged that it was indeed a very attractive land. But the beauty was not all there was; there were also many threats in that land. The beauty became overshadowed by these dangers. Instead of rejoicing in the good they saw, the children of Israel mourned the hardships, disasters, and deaths they witnessed there—the strength, size, and advanced technology and weapons of the people who lived there.
This greatly angered God, so much so that He swore that all those who left Egypt would die without seeing the land, except for Joshua and Caleb.
They also angered Moses, who was himself rebuked by God and told that he would not enter the land either.
Numbers 13:22-27, 34-37 (paraphrased in English):22 “Then they went up and explored the land, coming to the Valley of Eshcol, and they spied it out.23 They brought back some of its fruit to us and reported, ‘The land that the Lord our God is giving us is a good land.’26 But you did not trust the Lord your God; you grumbled in your tents, saying, ‘Because the Lord hates us, He brought us out of Egypt to deliver us into the hands of the Amorites to destroy us.’ 34 The Lord heard your words, and His anger burned. He swore, saying,35 ‘Not one of the men of this evil generation will see the land I swore to give their ancestors, except Caleb son of Jephunneh; he will see it, and I will give him and his children the land he explored, because he followed the Lord wholeheartedly.’37 The Lord was angry with me because of you and said, ‘You will not enter it either.’”
Numbers 13:22-27, 34-37 (paraphrased in English):22 “Then they went up and explored the land, coming to the Valley of Eshcol, and they spied it out.23 They brought back some of its fruit to us and reported, ‘The land that the Lord our God is giving us is a good land.’26 But you did not trust the Lord your God; you grumbled in your tents, saying, ‘Because the Lord hates us, He brought us out of Egypt to deliver us into the hands of the Amorites to destroy us.’
34 The Lord heard your words, and His anger burned. He swore, saying,35 ‘Not one of the men of this evil generation will see the land I swore to give their ancestors, except Caleb son of Jephunneh; he will see it, and I will give him and his children the land he explored, because he followed the Lord wholeheartedly.’37 The Lord was angry with me because of you and said, ‘You will not enter it either.’”
All this teaches us that it’s not that God is displeased with us for inspecting His promises, but the danger lies in the potential for destruction. God often hides His blessings in surprising circumstances—sometimes in affliction, trials, illness, hardship, or suffering. That is why He wants His people always to live by faith, trusting only in Him.
Look at Joseph. He was shown that his brothers would betray him. If he had lived assuming that everything would always be easy, suddenly, without challenge… there would have been no betrayal by his brothers, no imprisonment in the king’s prison for many years, no long period of being a servant to another person. God would have been forgotten for a long time.
Likewise, for you, the saved one, all the promises and blessings that God promised to all His faithful chosen ones will come at the right time. Perhaps God will first use you in other levels of service, or provide blessings in the physical realm such as money, a house, or possessions. Do not scrutinize when; just think positively all the time, remain neutral, and trust God in every situation. You might face setbacks today and think God is not with you, but that is the path toward achieving your vision.
May the Lord help us to walk in His spiritual principles.
God bless you abundantly.
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