November 14, 2012

Once upon a time, God rescued his people in an amazing way. A bad king had made the people slaves. The people were very sad. God told the bad king to let the people go. When the bad king would not let the people go, God used supernatural power to force the bad king to let the people go. But the bad king was stubborn. God sent ten supernatural storms to shake the bad king’s land. Finally, the bad king let the people go.

But the bad king changed his mind. He was sad that he let the people go. So he chased them with his big army. When the people saw the big army, they were afraid. Once again God did supernatural things. He divided an entire sea so that the people could get away from the bad king by walking on the bottom of the sea (they could even pick up fish along the way for their evening fish fry). When the bad king tried to follow the people, he and his big army were covered by the water when God stopped doing the supernatural thing. The people rejoiced over what God had done for them.

Then God led the people and did more supernatural things. He even lived among them in a giant flame at night, and a giant smoke cloud during the day. God even let the people hear his voice. Finally, God led his people through a dry and dusty country to their new land.

When the people arrived at their new land, they saw that some bad giants already lived there. So the people sent twelve spies into their new land to see how many bad giants lived there. When the twelve spies returned, they were very excited because the new land was so nice. It was filled with green grass and wonderful fruit trees. The spies told the people about all the milk in the land, and how they were able to mix it with honey for a tasty drink like they had never tasted before. All the people got excited about their new land.

But then, ten of the spies forgot about the supernatural things of God. They forgot that God lived in the giant flame at night, and the giant smoke cloud during the day. They forgot about how God led them through the dry and dusty country. They forgot about walking on the bottom of the sea (and frying the fish at night). They forgot about the ten supernatural storms God sent to deliver the people. They thought about the giants. They became afraid.

The ten cowardly spies decided to tell the people how afraid they were. They told stories about the giants. They told the people how the giants would not leave the people’s new land. They told the people that the giants would not let the people live there. They told them how mean the giants would be. The ten cowardly spies forgot that God would help them.

Two of the spies were not afraid. They remembered the supernatural things of God. They remembered that God lived in the giant flame at night, and the giant smoke cloud during the day. They remembered about how God led them through the dry and dusty country. They remembered about walking on the bottom of the sea (and frying fish at night). They remembered about the ten supernatural storms God sent to deliver the people. They thought about God. They were not afraid.

The two brave spies were happy because they knew God would do supernatural things for them. They told stories about God. They told the people how God would not let the giants live in their new land. They told the people that God would not let the giants be mean. They told the people how big God is. The two brave spies remembered that God would help them.

But the people did not listen to the two brave spies. The people listened to the ten cowardly spies. The people forgot about the supernatural things of God. The people forgot that God lived in the giant flame at night, and the giant smoke cloud during the day. The people forgot about how God led them through the dry and dusty country. The people forgot about walking on the bottom of the sea (and frying the fish at night). The people forgot about the ten supernatural storms God sent to deliver them. The people thought about the giants. The people became afraid.

Then the people told God they didn’t want to live in their new land. God was very sad that the people did not trust him. He was sad that they listened to the ten cowardly spies. He was sad that they were afraid. But he told the people that they did not have to live in their new land. He told them they could live in the dry and dusty country for a long time. He told them that their children would be brave enough to live in the new land. The brave children would trust God and not be afraid.

God was happy with the two brave spies. God told them that they would live a long time. He told them that they would get to lead the brave children out of the dry and dusty country into their new land.

God was not happy with the ten cowardly spies. They had made the people afraid. God killed the ten cowardly spies who had discouraged his people. He did not want the ten cowardly spies to discourage his people any longer.

Now these things occurred as examples to keep us from setting
our hearts on evil things as they did. (1 Corinthians 10:6 NIV)

There may be giants in land (even in Washington D.C.), but God still leads his people.
Discourage the people at your peril.

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