by Chadwick Brewer<\/p>\n
“And they came to the Valley of Eshcol and cut down from there a branch with a single cluster of grapes, and they carried it on a pole between two of them; they also brought some pomegranates and figs<\/em>” (Numbers 13:23).<\/p><\/blockquote>\nIt had been approximately a year and a half since the Israelites left Egypt when the 12 spies set out from Kadesh-Barnea. For the vast majority of that time, they were sustained with manna. Twice, they had quail, but you could imagine how tired of manna they would be after one and a half years. They looked back with longing on the simple pleasures of leeks and onions that accompanied slavery in Egypt; they were so tired of manna!
\nBut ahead of them, God had promised them a land full of abundance and overflowing with blessings. When the spies returned from the land, they were weighed down with proof of the bounty God had promised them. How succulent and mouth-watering those grapes, figs, and pomegranates would have been after one and a half years of manna!\nBut there was a problem; giants! Despite a God who had constantly and consistently demonstrated His power and covenant faithfulness, they despised God and feared the giants and fortified cities more than Him. They could taste the blessings, but they focused on the obstacles. They wished to die in the wilderness rather than take what God was willing to give to them, and they got their wish! They robbed themselves of God’s blessings because of their cowardice.<\/p>\n
How many blessings do we rob ourselves of because of the fear of giants? Though God promises to be with us and never leave us (Hebrews 13:5), how many times do we fear what might be, rather than move towards what God is offering? We fear facing past struggles. We fear past traumas. We fear future rejections and future persecutions. We fear sacrificing what we have, even if it’s far less than what is offered. We fear trusting others and allowing them into our lives, lest we be hurt. We fear becoming a servant, lest we burn out. We fear. We fear. We fear.<\/p>\n
What if, by our fear, we refuse to take hold of the blessings of God and are left out in the wilderness? What great things are you missing out on in the Kingdom because of your fear?<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
by Chadwick Brewer “And they came to the Valley of Eshcol and cut down from there a branch with a single cluster of grapes, and they carried it on a pole between two of them; they also brought some pomegranates and figs” (Numbers 13:23). It had been approximately a year and a half since the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[27],"tags":[352],"class_list":["post-94907","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-fear"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":83576,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/in-their-hearts\/","url_meta":{"origin":94907,"position":0},"title":"In Their Hearts","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 24, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by David Gibson In his address to the Sanhedrin, Stephen said, \"Our fathers were unwilling to be obedient to him [Moses], but repudiated him and in their hearts turned back to Egypt\u2026\" (Acts 7:39 NASB). \"We remember the fish which we used to eat free in Egypt, the cucumbers and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":30219,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-was-god-angry-with-those-who-ate-the-quail\/","url_meta":{"origin":94907,"position":1},"title":"Why was God angry with those who ate the quail?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 9, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hi there! Could you please explain to me why God in Numbers 11:31-34 became angry with those who ate the quail? The Lord said He would provide meat for all to eat.\u00a0 Was quail a forbidden food or not considered meat? Answer: Right after leaving Mount Sinai (Numbers 10:11-13),\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":10369,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/does-remember-the-sabbath-imply-prior-observance\/","url_meta":{"origin":94907,"position":2},"title":"Does “remember the Sabbath” imply prior observance?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 21, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Does \"remember the Sabbath day\" imply that the Sabbath day was observed prior to the giving of the Ten Commandments? Answer: The Sabbath day was observed prior to the giving of the Law. When God gave the Israelites manna, He told them to gather the manna for six days,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":86051,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-the-lords-arm-shortened\/","url_meta":{"origin":94907,"position":3},"title":"Is the Lord\u2019s Arm Shortened?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 25, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Chadwick Brewer \"And the LORD said to Moses, \"Is the LORD's arm shortened? Now you shall see whether my word will come true for you or not\" (Numbers 11:23). Moses had led the masses of Israelites into the wilderness. After a year of living outside of Egypt, the people\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1663,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-was-so-bad-about-jesus-turning-stones-into-bread\/","url_meta":{"origin":94907,"position":4},"title":"What was so bad about Jesus turning stones into bread?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 3, 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: What was so bad about Jesus turning stones into bread? Answer: \"Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And when He had fasted forty days and forty nights, afterward He was hungry. Now when the tempter came to Him,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":23560,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-land-promise\/","url_meta":{"origin":94907,"position":5},"title":"The Land Promise","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 2, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"by Franklin T. Puckett in\u00a0The Preceptor, Vol. 1, No. 10, August 1952. Premillennialists tell us that God's promise to give the land of Canaan to Abraham and his seed has never been fulfilled. Since His promises do not fail, there must be a future fulfillment. Consequently, when Jesus comes the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94907","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=94907"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94907\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=94907"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=94907"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=94907"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}