Text: Numbers 13:1-14:9
OVERCOMING PESSIMISM
This morning we come to the end of our series entitled "Overcoming Life's Crippling Attitudes". And we come today to the most debilitating of the attitudes we have studied. It is not only the most debilitating, but it is also so pervasive and prevalent in our world, so prevalent in all areas of our society, in business, in education, in politics, and sadly in Christian life, that crippling attitude called pessimism. It is the attitude that says that our sins are too horrendous and too horrible for the grace of God to forgive. It is the attitude that says that the secularism and materialism of this age are too strong for the church to overcome. After all, when Jesus said that the gates of hell will not prevail, or stand against his church, he really didn't mean the church to be victorious in any sort of way. It is the attitude that says a person is too far-gone for God to reach and touch with the power of his cross. The attitude that says that a character will never change, that the prodigal will not come home to the Father, that the sick will not be healed through prayer, that a promise given by God will never come to pass in my lifetime. The attitude that believes that when Jesus repeats the phrase throughout the gospels, "All things are possible with God." (Mark 10:27) (NIV) or "Everything is possible for him who believes." (Mark 9:23) (NIV), he really didn't mean all things are possible or that everything is possible - there must be a condition to this somewhere in the gospel because surely he didn't mean what he said. Or, when Paul said that we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us, he really didn't mean all things. "Let's have a reality check," says the one with the attitude of pessimism. It is the attitude that often starts small at first, saying, "I doubt it can be done." But with time, grows and grows so that finally it says, "It cannot be done." This is why this attitude is so debilitating: it is a hindrance to the work of God in the church, in your lives, in our families and in our community. It is a damaging attitude for it ultimately makes God as small as a grasshopper and the problems in your life and in the world and in the church as big as a giant, the attitude of pessimism. Now you know that the metaphor of the grasshopper and the giant comes to us from the book of Numbers, chapter 13. Here is a story filled with pessimism that also holds the key to how to overcome it. Turn to the story now and let's discover some of the particulars. It begins with verse 1 of chapter 13. The Lord said to Moses, "Send some men to explore the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the Israelites. From each ancestral tribe send one of its leaders." So at the Lord's command Moses sent them out from the Desert of Paran. All of them were leaders of the Israelites. These are their names: from the tribe of Reuben, Shammua son of Zaccur; from the tribe of Simeon, Shaphat son of Hori; from the tribe of Judah, Caleb son of Jephunneh; from the tribe of Issachar, Igal son of Joseph; from the tribe of Ephraim, Hoshea son of Nun; from the tribe of Benjamin, Palti son of Raphu; from the tribe of Zebulun, Gaddiel son of Sodi; from the tribe of Manasseh (a tribe of Joseph), Gaddi son of Susi; from the tribe of Dan, Ammiel son of Gemalli; from the tribe of Asher, Sethur son of Michael; from the tribe of Naphtali, Nahbi son of Vophsi; from the tribe of Gad, Geuel son of Maki. These are the names of the men Moses sent to explore the land. (Moses gave Hoshea son of Nun the name Joshua.) When Moses sent them to explore Canaan, he said, "Go up through the Negev and on into the hill country. See what the land is like and whether the people who live there are strong or weak, few or many. What kind of land do they live in? Is it good or bad? What kind of towns do they live in? Are they unwalled or fortified? How is the soil? Is it fertile or poor? Are there trees on it or not? Do your best to bring back some of the fruit of the land." (It was the season for the first ripe grapes.) So they went up and explored the land from the Desert of Zin as far as Rehob, toward Lebo Hamath. They went up through the Negev and came to Hebron, where Ahiman, Sheshai and Talmai, the descendants of Anak, lived. (Hebron had been built seven years before Zoan in Egypt.) When they reached the Valley of Eshcol, they cut off a branch bearing a single cluster of grapes. Two of them carried it on a pole between them, along with some pomegranates and figs. That place was called the Valley of Eshcol because of the cluster of grapes the Israelites cut off there. At the end of forty days they returned from exploring the land. So, the Israelites have just experienced God's miraculous rescue out of Egypt and they are now on the border of the promised land. They are just about to enter but before they do, they send these spies to scout out the land. Upon their return, the story continues: They came back to Moses and Aaron and the whole Israelite community at Kadesh in the Desert of Paran. There they reported to them and to the whole assembly and showed them the fruit of the land. They gave Moses this account: "We went into the land to which you sent us, and it does flow with milk and honey! Here is its fruit. But the people who live there are powerful, and the cities are fortified and very large. We even saw descendants of Anak there. The Amalekites live in the Negev; the Hittites, Jebusites and Amorites live in the hill country; and the Canaanites live near the sea and along the Jordan." Then Caleb silenced the people before Moses and said, "We should go up and take possession of the land, for we can certainly do it." But the men who had gone up with him said, "We can't attack those people; they are stronger than we are." And they spread among the Israelites a bad report about the land they had explored. They said, "The land we explored devours those living in it. All the people we saw there are of great size. We saw the Nephilim there (the descendants of Anak come from the Nephilim). We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them." So 10 of the spies return saying that the land is rich in resources BUT the people who live there are of a great size, they are giants, they are powerful and the cities are fortified and very large. The obstacles and the people are so large that we seemed as grasshoppers in our own eyes and we looked the same to them. Now, remember this is the people of God speaking. They are saying that, even though God has promised this land to us, even though he has told us that it will belong to us, we don't think he can work through us. We don't think he can deliver on his promise. Sure, we know him to be powerful, why just last year he released us from the hands of the Egyptians, but those people, and those cities, and the Nephilim, are so large we are as grasshoppers, and our God seems puny in comparison. The crippling attitude of pessimism. Now, we don't have time to read the whole story today, but you will notice in 14:11 that God is really angry with the Israelites for this. He is ticked off. He appears to Moses and, in 14:11, he says, "How long will these people treat me with contempt? How long will they refuse to believe in me, in spite of all the miraculous signs I have performed among them?" (Numbers 14:11) (NIV) In other words, pessimism has no place in the heart and the mind of a believer who has experienced the goodness and awesomeness of God. Now, we can identify with those spies, because sometimes the facts, the obstacles, seem like giants for us. Some times we face such trouble, such hardship, that we despair and wonder if we will ever see an end of it. It may be that your marriage seems to be falling apart and there appears to be no way that the relationship can be mended. Or the church is called to grow but the spiritual, financial and volunteer resources seem so meagre, we wonder if it will ever happen. Or we've been praying for a relative to turn his heart toward God but he seems more hardened toward the gospel today than he was yesterday. The obstacles are just too overwhelming. I heard a story of an exam that some police recruits from England were involved in. And this was one question that the examiner put to these young recruits and it said, "You are driving down a road in your police car and you come across a serious accident. The injured and dying are all over the place. As you stop you see a shocked woman amongst the bystanders go into premature labour pains and begin to produce her baby. Amidst the distraction of the crowd you see a robber steal a radio from a shop and run. As you get out the drivers of the two vehicles in the accident begin to fight. What would you do?" One wise recruit gave this answer, "Reverse vehicle. Get out. Remove Uniform. Join Crowd." Sometimes it is so tempting to join the crowd in desperation and give in to pessimism, to join the majority. Indeed that was what this report is - it is a majority report. 10 of the 12 spies said, we are as small as grasshoppers and they are such giants. It was a majority report. But it was not what God wanted. There are two in this story who do not fall prey to pessimism, who do not join the crowd - Joshua and Caleb. And as we seek to overcome pessimism we should be asking what happened to them - how did they do it? How did they escape the crippling attitude of pessimism? Let's read their story: That night all the people of the community raised their voices and wept aloud. All the Israelites grumbled against Moses and Aaron, and the whole assembly said to them, "If only we had died in Egypt! Or in this desert! Why is the Lord bringing us to this land only to let us fall by the sword? Our wives and children will be taken as plunder. Wouldn't it be better for us to go back to Egypt?" And they said to each other, "We should choose a leader and go back to Egypt." Then Moses and Aaron fell face down in front of the whole Israelite assembly gathered there. Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh, who were among those who had explored the land, tore their clothes and said to the entire Israelite assembly, "The land we passed through and explored is exceedingly good. If the Lord is pleased with us, he will lead us into that land, a land flowing with milk and honey, and will give it to us. Only do not rebel against the Lord. And do not be afraid of the people of the land, because we will swallow them up. Their protection is gone, but the Lord is with us. Do not be afraid of them." How did they overcome the attitude of pessimism in their lives? The answer is simple - they kept their eyes upon the majesty of God. This is not to say that they did not see how great the Nephilim were, this is not to say that they denied that there were many fortified cities occupying the promised land. This is not to say that they did not recognize the facts and they were blind eternal optimists. Denial is not a cure for pessimism. No, they recognized the facts, but there was a great fact that they also recognized. And that was the fact that the living almighty God was on their side. They say, in verse 8, "If the Lord is pleased with us." That is, if we have God's favour, he will lead us into that land. And the Israelite people surely had the favour of God, for he had just rescued them out of slavery, and provided for them in the wilderness. Of course he was for them! And because God was for them, these obstacles that seemed so large in their sight were really puny mole hills in the presence of the one who created the heavens, who brings out the starry host one by one and calls them each by name. What was a fortified city to the one who has measured the waters of the earth in his hand and with the breadth of his hand marked off the heavens? So say Joshua and Caleb, our God is greater than these fortified cities, greater than these giants, their protection is gone, but the Lord is with us. (Numbers 14:9) We can certainly take possession of the land. Do you know that God is on your side? God IS on your side.
God is not against you, he is for you. He is on your side. The creator of the heavens and the earth is for you. The one who brought the Isrealites out of Egypt and made them into a great nation is on your side. The one who gave his son for the sin in your life and my life and on the third day raised him from the dead is on your side. O how we need to take that in until with Paul we can say, "If God is for us who can be against us?" He is on your side and because he is on your side there are three assurances that are yours that will help you overcome your pesssimsism. Three assurances that Joshua and Caleb had: One, God's promises will never fail you. Joshua and Caleb knew that the Israelites couldn't take the promised land on their own. They knew that the only hope they had in taking this country, in defeating the inhabitants, was that it was the PROMISED land. My friends, the one who called you is faithful. "Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faifthuful" (Hebrews 10:23) (NIV) Not one of his promises to you will fail, none of his promises to this church will fail. His word will not come back to him empty but will accomplish what he desires and achieve the purpose for which he sent it. (Isaiah 55:11) His word is true. It does the job for which it is sent. Do you believe that? Sometimes it won't happen right away, but watch, there's a delayed fuse on this word and when it explodes, stand back. To overcome pessimsism we need to be a people who believe in and act on the promises of God. George Muller of Bristol, England, started looking after orphan kids before it became fashionable. He ran five orphan houses with more than five hundred kids in each. And he never asked the public for a cent; he did it all through reliance upon God, through faith. His critics said he was never in need, because he was a foreigner so people gave him money out of pity. Others said he gained sympathy with the people because his methods were so novel. And others thought he had a secret treasure through which he funded the whole program. His quiet reply was, "It's all false, except for the secret treasure. I do have secret treasure, he said, it's inexhaustible - in the promises of God who is unchangeably faithful." And he proved it by running his orphanges for more than 50 years without asking for a penny from anyone, all through prayer, all through believing in the promises of God. God's promises will never fail you. Second, God's presence will never leave you. The Isrealites worshiped the living God. They were guided by him both day and night as they traveled from Egypt. Joshua and Caleb knew he would go on ahead of them into the land. He never left them. And you and I worship that same God - he is still alive today and he will never leave you nor forsake you. He is for you and with you. John Wesley is reported as saying on his his death bed, "Best of all, God is with us." Thirdly, God's power is always available to you. Joshua and Caleb knew they wouldn't battle alone. They called the people forward on the strength of their God. Hudson Taylor, the great missionary and visionary, began one of his sermons by recalling the words of an old time evangelist, "When God does anything he does it handsome!" He went on to tell his audience that the Lord is always faithful. "People say, 'Lord increase our faith.' But didn't our Lord rebuke his disciples for that prayer? It is not a great faith you need, he said, but faith in a great God. Even though your faith might be as small as a grain of mustard seed, it is sufficient to move mountains. We need a faith that rests on a great God, and expects him to keep his own word and to do just as he has promised."1 That's how we overcome pessimsim. Knowing that our God is for us, we need to realize that his promises will never fail us; his presence will never leave us, and his power is always available to us. Two years ago I had the opportunity to meet with the founder of Africa's largest evangelical Mission organization. His name is Michael Cassidy and through the coming years I hope to introduce you to him and his team of evangelists as they are doing great work throughout Africa. Right now they are in the midst of a 13 day outreach in Egypt. I hope you will have a chance to meet Michael, for he is a brilliant, white, South African pastor, evangleist and statesman who was instrumental in bringing about a peacful end to apartheid. When I heard him for the first time 7 years ago, he told of how in 1986 he was in utter despair over South Africa - it was burning. The military were in the townships and people were dying and riots were breaking out. It looked like they were headed for civil war. And he was so depressed, so lacking any hope for his country and its churches. He began reading in the Scriptures, and says he remembers coming across Numbers 13, our text today, the majority report of the 10, and the report of the two saying, "If the Lord is pleased with us he will lead us into that land." And Michael said, "As I looked at South Africa I was in absolute despair and the Lord said to me, 'Michael, are you with the ten or are you with the two?' And I had to say to him, 'Lord, right now I'm with the ten.' And the Lord spoke to me, very clearly, and said, 'Right now, move over and join the two. And never move from the two.'" Michael said he did what he was told and from that day on he never moved from the two. From that very morning, Michael and several south African pastors began to dream of convening the South African Church - torn apart in a new way by violence. Two years later it happened, as 6,000 leaders across all the racial barriers and divides in the South African Christian community came together. It wrought a mighty crack in the aparthied monolith. So Michael concluded, "It was an overwhelming expereince and we prayed, 'Lord please deliver us from ever getting to the place where we are just overwhelmed by what we see and we start to give up because we don't see things with the eyes of faith.'" My friends, in our age, in this day, we cannot be with the ten, who look at the Nephilim, and the walls and the cities and the giants. We have to be with the two who look to the Lord with the eyes of faith and say, "If the Lord our God is for us we can move forward." Some of you are plagued by pessimism. Some of you are pessimistic about our church - you've been here long enough to begin to think that nothing ever changes, the problems we faced five years ago are the same today; the obstacles that were a hinderance yesterday are still a hinderance today. Some of you have dreamed of small group ministry and you're about to give up - you don't think it will happen, we're so small, so stretched for resources already. Some of you have dreamed about a stronger prayer ministry in our church but people seem as apathetic about it today as they did yesterday and you are in despair that God's call to prayer will never be heard. Others have a desire to reach more people with the gospel of Jesus Christ but the resources don't seem to be available and the number of people who need to be reached never seems to decrease. And you are about to give up. Some of you are pessimistic about your marriage. Your husband, your wife, seems so hard and the walls that block communication seem so high. Or you've grown pessimistic that your kids will never turn to God in faith and recognize his love for them. I don't know everyone's situation, but I do know that there is no place for pessimism in God's people and he is saying to us all, "This morning, are you with the ten or are you with the two?" And if you are with the ten, then I want you to move right now and join the two and never move from the two. But Lord, the giants! Ahhh, says God, "My promises will never fail you. My presence will never leave you; my power is always available to you. I am for you. Join the two."
Copyright MBC and Tom Cullen - August 2001
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