Don’t Let Fear Cloud Your Faith
Daily Old Testament Reading: Numbers 13-15
Daily Focus Passage: Numbers 13
The people of Israel followed the leading of the Lord by following a cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. This act occurred as a step of faith. The people did not know the destination but had to follow, trusting in the promise of the Lord and his work of deliverance. The Israelites demonstrated faith in following in obedience. At the same time, like they followed the cloud in faith, a moment occurred when their fear clouded their faith, and they became disobedient. As we engage Numbers 13, we need to ask ourselves if we follow the leading of the Lord in faith or if we allow fear to cloud our faith.
THE LEADING CLOUD OF THE LORD
The children of Israel cried out for deliverance as they dwelled in the land of Egypt as enslaved people. The Lord heard their cry and demonstrated his power and compassion in delivering the people from captivity and destroying Pharoah and his armies. The Lord promised the people a land of blessing and that he would direct them to this land. He provided his GPS through a cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night so that the people of Israel would know each turn along the journey. Thus, the Lord provided a promise to his people and guaranteed the path to receive the promise through personal guidance.
The ability to follow the leading of the Lord took faith and obedience. The people needed to have faith to trust in the promises of the Lord and trust in the working of the Lord along the journey. At the same time, the people's faith needed to manifest in the act of obedience. The people's faith required obedience to follow the leading of the Lord. The following demonstrated the people's trust even when the final destination was unknown.
The Lord continues to work in the lives of believers today. He has provided the promise of life everlasting in the place called heaven. Yet, between here and there, we live on a journey of faith that becomes evident in obedience. He guides our path at each step and calls us to trust him. Is your faith demonstrated in obedience to seeking and following the Lord as he leads us on the journey between now and eternity.
THE CLOUDY NATURE OF THE REPORT
The people followed the cloud, and as Numbers 13 opens, the people come to the edge of the final destination of the Promised Land. The people desired to understand the task before them, so a group of 12 spies entered the land to gain insight and knowledge. The spies experienced a mixture of results; they saw both blessings and difficulties. Thus, the 12 individuals returned with a cloudy report.
Ten individuals claimed that entering the Promised Land would become a suicide mission because of the inhabitants and fortified nature of the land. Their conclusion came from their worldview that frames the land in the ability and ideology of the flesh. Thus, the fear of the world trumped their faith in the Lord. At the same time, two of the spies presented an excellent report. The two men did not disagree about the inhabitants of the land, but these two reports flowed from complete faith in the Lord.
When the worldview of the flesh competes with the view of faith, we enter moments of navigating cloudy reports. Our assessments of situations become confused and often inaccurate because the wrong perspective guides the conclusions. Cloudy reports lead to moments of struggle because the fear of the flesh and our faith in the Lord compete and battle against one another. Thus, we must identify what drives our analysis in following the Lord's leading in our lives.
WHEN FEAR CLOUDS FAITH
Fear acts like fog to our faith. Clouds can be viewed and identified at a distance, but when the cloudy fog rolls in, the view ahead becomes hindered. Fear acts like fog. It blinds us from seeing the surrounding area and disables our ability to see the clouds above. Fear blinds faith because it takes our eyes off the Lord and causes us to become distracted by the things, people, places, and perspectives of the world. Thus, we become unable to see the leading of the Lord because we have allowed fear to set in and blind us.
The children of Israel experienced this and faced the consequence of wandering in the wilderness because they allowed the fog of fear to cloud their vision of the Lord. When we allow fear to dominate our lives, we live in a wandering nature. We miss the blessings the Lord intends us to experience and face constant turmoil and difficulty. When we recognize the fog of fear has set in, we must allow the light of the Lord to regain control of our lives and let his illumination burn off the fog of fear. This occurs when we acknowledge the presence of fear, repent, and seek to follow the Lord in obedience. So would your live be defined as following the cloud of the Lord or allowing fear to cloud your faith?
