Past Experience

I remember reading of a man who met a lady who told him for a certain amount of money she would tell him his future. He said, "You can tell me what will happen tomorrow in my life?" She said, "I can." He responded, "How wonderful that you can do such a thing as that and tell me my outcome." He said, "I tell you what; I will pay you twice as much as you asked for if you can tell me what happened to me on yesterday." I think you know the rest of the story. Is that not what happens to us when we allow ourselves to become paralyzed with fear when we think about the future? That's what the Israelites did when they sent the spies into the Promised Land. They saw people much larger and stronger than they.

Numbers 13:27
And they told him, and said, We came unto the land whither thou sentest us, and surely it floweth with milk and honey; and this is the fruit of it.

Numbers 13:28
Nevertheless the people be strong that dwell in the land, and the cities are walled, and very great: and moreover we saw the children of Anak there. Here was an opportunity that was missed because they allowed fear to overpower their trust. Here is what they didn't do; they never looked backward to see what God had already done for them. They let their present fear dominate their past victories. Didn't God guide you? Hasn't God fed you and gave you water to drink has not God provided shade in the day time with the cloud that followed them? Hasn't God provided warmth in the night with the fire that was above them? Now you tell me God is going to destroy you. Oh, it's easy for you and I to say, "Why didn't they just trust God. It's so easy for us to say that because we have read the rest of the story. As far as mine and your future are concerned we can't read what the future will be; the past we know but the future we don't. That's the way it was when they made the decision on what they saw and felt; and we do the same thing. We are just like them, we forget our past experience. If you find yourself wondering where God is, or becoming paralyzed with fear over what is next, hold tight to this:  The Lord your God, who is going before you, will fight for you, as he did for you in _______. (Fill in the blank.) God will carry you as He has done before, as He always will.

Numbers 14:8
If the LORD delight in us, then he will bring us into this land, and give it us; a land which floweth with milk and honey.

Numbers 14:9
Only rebel not ye against the LORD, neither fear ye the people of the land; for they are bread for us: their defence is departed from them, and the LORD is with us: fear them not. Why were the Israelites so afraid? Here is what I think

Numbers 13:33
And there we saw the giants, the sons of Anak, which come of the giants: and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight. They lost confidence in God, they went on what they saw and then they saw themselves as grasshoppers instead of whom and what they really were. It does matter who we trust and it does matter what we think of ourselves. Just remember what God has done in the past He will do in the future for without doubt He loves His children.