12 Spies Bible Lessons – We Need to Trust and Obey God
There are several important lessons that we can learn from the story of the 12 spies that Moses sent into the Promised Land. There is an insight into the character of God in this story. And there is also insight into how God wants us to trust Him and follow His will and plans. Even when His will appears too difficult for us to do.
And there are some good lessons from the people of Israel in this story of what not to do when following God. We will dive into this great story of Moses and the 12 spies to learn these very valuable lessons.
12 Spies Bible Lessons – We Need to Trust and Obey God
God’s Covenant Promise to Abraham
This story actually begins well before Moses’ time. It began with Abraham and God’s covenant promise that his descendants would become a great nation. God also promised to Abraham that He would give his descendants the promised land, which would become the land of Israel.
Genesis 15:13-21 “God said to Abram, “Know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, where they will be enslaved and oppressed four hundred years. 14 But I will also judge the nation whom they will serve, and afterward they will come out with many possessions. 15 As for you, you shall go to your fathers in peace; you will be buried at a good old age. 16 Then in the fourth generation they will return here, for the iniquity of the Amorite is not yet complete.”
18 On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying, “To your descendants I have given this land, from the river of Egypt as far as the great river, the river Euphrates: 19 the Kenite and the Kenizzite and the Kadmonite 20 and the Hittite and the Perizzite and the Rephaim 21 and the Amorite and the Canaanite and the Girgashite and the Jebusite.”
God Always Does What He Promises or Says
12 Spies Bible Lessons – Lesson 1:
God’s character is perfect, and His is perfectly faithful. God always keeps His promises. God’s promises are actually guarantees. When God promised the Promised Land to Abraham and his descendants, it was already a done deal. The Promised Land was already theirs. They only needed to go in and take it.
12 Spies Bible Lessons – We Need to Trust and Obey God
God Ordered Moses to Send 12 Spies Into the Promised Land
Before God told Moses to send 12 spies into the promised land to check it out, the people had already rebelled and sinned against God various times. Now they were finally ready to go into the promised land. The idea was to send 12 of the leaders from each tribe of Israel to spy out the land and the people in it.
Number 13:1-2 “Then the Lord spoke to Moses saying,2 “Send out for yourself men so that they may spy out the land of Canaan, which I am going to give to the sons of Israel; you shall send a man from each of their fathers’ tribes, every one a leader among them.”
Numbers 13:17-20 “When Moses sent them to spy out the land of Canaan, he said to them, “Go up there into the Negev; then go up into the hill country. 18 See what the land is like, and whether the people who live in it are strong or weak, whether they are few or many. 19 How is the land in which they live, is it good or bad? And how are the cities in which they live, are they like open camps or with fortifications? 20 How is the land, is it fat or lean? Are there trees in it or not? Make an effort then to get some of the fruit of the land.” Now the time was the time of the first ripe grapes.”
The 12 spies did as God had commanded and went and spied out the land for 40 days. Then they came back to Moses and the people and gave their report.
The 12 Spies Report to The People About the Promised Land
The 12 spies reported that the land was indeed a good land “flowing with milk and honey”. But 10 of the spies told the people that there was no way they could defeat the people living in the land. They were supposedly too strong and were giants. They caused the people to become afraid and grumble against Moses and God.
Only 2 of the spies gave a good report. The 10 spies with the bad report were looking at the situation from their own eyes and their own feelings of fear. Caleb and Joshua were looking at the situation from eyes and hearts of faith.
Numbers 13:30-32 “Then Caleb quieted the people before Moses and said, “We should by all means go up and take possession of it, for we will surely overcome it.” 31 But the men who had gone up with him said, “We are not able to go up against the people, for they are too strong for us.” 32 So they gave out to the sons of Israel a bad report of the land which they had spied out, saying, “The land through which we have gone, in spying it out, is a land that devours its inhabitants; and all the people whom we saw in it are men of great size.”
12 Spies Bible Lessons – We Need to Trust and Obey God
Only Caleb and Joshua Believed That God Would Give Them The Promised Land
Caleb and Joshua were the only spies that saw the challenge with faith. They saw that even though the enemies in the promised land were strong and were giants, God was far greater. And God had given His word that He would give the land to Israel. Since they had faith in God, they knew that God would come through on His promise. They knew that is part of God’s perfect character. God is perfectly faithful.
12 Spies Bible Lessons – Lesson 2:
Doing God’s kingdom work and mission requires faith. When God calls us to do something, He is really inviting us to join Him in what He is doing. He will do the work through us, if we respond in faith. When Jesus tells us to “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations…” (Matthew 28:19-20), He is telling us to do things that we are not capable of doing by ourselves. We need to know that if we do our part and obey Him, then He will do His part and empower us to successfully fulfill what He has commanded (“and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age”) (also see Matthew 4:19 & Acts 1:8)
12 Spies Bible Lessons – We Need to Trust and Obey God
The People’s Reaction And Lack of Faith In God
After the spies gave their report the people had to decide if they would believe God or believe the 10 spies’ bad report. They chose to believe the 10 spies. As a result they became very afraid and this caused them to disobey God. It also caused them to grumble against Moses and Aaron, and they wanted to get new leaders who saw things their way. They again were disobedient to God in wanting to replace the leaders God Himself set in place.
Numbers 14:1-4 “Then all the congregation lifted up their voices and cried, and the people wept that night. 2 All the sons of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron; and the whole congregation said to them, “Would that we had died in the land of Egypt! Or would that we had died in this wilderness! 3 Why is the Lord bringing us into this land, to fall by the sword? Our wives and our little ones will become plunder; would it not be better for us to return to Egypt?” 4 So they said to one another, “Let us appoint a leader and return to Egypt.”
12 Spies Bible Lessons – Lesson # 3
We must respond in obedience when God tells us to do something or when He promises to do or give something. And we need to follow His instructions and do it the way He wants it done, when He gives instructions. A lack of faith will cause us to be afraid, which will in turn cause us to disobey God’s commands &/or instructions.
12 Spies Bible Lessons – We Need to Trust and Obey God
Lack of Faith & Obedience Is A Sign Of A Hard Heart
Numbers 14:6-9 “Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, of those who had spied out the land, tore their clothes; 7 and they spoke to all the congregation of the sons of Israel, saying, “The land which we passed through to spy out is an exceedingly good land. 8 If the Lord is pleased with us, then He will bring us into this land and give it to us — a land which flows with milk and honey. 9 Only do not rebel against the Lord; and do not fear the people of the land, for they will be our prey. Their protection has been removed from them, and the Lord is with us; do not fear them.”
The 10 spies and the majority of the people did not live by faith. They did not see the situation through eyes of faith. They only saw the difficult challenges and the giants. And they did not try to see things from God’s perspective and in light of God’s great strength & power, and His perfect faithfulness. As a result it cost the people the chance to go and get their promised land. They gave into their fear and lack of faith, and they hardened their hearts. This caused them to disobey God and rebel against Him.
Hebrews 3:7-11 “Therefore, just as the Holy Spirit says, “Today if you hear His voice 8 Do not harden your hearts as when they provoked Me, As in the day of trial in the wilderness, 9 Where your fathers tried Me by testing Me, And saw My works for forty years. 10 Therefore I was angry with this generation. They always go astray in their heart and they did not know My ways. 11 As I swore in My anger, ‘They certainly shall not enter My rest.
12 Spies Bible Lessons – We Need to Trust and Obey God
12 Spies Bible Lessons – Lesson # 4
We need to constantly work on having a humble and soft & pliable heart towards God. We need to ask God to help us have this type of heart, and the faith it takes to believe and obediently follow God. Otherwise we will not be able to please God (Hebrews 11:6), and we will miss all that God has for us and wants to do through us.
The Result of The People’s Lack of Faith And Disobedience
The consequences for the Israelite’s lack of faith and disobedience were obvious. The generation of the people that rebelled against God had to wander around in the wilderness for 40 more years. None of them got to see the Promised Land, let alone live in it. Only Caleb and Joshua, who lived by faith and were obedient.
Numbers 14:28-30 “Say to them, ‘As I live,’ says the Lord, ‘just as you have spoken in My hearing, so I will surely do to you; 29 your corpses will fall in this wilderness, even all your numbered men, according to your complete number from twenty years old and upward, who have grumbled against Me. 30 Surely you shall not come into the land in which I swore to settle you, except Caleb the son of Jephunneh and Joshua the son of Nun.”
There are consequences when we choose to give in to fear instead of trusting God by faith. We will completely miss what God wants to do in us and through us. We will miss many of His blessings. And we will miss out on the privilege of joining Him in His great kingdom work and mission. We will never see the great power and works of God if we are not humble and obedient, and willing to step out in faith and follow God.
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The goal isn’t simply to learn more about God.
The goal is to know God personally, love Him deeply, hear His voice, walk with Him daily, and experience a growing intimacy with Him.
Kevin Bart has been a follower of Jesus for over 40 years. Kevin has taught Bible study classes, small groups, and discipleship classes for many years. He developed Pursuing Intimacy With God Bible studies website and book after many years of seeking God and studying His word. Kevin and his wife Nancy have 3 sons and 2 precious grandchildren.
Kevin is a former business owner, and current international missions ministry leader with more than four decades of combined business and ministry experience. After building and running a successful business for 23 years, with God’s guidance and blessings, he sold his company to dedicate himself to full-time global missions.
For over 20 years, Kevin and his wife Nancy have led a self funded international missions ministry. Utilizing learned business and financial management skills, as well as knowledge and experience in travel points and miles, to date they have had more than 5o mission trips to 36 countries in the Caribbean, Central America, South America, Europe, Africa, and Asia.
After many years of studying the Bible and the Book of Revelation, and writing many Bible studies and articles, Kevin finally finished Unraveling The Mysteries of the Book Of Revelation. Hopefully it will be a blessing to many people.
