The Root of Rebellion

And Joshua the son of Nun, and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, which were of them that searched the land, rent their clothes: And they spake unto all the company of the children of Israel, saying, The land, which we passed through to search it, is an exceeding good land. 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: 6 – 8)

God releases an order after a revelation.

It is our obedience that releases His manifestation.

We must therefore step out before He breaks through and not before.

The uncertainty of the outcome is what produces two opposed teams.

IF is the key word here.

You see, if and if not will depend on the faith of the ones thinking it. Even more is the fact is that it will depend on their relationship to the divine who does the manifesting.

The IF of Caleb was as valid as the IF NOT of the ten other spies as it was dependent on their relationship to the God who would be performing the miracles required to get them the land.

The interesting thing is that both teams had shared experiences with God since they left Egypt.

They had all seen the miracles of deliverance, the parting of the sea and many, many others.

And that is where the IF originates.

Some were experiencing God while the others were seeing God at work.

Some were in the game while others were watching it.

The IF was dependent on the position the person was at.

Caleb, from his experience, was sure that God would perform what He had promised. His IF was therefore stemming from faith.

The ten had seen God doing wonderful things. He was to them a great performer. But how were they sure that He would not turn against them as He had turned against enemies and colleagues who had displeased Him? Suppose He decided to turn against them? Their IF therefore stemmed from doubt.

Both teams knew that God was able. But only one team was sure that He was on their side.

One team was willing to step out and see Him perform for them. The other team was scared that He might refuse to support them when they stepped out.

Imagine you are on a cliff edge where you can’t see beyond where you are stepping and God tells you to jump? What will you do?

Joshua and Caleb would ask, how far? While the ten would shout, won’t we be broken in pieces by the rocks?

That is what faith is about.

Faith is not about what or even who we believe in. It is what we do about that believing.

The one having faith and the one lacking in it are standing at the exact same place, circumstantially.

That is why faith is looked at as folly from those lacking it. I call it madness since it makes no sense at all to the senses.

The only problem for the doubter is that faith invites God’s manifestation just as the lack of the same invites judgment.

Obedience and disobedience originate from the same spot.

If you are one of those people who wonder why some testimonies are so full of manifestation and breakthrough, I would urge you to first examine how you handle those crazy orders God releases to you.

It is your response that determines the kind of manifestation you will experience.

And it is possible to build your faith

So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. (Romans 10:17)

God’s word fills us with His works so that we can easily release ourselves to His manifestation in our situations.

Or else we will continue being spectators in other people’s breakthroughs.

It is possible in faith to sleep hungry rather than call that loving parent or friend because you feel God’s conviction on the same.

It is possible to step out for a journey without adequate resources because you feel led to do so even when there are better and safer things to do.

It is possible to turn down a lucrative job or business offer even when you have issues feeding your own self because that is what you feel God leading you toward.

You see, faith is giving God the space to show off. And what better way for that than cutting off all other props?

I do not need to add that faith grows as we continue stepping out into that dark again and again

Joshua and Caleb must have had experienced God as the others were spectating.

No wonder they were ready to be stoned by the crowd for defending their ‘folly’ and ‘idiocy’.

And forty-five years later we see Caleb proving that it had been a gamble worth taking.

It also explains why instead of asking for the army to take on the Anakims who were the reason the ten had doubted God’s revelation decided to take them on personally though he was the ancientest in all Israel.

Do you fit in this narrative? Where are you?

Are you content with where you are?