God is in it All

One of the best sounds in the world is the sound of children singing. I love those videos of kids singing in the backseat of the car. I love to hear it in church. I love the children’s songs we sing at Vacation Bible School. There is a sense of unrestrained joy in the song of a child. A happiness and a freedom to enjoy this moment to the full. But my favorite songs are the songs that children sing about the Bible, Jesus, God, or church when those songs teach and embed important theology in the hearts of little learners. As I read through Numbers this week, I am reminded of one of those songs. The “12 Spies” song.

It’s a great song! Learning the song embed the basics of the Bible story. It gives me information about what has happened. How God has moved. How people have responded. And how God reacts to our response. In this story, there are a couple of pieces of information that stand out. One is the fact that God provided a land for His people, a land of promise. Canaan is the image of God’s promise for a land. So we see that God fulfills His promises. But there is more information here for us to glean. We can respond positively to what God is doing, or we can rebel against what God is doing. There were two kinds of spies, bad spies and good spies. What made the bad spies bad? The fact that when they saw the land, they could only see the physical reality standing in front of them. What made the good spies good? The fact that they saw the spiritual reality of the presence of God.

The information that we embed leads to transformation. We learn how to walk with God and be His people when we can see what God has done and what He promises to do. The bad spies show us that we can concentrate on the physical in this world. We can focus on the trouble. We can live in fear of the giants. We can see the abundance, but we live in fear of taking hold of the promise and abundance of God. This kind of life is a life that rejects transformation. It says that the world is more powerful, more real, more influential than God. I’m afraid that I live here at times. That I can see all the obstacles in my path. I can see all the negatives going on around me. I look at the world and at the culture I live in ad I see problems and pitfalls. I concentrate on what cannot happen. On what will never be.

But there is a second kind of spy. A good spy. These two show us the transformation that God wants to work in our lives. The good spies saw that God was in it all. Numbers 14:1-11 shows us the report of Joshua and Caleb, the good spies. It shows that when they saw the abundance, the grapes and the produce, they saw the blessing and provision of God. They saw God’s faithfulness in keeping His promises. The giants? They were bread for the people of Israel. They stood alone in the world, unable to defeat the God of Israel. They looked at the fear of the people and saw that God could change their fear into victory. They begged to people to trust God and take the land.

I want eyes like the good spies. I want to look at this world and see God’s imprint in every place. I want to see His provision and protection. I want to see Him defeating the giants in my life. I want to know His promises and live in His presence. I know that God is faithful. I know that God is moving and working. I know that I can see Him, if I take the time to look.