Pastor Tom's Community

“The place was called the brook Eshcol, because of the cluster of grapes which the children of Israel cut down from thence.” – Numbers 13:24

When the spies returned to the camp of the Israelites in the desert, they did not come with empty hands. They had gathered specimens of fruits of Canaan to show the bounty of the land that God had promised them.

From one particularly impressive piece of real estate, they had gathered grapes, lots of grapes, clusters to bring back to their leaders. It was so bountiful that they named the place “Brook of Eschol” or “Brook of Clusters.” There was more than enough.

They came back to their people with samples of grapes, pomegranates, and figs and with reports of a land that flowed with milk and honey. It was a good land; it was a promising promised land; it was a lovely land; and it was, in the minds of the majority, unattainable.

As good as it was, there were giants there. The people of the land were large and strong, and many. The challenge, in the minds of ten of the twelve spies, was insurmountable. The giants had intimidated them. Two dissented. It is a good land was their cry. They protested that they could overcome their entrenchment. The challenge was not impossible. They believed in the vision of the land and they believed in their God.

They also believed in their own capacity, with God’s help and guidance to overcome the challenges.

It was put before the people and the people chose to accept the negative report. They chose fear over faith. They chose the grapes of wrath over the grapes of promise.

It is easy to find clusters of good grapes over which we gaze in awe and desire. It is easy to long for their sweetness and desire their goodness. It is another thing to overcome our fear and face our obstacles with faith to pursue those good grapes. In the end it is a choice between fear and faith. The choice of fear paralyzes us and declares victory for the enemy. The choice of faith is risky, but it is the only way to embrace the promise. Which will you choose?