What if you do the scouting report and the odds are against you?
By Dean Collins
Maybe you are a March Madness fan who loves college basketball and fills out the brackets in some friendly competition with friends and family like I do. Do you cheer for the powerful programs or the underdogs? Every tournament has both. I just read that in the last 35 years, all the number-one seeds made it to the final four only one time. Every year there are upsets.
Most of us enjoy the underdog stories. If you are a basketball fan, you’ve certainly watched Hoosiers, a movie somewhat based on the 1954 Milan High School team that won the Indiana state championship. A small school with just 161 students took down legendary basketball giants.
As the movie portrays it, the small-town team was at first overwhelmed when they saw the opposition and the arena where they would play. Yet courage, tenacity, training, and some luck secured their wildest dreams.
Anything but courage
In the Bible we read a well-known story of underdogs facing what seemed like an overwhelming opponent. But this team, at first at least, demonstrated anything but courage. I’m referring to the time when the children of Israel were to secure the promise God had made through Moses. Before they set out to conquer the Promised Land and fulfill God’s desire for them to make it their own, a scouting team was selected from the 12 tribes. These scouts (we often call them spies) went to see whether the people in the land were strong or weak, few or many, and whether the land was good or bad. They were to bring Moses a full assessment.
You know the story. Of the 12 scouts, 10 came back and basically said, “No way, no how. There are giants over there. We will surely die!” But two of the scouts, Joshua and Caleb, thought otherwise.
Every team needs a Caleb. Listen to his assessment: “Let us go up at once and occupy it, for we are well able to overcome it.” He saw the same giants but was willing to take on the challenges. Caleb gave a good pregame speech, but the crowd sided with the 10 who thought there was no hope of securing the Promised Land.
Insurmountable odds
Maybe your life has been different than mine, but most of the time in my journey, I have faced what seemed to be insurmountable odds. Associates or competitors or enemies would have suggested giving up or not even starting. Sometimes due diligence suggests you not do the deal or expand the territory or try to break into that market. And business leaders have the courage to say no and walk away.
The difference in the exodus story hinges on the promises of God versus the plans of men. When God makes a promise, we are no longer in the territory of speculation. If God has directed us, then it’s more about faith in him and less about our talent or the size of the problems.
When God makes a promise, we are no longer in the territory of speculation.
Joshua, Caleb, and Moses couldn’t stop the fear that was sweeping their peers. Even God was frustrated with the attitude of his people. Here’s what he said to Moses after hearing his fear-filled children: “How long will they not believe in me, in spite of all the signs that I have done among them?”
No . . . or go?
That’s a fair question. I wonder how many times God thinks that again as he looks on us and our timidity to trust his provision, his protection, his plans, and his promises? How many times have we said no when God said go? Probably more than any of us would like to admit.
Eventually faith would win out over fear. The courage of Joshua and the presence of God would eventually secure the Promised Land. Should we assess the situation ahead of us? Sure. Should we train and plan? Of course. But when we determine that God has called us to a task, we must trust in his promises. Scripture is filled with evidence of what God desires for us. When we walk in the Spirit, we cannot let the fears of the flesh stop us from our assigned mission.
From Joshua to David, Isaiah, Jesus, and Paul, we hear the same challenge: Don’t pull back in fear. Instead, advance in faith that God will not only help but eventually bring the glorious victory and his divine outcome on earth as it is in Heaven!
Your time with God’s Word
Numbers 13:2, 17-20, 23, 25-28, 30-33; 14:1-11; John 6:35, 37-40, 63; Isaiah 41:10, 13; 2 Timothy 1:7 ESV
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