Nothing Too Hard

We home school our daughter. She’s a good student, but occasionally she’s come to a work page that has new or more challenging material. When she’s seen these, she has broken down with comments like, “I just don’t get it. It’s too hard!” Then came the tears and fussing—before she’s even tried to do the work page.

I, of course, know it’s not too hard. It’s simply different. And if she’d listened to my coaching and instructions, she would have easily understood. Unfortunately, she’d already decided in her head that it was too difficult. Fear of the unknown had set in. This was unreasonable, especially since I was right there to help and guide her.

This may seem childish, but adults behave the same way at times. It might not be over adding five plus ten or learning to spell two-syllable words, but we can look at situations in our lives and holler, “It’s too hard!” Health, financial, and relationship challenges are likely at the top of the list. But it might include God’s instructions to do something different and out of our comfort zone like taking on a new job, witnessing in public, or joining a church ministry. Yes, some things may seem too hard—if we only look at the situation through our own strength. Our problem is that we ignore God’s promise to be with us and to help us. In those situations, we can either choose to see through God’s vision and see our success, or through our vision and see our defeat.

We aren’t the only people who thought something seemed too hard. When God miraculously delivered Israel from Egypt, He promised that they would become a great nation and would inherit a Promised Land flowing with prosperity. However, they ignored God’s power and allowed their unbelief to override His promises.

You’ll find this story in Numbers 13 &14. God told Moses to send twelve spies into the land of Canaan. These twelve spies were leaders of each tribe of Israel, men of influence. Upon their return, they told of the greatness of the country. But along with their positive report was a negative one.

Now they departed and came back to Moses and Aaron and all the congregation of the children of Israel in the Wilderness of Paran, at Kadesh; they brought back word to them and to all the congregation, and showed them the fruit of the land. Then they told him, and said: “We went to the land where you sent us. It truly flows with milk and honey, and this is its fruit. Nevertheless the people who dwell in the land are strong; the cities are fortified and very large; moreover we saw the descendants of Anak there. The Amalekites dwell in the land of the South; the Hittites, the Jebusites, and the Amorites dwell in the mountains; and the Canaanites dwell by the sea and along the banks of the Jordan….We are not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we.” And they gave the children of Israel a bad report of the land which they had spied out, saying, “The land through which we have gone as spies is a land that devours its inhabitants, and all the people whom we saw in it are men of great stature. There we saw the giants (the descendants of Anak came from the giants); and we were like grasshoppers in our own sight, and so we were in their sight”  (Numbers 13:26-29,31-33, NKJV).

What the spies reported was naturally accurate. There were giants in the land, other pagan nations were in the area, and the cities were large and fortified. Their problem was that they saw themselves like they assumed the giants saw them—like grasshoppers. As a result, they declared that they were unable to go into the land, even though God told them it was theirs. They believed what they saw, rather than what God said. They ignored God’s power that backed His Word. As a result, they were defeated before they ever tried to defeat their enemies.

If you continue to read the rest of chapters 13 and 14, their attitude worsens. They completely ignore God’s strength and the past miracles He had performed for them, to the point they wanted to go back to slavery in Egypt (13:3). They complain against Moses and rebel against his authority (13:4). This is equivalent to rebelling against God—and God was not happy about it.

But two spies out of the twelve came back with only a good report:

Then Caleb quieted the people before Moses, and said, “Let us go up at once and take possession, for we are well able to overcome it”…But Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, who were among those who had spied out the land, tore their clothes; and they spoke to all the congregation of the children of Israel, saying:  “The land we passed through to spy out is an exceedingly good land. If the Lord delights in us, then He will bring us into this land and give it to us, ‘a land which flows with milk and honey.’ Only do not rebel against the Lord, nor fear the people of the land, for they are our bread; their protection has departed from them, and the Lord is with us. Do not fear them” (Numbers 13:30; 14:6-9, NKJV).

Though Joshua and Caleb saw the same things that the other ten spies saw, they refused to believe or accept anything other than what God said. They focused on a positive report, one filled with faith and godliness. They rejected fear and refused to rebel against the Lord with their doubt and unbelief. They were confident in God’s power to make their entry possible, and only saw their challenges through God’s eyes—their enemies as defeated and a source of Israel’s prosperity. Their response was, “We are well able!”

God was pleased with Joshua and Caleb’s report, and very displeased with the other ten spies’ report. At first, God was going to destroy Israel for their rebellious and disbelieving attitude. But Moses’ compassionate heart convinced God to show mercy. God did not destroy them but forbade them from entering the Promised Land. God only allowed Joshua and Caleb, and the children of the adult Israelites, to enter forty years later. Though Israel tried to go in shortly after the spies returned, the pagan countries drove them back home because God was not with them to assist (Hebrews 14:10-38).

God knows well that we can’t obtain His promises without His help. We are weak on our own. When we’re facing life’s challenges, we need to trust His Word, not what we feel or see. That trust is what allows Him to give us victory over our fortified cities and Anakin giants. Unlike the ten spies, we need to have tunnel vision—blocking out anything that contradicts what God says. And God clearly says, “Nothing is too hard for Me” (Jeremiah 32:27) And if there’s nothing too hard for Him, there’s nothing too hard for us.

I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me (Philippians 4:13, NKJV).