Send for Yourself - Spy out the Land of our Inheritance

Shelach Lekha     (Send for Yourself)    NUMBERS 13:1 - 15:41

This Torah portion tells the story of the spies that are sent forth to survey the Land of Canaan in preparation for its conquest. They return with a mixed message. The Land is superb but too well-fortified to be conquered. Moses is bitterly disappointed with their fearful report and so decides that the people must wander another 40 years (until the generation of slavery has died out) before they can enter the Land.

Shelach Lekha concludes with the instruction to wear fringes of blue as reminders of holiness.

THE BLESSING

GOD SAYS TO MOSES: "Shelach Lekha" (send for yourself) spies to scout out the Land. The spies sent by Moses return both enraptured by the land and terrified at the prospect of making their permanent home in that elevated state of consciousness. 

    So too, this portion blesses us with a mission: Spy out the Land of our Inheritance, taste the milk and honey that flows from the Land of Promise, and let that taste guide us on your journey. The blessing we receive is a glimpse. What we do with that glimpse becomes the challenge. 

THE ONLY LIMIT TO FAITH

Romans 10:17 - Faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.

When people struggle with their faith in God, it's not because their faith-object is insufficient. It's because people have unreal expectations of God. They expect Him to operate a certain way or answer prayer a certain way--their way, not His--and when He doesn't comply they say, "Forget You, God." But God doesn't change; He's the perfect faith-object. Faith in God only fails when people hold a faulty understanding of Him.

 If you want your faith in God to increase, you must increase your understanding of Him as the object of your faith. If you have little knowledge about God and His Word, you will have little faith. If you have great knowledge of God and His Word, you will have great faith. Faith cannot be pumped up by coaxing yourself, "If only I can believe! If only I can believe!" Any attempt to push yourself beyond what you know about God and his ways is to move from faith to presumption. You choose to believe God according to what you already know to be true from His Word. And the only way to increase your faith is to increase your knowledge of God, your faith-object (Romans 10:17).