And they returned from scouting out the land after forty days. 26 They came to Moses and Aaron and to all the Israelite congregation in the Wilderness of Paran at Kadesh, and brought them word, and showed them the land’s fruit. 27 They told Moses, We came to the land to which you sent us; surely it flows with milk and honey. This is its fruit. 28 But the people who dwell there are strong, and the cities are fortified and very large; moreover, there we saw the sons of Anak [of great stature and courage]. 29 Amalek dwells in the land of the South (the Negeb); the Hittite, the Jebusite, and the Amorite dwell in the hill country; and the Canaanite dwells by the sea and along by the side of the Jordan [River].

30 Caleb quieted the people before Moses, and said, Let us go up at once and possess it; we are well able to conquer it. 31 But his fellow scouts said, We are not able to go up against the people [of Canaan], for they are stronger than we are. 32 So they brought the Israelites an evil report of the land which they had scouted out, saying, The land through which we went to spy it out is a land that devours its inhabitants. And all the people that we saw in it are men of great stature. 33 There we saw the Nephilim [or giants], the sons of Anak, who come from the giants; and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight. Numbers 13:25-33 AMP

Twelve scouts – one from each tribe of Israel – were recruited by Moses to spy out the Promised Land. At first they all brought a good report that it was indeed a land flowing with “milk and honey” and offered the enormous cluster of grapes as proof. However, ten of them immediately followed that up with an evil report – a negative, fear-filled report – of how large and powerful and intimidating the inhabitants were. Only two of them, Joshua and Caleb, brought a good report.

Caleb quieted the frightened crowd and confidently told them, “Let us go up at once and possess it; we are well able to conquer it!” His confidence was not in himself or in Israel, but in Almighty God, who had promised to give them this fine land. Unfortunately, the crowd shouted Joshua and Caleb down and the decision was made to not go up to take the land. They immediately started wailing, crying, complaining, and wishing they were back in Egypt. What short memories they had of how bad it was in Egypt – they forgot how they cried for freedom from the Egyptians, which was why God sent Moses to get them OUT in the first place – and they had already forgotten the great miracle of their deliverance from Egypt. Now they are crying because God wanted to take them INTO the Promised Land! What a bunch of shallow, whiny babies!

And all the congregation cried out with a loud voice, and [they] wept that night. 2 All the Israelites grumbled and deplored their situation, accusing Moses and Aaron, to whom the whole congregation said, Would that we had died in Egypt! Or that we had died in this wilderness! 3 Why does the Lord bring us to this land to fall by the sword? Our wives and little ones will be a prey. Is it not better for us to return to Egypt? 4 And they said one to another, Let us choose a captain and return to Egypt. 5 Then Moses and Aaron fell on their faces before all the assembly of Israelites. 6 And Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh, who were among the scouts who had searched the land, rent their clothes, 7 And they said to all the company of Israelites, The land through which we passed as scouts is an exceedingly good land. 8 If the Lord delights in us, then He will bring us into this land and give it to us, a land flowing with milk and honey. 9 Only do not rebel against the Lord, neither fear the people of the land, for they are bread for us. Their defense and the shadow [of protection] is removed from over them, but the Lord is with us. Fear them not. 10 But all the congregation said to stone [Joshua and Caleb] with stones. But the glory of the Lord appeared at the Tent of Meeting before all the Israelites. Numbers 14:1-10 AMP

Moses, Aaron, Joshua and Caleb begged them not to rebel against God and begged them to trust the word of the Lord. Instead the people committed treason against God, in their hearts, and planned to stone them. It took God, himself, showing up to stop them from killing Moses, Aaron, Joshua and Caleb. In the end, God did not take these rebellious people up into the Promised Land. He assured them that they would remain in the desert until all of them died there – except Joshua and Caleb – and that their children who grew up in the wilderness would be trained to obey God and would eventually go up and take this land and enjoy it in their generation. This was not God’s choice for them – they chose this course. The majority ruled, but unfortunately the majority was dead wrong!

We have a tendency to give credence to the majority and to allow the majority to rule and to decide what’s right, but we can see from this example that the majority opinion is not an accurate measurement of right and wrong. The voice of the minority is drowned out and usually not considered or given a hearing. However, TRUTH cannot be measured by numbers and for the most part truth stands against the majority’s opinion. The devil tries to convince people that there is no absolute truth and you can have and live your own version of the “truth”. However, truth is something that cannot be bent and twisted. There is only one TRUTH, which is unchangeable, because it is guaranteed by the character of God! God IS truth and His word is the last word on anything and everything! Most often, you must stand alone in order to stand on the side of truth, but take heart and know that you are not alone, because, at the same time, you are standing on the side of God! And when you are on God’s side, your adversaries become God’s adversaries! If God be for you – who can be against you!