Which Testimony are You Going to Tell? + “2 Sides to Every Story”
2 Sides to Every Story.
Yesterday, as I was teaching Adija Bible Study, I was so struck by the stark contrast between the description of Canaan offered by the 10 spies and the description of Canaan offered by Moses in Deuteronomy 8. It is almost as if they are talking about two entirely different places.
Last night, as we were driving to see the Van Gogh immersive art experience, Oliva was telling us about something, and said, “Because there’s always two sides to every story.” I said, “Boom. That’s what I’m going to write about.” (Which was said rather loudly and startled my fellow passengers. 😉) Sooo…
“two sides to every story…”
Numbers 13 starts off by God speaking to Moses: “Send thou men, that they may search out the land of Canaan, WHICH I GIVE TO THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL…” God has already promised the people the land. IN verses 17-20, Moses gives a little instruction to the 12 spies he’s chosen: “Get you up this way southward, and go up in to the mountain: and see the land what it is…” This is not a “can we?” The spies are not to determine the likeliness or the possibility, but simply to see what the land and people that God has already given them are like.
Their return report is as follows:
· Surely it flows with milk and honey.
· Here’s some fruit form it
· BUT the people are strong
· The cities are walled and very great
· The children of Anak were there (giants)
· Amalekites in the south
· Hittites, Jebusites, Amorites in the mountains
· Canaanites by the sea
· A land that eats up the inhabitants thereof
· The people we saw were men of great stature…there we saw giants
· We were like grasshoppers in their sight and in our sight
They didn’t come back with a “HOW CAN WE,” but with a “WE CAN’T.”
Fast forward 40 years to Moses’ speech to the children of Israel: He describes the same land they are about to enter:
“For the Lord your God bringeth thee into a good land…
· A land of brooks and water
· Of fountains and depths that spring out of valleys and hills
· A land of wheat, and barley, and vines, and fig trees, and pomegranates
· A land of olive oil and honey
· A land where you will eat bread without scarceness
· You will not lack anything in it
· A land whose stones are iron and out of whose hills you may dig brass
Moses continues on that in the Promised Land they will eat and be full, they will build “goodly” houses and live in them, and that their herds, flocks, silver, gold, and all they have will be multiplied.
The 10 spies and Moses are talking about, describing the same exact place. They are all painting a picture for the rest of the Children of Israel of what has already been promised to them and what has already been given to them. They are all recounting details of the same land. Yet, the descriptions provided are drastically different.
WHY? HOW?
Because there are always two sides to every story…
· There will always be the side of FEAR and there will always be the side of FAITH
· There will always be the side of NEGATIVITY and the side of POSITIVITY.
· There will always be the side of VISIBLE ENEMIES and CHALLENGES and there will always be the side of INVISIBLE HELP.
· There will always be the side of INGRATITUDE and there will always be the side of GRATITUDE.
Because there will always be two sides to every story.
The descriptions offered were of the PROMISED LAND. It was called the Promised Land because it had been promised to them. It was already “theirs, “yet they were required to possess it. And, as we see from the description of 10 of the 12 spies, every promise has a problem. And…sometimes…promises even have impossibilities.
(For example: “Abraham, I promise to make you a great nation, and you currently have not children and are very old.” “David, I’m going to make you king, and currently no on even knows your name.” “Mary, you’re going to conceive a Baby, Emmanuel, even though you’ve ‘known no man.’”)
I am convinced that God uses the problem, the impossibility, the “other side of the story” to produce dependence and strengthen faith. If we could possess the promise on our own, we would take the credit; we would confiscate His glory. And so, He gives us a PROMISE with another side. He gives us a promise with giants and walled cities, but, as I’ve discovered, He doesn’t usually tell us about these upfront. We figure out the challenges as we explore the promise. We don’t see the giants that make us feel as small as grasshoppers until we go search out what has been promised to us. And when we see the challenges to the promise, we can either focus on the, or we can focus on the promise. IF HE SAID IT, HE'LL DO IT! “What He had promised, He was able also to perform.”
Will I focus on the walls, or will I focus on the grapes? Will I focus on the height of the giants or the sweetness of the land’s honey? (Sometimes, you’ll enjoy the sweetness of the land under the shadow of the giants.) Will I focus on the enemy’s strength or on God’s power to do what He said He was going to do? WHICH SIDE OF THE STORY WILL I FOCUS ON AND WHICH SIDE OF THE STORY WILL I TELL? Which side of the story will I confess? Will my story sound the lie story of the spies or the story of Moses?
One thing that I think is important to note here is that Moses had not personally seen the Promised Land when he gave his description. Moses had a description of the promise given to him by somebody else. His opinion of the promise had been painted and shaped by voices that saw the right side of the story!
When the 12 spies are come back from Canaan, and after 10 of the have declared the problems, Caleb and Joshua, reiterate the Other Side of the Story!
I love the initial response of Caleb at hearing the 10 spies’ description: “…let us go up at once and possess it; for we are WELL ABLE to overcome it!” (Numbers 13:30) Following this declaration of faith, a giant sob fest/pity party breaks out among the Children of Israel, as they choose to focus on the report of the majority. But, again, Joshua and Caleb get up and say, “Hey, guys there are 2 sides to this story!” “The land which we passed through to search it, it is an exceeding good land. If the Lord delight in us, then HE WILL bring us into this land, and give it to us; a land which floweth with milk and honey. Only rebel not ye against the Lord, neither fear ye the people of the land; for they are bread for us: their defense is departed from them, and the Lord is with us, fear them not.” (Number 14:7-9) The focus and the faith of Joshua and Caleb painted the picture in Moses’ mind that he would cling to through 40 years of wilderness walking that followed, and that he would proclaim to the Children of Israel when those 40 years were about to wrap up. This proves that who we listen to has a powerful effect on our beliefs, our faith, and our confessions. THE VOICES WE HEAR WILL DETERMINE VISION. The voices we tune in will decide which side of the story we focus on. WHOSE SIDE OF THE STORY WILL WE LISTEN TO? The majority will probably always focus on the problems, but the faithful will PROCLAIM THE PROMISE.
One final thought on this…Joshua and Caleb, when relaying their side of the story, did not entirely ignore the problem. In their statement, they acknowledged the “people of the land,” but continued on that they would simply be “food” for the Israelites. Big people have big fields…big giants eat big grapes. As Moses told the people in Deuteronomy 6:10-11: “God shall have brought thee into a land…to give thee great and goodly cities which thou buildest not, and houses full of all good things which thou fillest not, and wells digged, which thou diggest not, VINEYARDS and OLIVE TREES with thou plantest not.” Joshua and Caleb said, “We recognize the giants, but we see that they are just planting our vineyards…they are pruning our olive oil. THEIR milk and honey is our milk and honey. They’re just prepping our provision for when WE possess our promise!”
Faith doesn’t ignore the problem entirely; it just sees ahead that God will use the problem to sustain us IN the promise!
The bigger the problems the greater the opportunity for God to reveal His power and glory. The bigger the giants, the more food they leave behind.
Which side of the story will I listen to? Which side will I believe and cling to when I’m not to the promise yet and the giants aren’t yet vanquished? And which side of the story will my mouth confess?
Because…
There’s always 2 sides to every story.
“…whatsoever things are of good report,
think on these things.”
Philippians 4:8
I choose to confess a good report.