"The LORD is my strength and my defense; he has become my salvation. He is my God, and I will praise him, my father’s God, and I will exalt him. The LORD is a warrior; the LORD is his name." [Exodus 15:2-3] I love both this song and scene in the Prince of Egypt. The acknowledgement of the difficulty, the focus on hope and the rejoicing after the challenge has ended is, for me, so powerful. And, in our current circumstances - so vitally important. When times get challenging, o

"No one who has treated me with such repeated contempt will see [the Promised Land].” [‭‭Numbers‬ ‭14:23,‬ ‭MSG‬‬] These are pretty arresting words from God. There's a cycle that the people have "repeated" - contempt that has brought on God's appropriate judgement. How do we break such cycles of negativity, towards God, towards ourselves, towards the world around us? 10 Israelite leaders were the latest to practice this contempt of God - but the Israelite's hadn't long moved

"Caleb interrupted, called for silence before Moses and said, “Let’s go up and take the land—now. We can do it." But the others said, “We can’t attack those people; they’re way stronger than we are.” [‭‭Numbers‬ ‭13:30-33,‬ ‭MSG‬‬] In previous weeks we have talked about how Joshua and Caleb returned to the Israelites describing a completely different promised land to their 10 other companions. We know that all men visited the same land but their perspective ended up entirely

"Then all the congregation raised a loud cry, and the people wept that night." [Numbers 14:1] Sometimes it’s really hard to quieten the voice of fear or doubt when it is whispering to you. Especially in these uncertain times, when both the mainstream media and social media can be quite focussed on reporting the negative, maintaining a Godly and positive perspective can be tricky. In Numbers 14, Joshua rebukes the Israelites for being afraid of the people of Canaan, reminding

"The land we passed through and explored is exceedingly good. If the Lord is pleased with us, he will lead us into that land, a land flowing with milk and honey, and will give it to us." [Numbers 14:7-8] In Numbers 13 and 14, Moses sends 13 men to explore the Promised Land of Canaan. Ten of them return describing the people who lived there as “strong” and the cities “fortified” (Numbers 13:28). They did not believe that the Israelites could defeat the men and were afraid. Mea