Article October 17, 1994 Issue

Well able to heal

Donald Billman

When the children of Israel arrived at the Promised Land, Moses sent out a party to search the land. After forty days, they returned to Moses and reported that the land "floweth with milk and honey" but that the inhabitants "are stronger than we ... men of a great stature ... giants: and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers."

One searcher, Caleb, had seen the same sights, but his faith in God's purpose brought him to a different conclusion. He and Joshua later said: "Let us go up at once, and possess it; for we are well able to overcome it. ... If the Lord delight in us, then he will bring us into this land, and give it us. ... Fear them not." The preponderance of fearful testimony prevailed, however, and the children of Israel wandered in the wilderness for forty years before accepting their ability to enter the Promised Land (see Num., chaps. 13–14).

The Israelites' experience points to an important spiritual lesson. Distrust of our ability to rely on God to achieve legitimate good in our lives, including healing, can keep us bound, as it were, to the status quo. Most of us have felt at some time that a certain forward step was right for us to take. We may have been diligently praying to be shown the way, but when the divine leading came, we were afraid to follow it. We kept our focus on the problem rather than on the answer to our prayers. We stayed in the wilderness.

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