Pastor Leon’s SOAP: Scripture, Observation, Application, and Prayer

February 23: Numbers 12-13; Psalm 90; Mark 2

Scripture: Numbers (NIV) 13:31 But the men who had gone up with him said, “We can’t attack those people; they are stronger than we are.” 32 And they spread among the Israelites a bad report about the land they had explored. They said, “The land we explored devours those living in it. All the people we saw there are of great size.”

Observation: Twelve spies had been sent to check out the Promised Land. Ten brought back a bad report. Because of their report the Israelites refused to go into the Promised Land. The spies had their eyes on the giants and not on their God. The people in the land were “stronger” than the Israelites, but not stronger than the Israelite’s God! The people in the land were of “great size,” but quite puny in comparison to Israel’s God. Forty years later there was a generation willing to trust God and enter the land that God had promised. They found their God to be both stronger and bigger! They found that when God fights for you, your strength and size makes no difference!

Application: There will be temptations to think that my circumstances are too big for me; most of the time that will be true. I must keep my eyes on God because my circumstances will never be greater than my God! What a mistake to evaluate my circumstances without considering the presence, power, and promises of God!

Prayer: Holy Spirit, help me live twenty-four hours every in the reality of God’s presence. Amen

Pastor Leon

Making friends for time and eternity!