Faith Steps for Weary MomsExemplo

Overcoming Fear

Are you struggling with fear or anxiety as a mom? Is it hard to trust God with your children? Do you have a hard decision to make but worry about how it might impact your kids? Today, I want to explore one of my favorite stories about faith in the Old Testament and see how the courage of a couple of men helped shape the spiritual inheritance of their children and the generations that came behind.

READ: Numbers 13 & 14

To give some context up to this point, Moses had faithfully led the Israelites out of captivity and through the desert. They had seen God’s faithfulness at every turn. However, in Numbers 13:25-33, some of the spies began to doubt the Lord after investigating the Promised Land.

Numbers 13:25-33 says, “After exploring the land for forty days, the men returned to Moses, Aaron, and the whole community of Israel at Kadesh in the wilderness of Paran. They reported to the whole community what they had seen and showed them the fruit they had taken from the land. This was their report to Moses: ‘We entered the land you sent us to explore, and it is indeed a bountiful country—a land flowing with milk and honey. Here is the kind of fruit it produces. But the people living there are powerful, and their towns are large and fortified. We even saw giants there, the descendants of Anak! The Amalekites live in the Negev, and the Hittites, Jebusites, and Amorites live in the hill country. The Canaanites live along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea and along the Jordan Valley.’ But Caleb tried to quiet the people as they stood before Moses. ‘Let’s go at once to take the land,’ he said. ‘We can certainly conquer it!’ But the other men who had explored the land with him disagreed. ‘We can’t go up against them! They are stronger than we are!’ So they spread this bad report about the land among the Israelites: ‘The land we traveled through and explored will devour anyone who goes to live there. All the people we saw were huge. We even saw giants, the descendants of Anak. Next to them we felt like grasshoppers, and that’s what they thought, too!’”

Bottom line: The spies were afraid.

Even after seeing a land flowing with milk and honey, even after all the miracles and provision they had seen- their response was fear. They chose not to invade the land. In fact, they wanted to run from these giants and return to Egypt.

Numbers 14:2-3 states, “Their voices rose in a great chorus of protest against Moses and Aaron. ‘If only we had died in Egypt, or even here in the wilderness!’ they complained. ‘Why is the Lord taking us to this country only to have us die in battle? Our wives and our little ones will be carried off as plunder! Wouldn’t it be better for us to return to Egypt?’”

Did you catch that? “Our wives and our little ones will be taken as plunder!” It’s not just fear they chose but also a lack of faith.

Pause here for a moment and ask yourself, “What am I on the cusp of?

A new job, a move, kids starting school, a call to ministry? What “giant” am I facing?” Take a few minutes to identify your “giant,” Ask yourself: “Do I actually trust God with everything? With my family?”

Stepping out in obedience can be so scary because it requires more than what our physical eyes and mind can perceive.It's natural to want to protect your family. It’s how God wired you as a mother. However, when we choose comfort and control versus facing our giant, we are actively choosing FEAR over FAITH.

Here are some simple steps to Faith:

1. Trust God with His plan and purpose.

Jeremiah 29:11 says, “For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.”

2. Become a warrior, problem solver, and overcomer.

Deuteronomy 31:6 says, “So be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid and do not panic before them. For the Lord your God will personally go ahead of you. He will neither fail you nor abandon you.”

3. Stand firm in this promise and wage war, put on the armor, put rocks in your slingshot and march around those walls. Face your giant, mama friend, and don’t just hide your children's eyes from the giants, but show them how our God makes the giants fall!

How can you show your children that our God makes giants fall?

Numbers 14:20-24 continues with“Then the Lord said, ‘I will pardon them as you have requested. But as surely as I live, and as surely as the earth is filled with the Lord’s glory, not one of these people will ever enter that land. They have all seen my glorious presence and the miraculous signs I performed both in Egypt and in the wilderness, but again and again they have tested me by refusing to listen to my voice. They will never even see the land I swore to give their ancestors. None of those who have treated me with contempt will ever see it. But my servant Caleb has a different attitude than the others have. He has remained loyal to me, so I will bring him into the land he explored. His descendants will possess their full share of that land.’”

Caleb was one of the spies who trusted God and spoke up and wanted to invade the land of giants. Because of his displayed faith, his children were granted the inheritance God had promised.

Reminder of the Day:

If God calls you to something, it may be so hard and scary, and there may even be giants, but it very well may be the start of Him blessing your children with the spiritual inheritance He has in store for them.

Matthew 17:20 says, “You don’t have enough faith,” Jesus told them. “I tell you the truth, if you had faith even as small as a mustard seed, you could say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it would move. Nothing would be impossible.”

God has entrusted us with our families, friends, jobs, and possessions. He has given us the breath within our lungs. Let's honor Him, choose faith when He calls us, wage war against our fears and our enemy, and serve our King loyally to the end!

Action Step:

Name one way you will choose faith over fear this week.