Level 2
Lesson 3: No Need to Fear

It had been a long, long journey. The people were growing tired. They had traveled many miles. They had crossed dry deserts where the sand was hot to their feet. They had waded through slippery streams. On and on they had come for days and days. For God had promised them a home in the new land to which they were coming.

“Will we ever reach our new home?” they had often said to Moses, their leader. For they were tired of traveling, and they wanted to be at home.

At last the new land was in sight. If the people stood on a high hill and looked far away they could see it in the distance. Their journey was nearly over, and they were glad.

“But what will this new land be like?” they said to each other. “There might be robbers and wild animals there. There might not be food to eat. Enemies might be there who would rise up and kill these strangers coming into their land. We must first find out what this place is like,” the people said. So they pitched their tents and waited to find out about the new home that God had promised them.

Moses, their leader, chose men to go ahead. They were to go unseen into the new land and find out what it was like.

“Go and take a look at the land,” said Moses. “Find out what you can about the people. See if they are many or few. Notice if they are weak or strong. Then come back and tell us what you have learned.”

So the men did as Moses had told them. They slipped quietly into the land, for they did not want to be seen. They found out what kind of people were living there. They saw fields of grapes growing.

They cut off one very large bunch of grapes and put it across a stick and two men carried it. They stayed in the land long enough to see everything there was to see.

Then they went back to Moses and the people. For they had much to tell.

“We looked at the land, just as you told us,” they said. “It is a good land. We found plenty there to eat. Here is some of the fruit that grows in the land.” And they showed the big bunch of grapes.

“Good! Good!” cried the people. They were very pleased and glad to know that their new home was such a fine place.

“But,” said the men who had seen the land, “that is not all.” For they felt they must tell the truth about what they had seen. “There are many people in the land. They are strong and fierce. Some of them are so large that they look like giants. They could easily rise up and kill us.”

“Oh no!” cried the people. Now they were not so pleased. Many of them were quite frightened. They did not want to be killed in the new land. They began to be afraid to go there to live.

“Come along, and don’t be afraid,” said Caleb, one of the brave ones among them. “What do we care for fierce men or giants? God is with us. Let us go up into the new land and take it. We do not need to fear.”

But most of the people feared the giants instead of believing God.

Many, many years passed. All the older people died. Only the younger people who were now grown up could go into the land. It became their new home. They lived there all the rest of their lives.

It is important to trust God in all that we do.