Numbers 13:33, “There we saw the giants (the descendants of Anak came from the giants); and we were like grasshoppers in our own sight, and so we were in their sight.””

In the past when I was reading through the Old Testament, I used to be so mad at the children of Israel. I would be frustrated because they saw the power of God in action and still, they wouldn’t believe Him. The above verse shows us how the 10 spies sent into the promised land saw themselves. These 10 we able to convince the whole camp that if they attack, they will be destroyed by the children of Anak. The sad thing about it is that God already told them that He was with them and He will fight for them. This is the same God whom they saw split the red sea. This God provided Manna and meat in the desert. But they still didn’t believe Him.

The reason why the children of Israel didn’t believe what God had told them is because Egypt was still in their hearts. In the next chapter, chapter 14:1-4, the people of Israel decided to go back to Egypt. This is significant because they had tied their identities to Egypt. In Egypt they were slaves. That is how they saw themselves. This identity contradicted with what God was telling them to do. God was telling them to go and takeover territory and become a great and might nation. A slave with a slave mentality can never takeover anything.

For us Christians today, we might not be battling Egyptian slavery, but we are battling flesh slavery. If we believers don’t renew our minds to our identity, then we will end up like the children of Israel. That generation died in that wilderness and they didn’t see what God had in store for them. For us today, we might not die physically, but God’s plans for us will die. The below verse tells us we must mature into sons and daughters of God. The children of Israel didn’t renew their identity from slaves to God’s chosen people. Likewise, believers today, haven’t renew their identity from sinners or slaves to sons and daughters.

Galatians 4:1-7, “Now I say that the heir, as long as he is a child, does not differ at all from a slave, though he is master of all, but is under guardians and stewards until the time appointed by the father. Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world. But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, bornof a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, “Abba, Father!” Therefore, you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.”