Hopeless or Hopeful

Our Daily Bread Podcast | Our Daily Bread

Our Daily Bread Ministries

Religion & Spirituality, Christianity

4.6 • 955 Ratings

🗓️ 29 April 2025

⏱️ 4 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Every fall, plants like ragweed irritate my son’s sinuses. One night, his symptoms became so severe I thought he should see a doctor. Our family had just recovered from months of serious health issues, and I was so discouraged I didn’t even want to pray. My husband, however, found hope in all that God had already helped us through. He prayed for direction. Shortly after, with the help of medicine, our son’s condition improved.

Though some of his companions were discouraged, Caleb also showed hope and optimism after scouting out Canaan. God had promised the area to Israel, and Caleb said, “We should . . . take possession of the land, for we can certainly do it” (Numbers 13:30). The others felt it was impossible, that the Canaanites were too powerful and their cities too well fortified (vv. 28, 31–33).

Caleb wasn’t denying the challenges the Israelites faced; his faith rested on God’s past faithfulness to His people in their struggles. God’s people did eventually conquer Canaan, and Caleb received his share because he had followed Him “wholeheartedly” (Joshua 14:9).

Many situations feel hopeless, but for those who know God and believe in His faithfulness, there’s always a reason for hope. When discouragement and despair seep in, we can find rest by trusting His power and grace to carry us through.

Transcript

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0:00.0	We should go up and take possession of the land, for we can certainly do it.
0:05.4	Numbers Chapter 13, verse 30.
0:09.6	Welcome to today's encouragement from Our Daily Bread.
0:13.2	Our reading, Hopeless or Hopeful, was written by Jennifer Benson Schult, and read by Rochelle Troub.
0:22.0	Numbers Chapter 13, verses 26 through 33.
0:26.8	They came back to Moses and Aaron and the whole Israelite community at Kadesh in the desert of Perrin.
0:33.9	There they reported to them and to the whole assembly and showed them the fruit of the land.
0:39.5	They gave Moses this account. We went into the land to which you sent us, and it does flow with
0:45.4	milk and honey. Here is its fruit. But the people who live there are powerful, and the cities are
0:51.5	fortified and very large. We even saw descendants of Anik there.
0:56.9	The Amalekites live in the Negev. The Hittites, Jebusites and Amarites live in the hill country,
1:03.3	and the Canaanites live near the sea and along the Jordan. Then Caleb silenced the people
1:09.1	before Moses and said, We should go up and take possession of the land, for we can certainly do it.
1:16.3	But the men who had gone up with him said,
1:18.7	We can't attack those people. They are stronger than we are.
1:23.3	And they spread among the Israelites a bad report about the land they had explored.
1:28.3	They said,
1:29.5	The land we explored devours those living in it.
1:32.5	All the people we saw there are of great size.
1:35.5	We saw the Nephilim there.
1:37.3	The descendants of Anak come from the Nephilim.
1:40.1	We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes,
	...

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