Ten Were Bad and Two Were Good

In the book of Numbers, after he enabled Moses to lead the Children of Israel out of Egypt, God asked Moses to send out 12 men into Canaan, the Promised Land, and bring back a report of what they found. Moses sends them and they spy out the land. When they return, however, 10 of the men bring back a bad report, a report filled with untruths and they convinced everyone that although God has promised to give them this land, there is no way to defeat the indigenous people. Two men, Joshua and Caleb, stand up and speak the truth. "The land is exceedingly good," they said, "the Lord will deliver our enemies into our hands. All we have to do is claim the land." But the minds of the Israelites had already been poisoned by the bad report of the other 12 men. The people were so angry that they considered stoning the only two men that had actually brought back a good news.
I am no stranger to defeat. I have faced this adversary over and over in my short life. Yet I am stubborn and refuse to bow out to defeat. Life is not characterized by our defeats but how we deal with them, what we do with the hand dealt us. I have known hurt and betrayal, I have known pain and abuse. But I have also learned to embrace them, pull them close with both arms; not because I am a masochist, but because I am a pragmatist. I know that when trouble comes, when the knife is thrust into my back, when the bad report is spread, I will not be killed. The pain may be almost unbearable, it's true, but I am only pressed, not crushed, struck down but not destroyed. Can the Phoenix bow to defeat when he knows he will only rise from the ashes; not destroyed by the flames, but purified and strengthened by them.
Though none of the people believed Joshua and Caleb, though they were nearly killed for standing by what they knew to be right, they were the victors. Of all of the Children of Israel, Moses included, Joshua and Caleb were the only two of their generation that entered the Promised Land. Those who gave the bad report and those who followed along with them fell dead in the desert, still wandering.
I may be a rebel, but I am not without a cause and I believe this cause is the only one worth standing for: knowing Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings; then making him known and declaring the fame of this One I strive to become like.