The Jewish nation has spent just over a year in the desert and is now poised to enter the Land of Jewish dreams. Overnight, everything changes. Ten out of the twelve scouts come back with a negative report after a 40 day mission into the Land:
“We can’t go up; the people there are stronger than us!” (Num.13:31). God knew very well about all of the problems associated with the conquest of the Land of Israel, but He never wanted the Jews to focus on them. The issue never was “could they do it?” The issue was only “did they want it badly enough to come up with the solutions?”
All of our blessings in life are only in potential. Problems arise, and our task is to overcome them. The Almighty wanted the Jewish nation to trust in Him and believe in themselves. The Talmud teaches us that a wise man is greater than a prophet. This is because a prophet is limited to what the Almighty grants him, while a wise man has the ability to see an infinite array of possibilities and solutions. There was no limit to the potential the Land of Israel held; they just had to have the vision and the drive to see and embrace it.
If we look at how the State of Israel has grown from 1948 to the present, it is clear that it grew as a result of the hopes and dreams of the Jewish nation, passed down to us from Abraham, along with the Almighty’s Divine assistance. When we trust in the Almighty, believe in ourselves, and put in the appropriate effort, we open up the channel for the Divine blessing to rest upon us and all that we do.