When God becomes small, our problems become big

When God becomes small, our problems seem overwhelming.
Numbers 13-14
“We are not able to go up against the people, for they are too strong for us.”

The inclination of sinful man is to elevate man and minimize God. Instead of seeing God in his exalted nature, we bring God down to our level. We make God small so that we might elevate ourselves. To justify our rejection of God, we must devalue his absolute supremacy. We strive to elevate ourselves to be like God to justify and validate our rejection of God’s Law and establish ourselves as God. The temptation of the garden was the desire to usurp God’s rule and become gods to ourselves so that we determine right and wrong. However, to promote ourselves, we must diminish God. God is unable to create the world with a spoken word. God cannot control the thoughts of men so that they would record his message and redemptive story without error. Humanity, not God, determines the world's destiny and society's moral foundation. We become the judge of God while rejecting God as our judge.
The story of Numbers is how the Israelites continually set themselves up as judges of God and his actions. They became the accusers of God. Immediately receiving the Law, they sought to circumvent it by accusing God of sin. The people “became like those who complain of adversity in the hearing of the Lord” (Num. 11:1). The verse may be translated as, “The people were as those who express a complaint of evil in the presence of God.”  In other words, they were accusing God of being evil. Instead of God acting in faithfulness to his promises to care for them (10:35-36), they were accusing God of evil. Instead of God being exalted high above humanity in his holiness and perfection, they brought God down to man's level. Instead of striving to be like God and reflect his image, they sought to conform God to their image. In the end, their view of God became small.
Because their God became small, when confronted with the formidable forces of the Canaanites, they became fearful. While the land provided great blessings, the people only saw the might of their armies. Even though God commanded them to go out, promising to give them victory, the people rebelled because of their fear. As a result, they would spend the next forty years wandering in the wilderness rather than enjoying the riches of the promised land.
When we make God in our image, we devalue and debase God. We make God small. We minimize his activity and his power and authority on the earth. As a result, we become plagued by fear and apprehension. Anxiety rather than peach grips our lives, and we no longer find contentment. The Chapman University conducted a study of the biggest fears of Americans, and they included corrupt government officials, pandemics, economic/financial collapse, biological warfare, environmental disasters, and civil unrest. We fear what we perceive as existential threats to humanity because our vision of God has become small.  
However, as we read the pages of Scripture, we read that God is in control and has determined the course of events that will culminate in Christ’s return. Our existence is not dependent upon man but upon God. Christ, not humanity, is the one who sustains the universe (Col. 1:17). As the world becomes gripped with fear because they have elevated man and devalued God, we can have complete peace and confidence because the God of the universe is the one in control. He is the one who controls our future, and we can rest in him. This is true of the global issues confronting our world, as well as the personal issues we face each day. “Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.” Isiah 41:10.