Discover His heart: He will provide all we need to step into our destiny
I remember when my granddaughter learned the word humongous while watching Sesame Street and used it with great excitement whenever she saw something she considered really large. I thought of her this week as I read the story of the twelve spies. The spies returned to the Israelite camp with a humongous cluster of grapes so large that two men had to carry it; but, unfortunately, all they remembered were the humongous giants in the land.
@ Numbers 13
“We entered the land you sent us to explore, and it is indeed a bountiful country—a land flowing with milk and honey. Here is the kind of fruit it produces. But…” (27-28) The children of Israel stood at the threshold of their destiny to occupy their promised land and allowed the little three letter word but to keep them from it. “‘…the people living there are powerful, and their towns are large and fortified. We even saw giants there, the descendants of Anak!…We can’t go up there against them! They are stronger than we are!’ So they spread this bad report about the land among the Israelites.” (28,31-32)
The names of all twelve men are listed in Chapter 13, but of those names, we only remember two of them. The others are all very forgettable. When we are positioned by God to step into His destiny for us, we can easily lose sight of it if we focus on the humongous obstacles that may be present instead of the humongous promise He has given to us. Those grapes were huge and represented God’s promise of a land flowing with milk and honey, rich and abundant.
Joshua and Caleb were impressed by the grapes, not by the giants. “They said to all the people of Israel, ‘The land we traveled through and explored is a wonderful land! And if the Lord is pleased with us, he will bring us safely into that land and give it to us. It is a rich land flowing with milk and honey. Do not rebel against the Lord, and don’t be afraid of the people of the land. They are only helpless prey to us! They have no protection, but the Lord is with us! Don’t be afraid of them!’” (14:7-9)
When we are on the edge of something wonderful that God has planned for us, we want to have the faith of Joshua and Caleb, not the fear and doubt of…of…whatever their names are. God will never promise something to us that is impossible to attain. Of all the Israelites standing in the camp on that day, only Joshua and Caleb entered the Promised Land to receive God’s humongous blessing.
Moving Forward: I don’t want to miss all that God has for me because of obstacles that I perceive to be bigger than they really are. I want to be Joshua and Caleb who saw the huge blessing God had waiting for them.
Tomorrow @ I Chronicles 20-24
Phyllis Benigas 