The Lord spoke to Moses and told him to send men out to scout the land of Canaan that He was giving to the Israelites. Moses sent out twelve spies. He told them to see what the land was like and whether the people there were strong or weak, few or many. He wanted to know was the land good or bad and did the cities have walls around them. They were to check the soil and see if the land had trees. He told them to try to bring back some fruit from the land. Forty days later, they came back from exploring the land. They gave their report and showed the fruit from the land. They saidit was a land flowing with milk and honey. They reported the people who lived there were strong, and the cities had walls and were very large. The men said, “We can’t attack those people! They’re too strong for us!” They said, “It is a land that devours its inhabitants and all the people whom we saw in it are men of great size. We felt as small as grasshoppers, and that’s how we must have looked to them.” The people began to panic and complain as it seemed they were quick to do. They forgot all they had seen God do and refused to trust Him. Everyone except for Joshua and Caleb, two of the 12 spies, who wanted to take the land and begged the people to trust God. Out of the 12 spies sent into Canaan, only those two made the right choice. Now look back at my first sentence and see where I italicized giving. God had already given them the land; he just wanted them to check it out! If they had trusted in God they would have entered the Promised Land, instead they wandered for forty years until everyone in that generation, except Joshua and Caleb, died off.
This story sounds so familiar. We start off really excited about a new relationship or marriage. We are all pumped up because we got that new job or better yet starting our own business. We trust God and believe in the possibilities and what we set out to achieve. We believe he gave us that job or that mate. We know with God on our side we cannot fail! Then the giants appear, imaginary or real; trust issues, doubt, fear, the vision killers, and every other negativity to steal what God has given us and to kill our dreams. A giant is anything that stands between you and God’s plan for you. A giant is anything that seems bigger than you and your desire to serve the Lord. There are physical and spiritual giants that put barriers in front of you to keep you from accomplishing what God intends for your life. A giant may be stronger than us and cannot be faced alone. But why is it that we see these giants as bigger than our God? Why like the Israelites our faith fails and we forget what God has done? Why is it that we forget how he showed up the last time and slayed the giant? Uh, did we forget that we prayed for and believe God gave us this job or this soul mate. I’ve said it before, we have to sometimes fight to keep what God gives us. The devil comes to kill, steal and destroy! Is it just human nature that we tend to remember our own limited strength rather than the unlimited strength of God? So again we fall back into half trust, half victory and whole despair. How often do we go over the same ground again and again like the Israelites, being kept back by our own unbelief? We must learn to choose to do what God says when He says it. We must not focus on the giants but focus on the Lord. What looks like a giant to us is like an ant in the eyes of God. When you know God is leading you somewhere or he has given you what you prayed for, step out in faith and go the whole distance? He is greater than all and He wants us to trust Him. I for one am done going in circles and running from giants! God has shown me that he is the God of miracles! I may be a grasshopper in the giant’s eyes but my God is a giant slayer! It has taken a long time for me to understand this. If only I had realized it doesn’t matter how big the giant is, because the battle is not mine to fight anyway. Wow, I could have saved myself plenty of heartache and pain. We can be pessimistic putting difficulties and challenges between us and God, telling ourselves we are not able, or we can be optimistic and put God between the difficulties and challenges and not let giants steal what God has already given us. Giants do fall down! Much Love…
EMMANUEL 