Forty years of wilderness wandering plagued the Israelites because they listened to the report of ten spies instead of God’s promise to give them the promised land. They had experienced God’s miraculous works for their deliverance, yet still, rather than believing God’s promise and facing their enemies with faith, they were caught up in human deception and discouragement.
The giants occupying their land were huge and the enemies were strong, the challenge too dangerous, the risk too great. They refused to move out and take possession for fear of their lives. They wept and wailed through their night with bitterness! They complained and grumbled about their plight! Why did we leave Egypt? We’ll die in this forlorn land! Shouldn’t we just go back? Wouldn’t it be better? Be safer? Wouldn’t it just be easier back in captivity?
Those unfaithful, unbelieving, grumbling Israelites twenty years and older never made it into the land of promise because God saw to it that their unbelief would not be honoured.
Oh, the wilderness wanderings we face when we focus on deception rather than truth. When we focus on the giants instead of the promises; when we rebel instead of trust! You know it don’t you? The wilderness of rebellion, unbelief, deception and despair? Does your old slavery and bondage to sin just seem more comfortable, easier and safer than trusting God for deliverance?
We need to move on out and take what God has promised through trust, while He still gives opportunity. Courage is found when we take God at His word and trust Him even though the giants are many and the tasks impossible. I wonder who we hear? The reports of people or the Lord’s promises to us.
1 Corinthians 10:11
“For whatever was written in earlier times was written for our instruction, that through perseverance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.”
#soulnotestoself
We’ve all been there haven’t we? Doing battle with the enemy? Trudging through the trenches, catching on the thickets, walking through the deadly fires of trial! In deep and just trying to keep our head above water as we find our way through the maze of whatever it is that’s going down? Yeah, we have! We’ve been there ~ everyone of us ~ trying desperately in our finite, and weak, human frame to just trust through a head knowledge that says “it’s” big and “it’s” steep and it’s so out of our control, yet, it hangs over our weary heads, and tired frames like a Pig-Pen cloud! A cloud of thick, messy dust that just wants to settle right there in our world. A dust cloud of “heavy” and “relentless” that wants to lodge right over our heads and weigh us down and push down, down and down even father still.
You know it don’t you? Those wars that blow in out of nowhere to distract our spiritual focus and undermine our faith in the God who we say we trust? So beautiful soul, these are the times to rise up on wings of faith above all the difficult, above all the nonsense, above all the hard places and the tight spots and let God plan the strategy for battle. He’s so skilled and so equipped to do it. He’s got just the right fight for the enemy and can run him off-course so quickly your head will swirl. He’s sovereign! He sees ahead and knows just the right move at just the right time. His strategy is out of this world and divinely sealed with perfection. His compassion so rich and His grace so sweet and His faithfulness so rock solid, that it can make our problem puny and pale.
Whatever it is that hangs over you today, as hard as it is, let it go! Let it float over the hard spots and right into the hands of the Saviour of your world. He’s got it and He’s got you and even though there might be difficulty ahead, you can know He’ll bring you through! When the battle rages and gets hot, step aside and make room for God.
So, on the upside of down today, it’s all ok. You know it is! Really, deep down you know it is! Sure, maybe a lot of downer stuff, snuffed out yesterday really good but there’s always an upside. Always something good in the bad. Always something positive in the negative. And always, always a lesson or two to learn from the stuff that went down, to make us better, not bitter.
“Suddenly a fierce storm struck the lake, with waves breaking into the boat. (What a downer!) But Jesus was sleeping. (What a downer!) The disciples woke Him up shouting, “Lord save us! We’re going to drown.”
Hope and Healing In Hard Places 