The other day I was talking to a friend about her life plans. She shared some admirable goals but then said “I haven’t told my extended family because they’ll just tell me to be more realistic and that it’s too hard.” My heart just broke for her. I think this is not an uncommon experience. Since we’d already discussed how clearly she believed that this plan was given to her by God and the legitimate reason she felt that way, I encouraged her not to give up.
In the days that followed, I thought and prayed on this situation and God brought another time to my mind that some were discouraged to follow a dream, despite the promise of success from God.
In Numbers 13:1-3 the Lord says to Moses “Send some men to explore the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the Israelites.” Ummm... pretty clear what God’s intentions are, right?
As we continue to read in Numbers we learn that Moses did exactly as God commanded. The men spent 40 days exploring the land and came back to Moses with a report that, just as God had told them, it was flowing with milk and honey….. BUT, they reported that “the people who live there are powerful, the cities are fortified and very large… We even saw descendants of Anak there… and the Amelekites, Hittites, Jebusites and Amorites.” Now, for those who don’t know what it means to see descendants of Anak or Amelekites, Hittites, Jebusites or Amorites a little further reading provides a clear explanation. In verse 31, “We can’t attack those people; they are stronger than we are” and in verse 33, “we seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them.” Now I’m not exactly sure what the men on the reconnaissance thought they’d find… short wimpy men… villages of beautiful women… signs saying “Welcome Israelites! We’ve been waiting to give you our land!” Regardless, the sight of what it took to gain the promised land freaked.them.out! I hate to say it but there have been times that I’ve been just like the Israelites but let's look at the facts in this particular situation.
Fact #1: God himself... the Creator that had just saved them from slavery in Egypt, divided the Red Sea for them to cross, guided them throughout the desert to a land that he said would be flowing with milk and honey... God said he was giving this land to them.
Fact #2: The land was inhabited by big dudes that could smash the Israelites to pieces.
Get my point? I totally understand where the Israelites are coming from on this. They were scared. This was going to take work. The cities had walls. The dudes were big but what they forgot is God is bigger! I think we sometimes forget that too.
Several years ago I wrote Galatians 6:9 on a whiteboard to memorize and it has sunk deep into my soul and has carried me through many days and given me strength at times that I wanted more than anything to just give up:
“Let us not grow weary doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.”
Whether it’s that or Philippians 4:13: “For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength”
or
Romans 8:31-32 “What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?” the truth remains the same. We can and should bank on the promises of God not the size of the battle involved.
So, as I said to my friend, I say to you… God is not the God of reality as we define it. Look throughout scripture and whether it be a flood that did not seem realistic to those who knew Noah… a lowly carpenter’s son claiming to be the messiah whose arrival they’d been awaiting for generations for the Pharisees… or believing that Jesus had been resurrected from death for Thomas, one of Jesus’ very own disciples… In each of these cases, and many others, you will see God redefine what it means to be realistic. If you are looking toward a promised land in your life… If you know that that promise was from your creator,
DO.NOT.GIVE.UP
If God is for you, who can be against you?
