God Size It

"we seemed to ourselves like grasshoppers." (Numbers 13:33)

One of the great failures of the people of God in the Old Testament comes when they arrive at the edge of the Promised Land. God tells Moses to send visionaries into the land to come back and report to the people. Leaders are people who can see God's future for His people and explain it to people living today. But the majority of these spies that went into the Promised Land came back and the Bible says they spread a bad report.

The people of Israel failed to understand that anything God asks us to do will require His help. One of the greatest problems in the American Church today is that we suffer from the same "grasshopper complex" that plagued Israel. We are adopting "man-size" programs. We are doing what we know that we can do with our resources and abilities rather than choosing to obey God and attempt "God-size" visions.

The apostle Paul warned the church in Corinth not to make the same mistake as these Israelites.
He says, "Now these things happened to them as an example, but they were written down for our instruction..." (I Cor. 10:11). We do not have to repeat their mistakes. Yes, there are almost always giants occupying the land of Promise that God sets before us. That is because He wants us to trust Him so that in the end, He gets all the glory, not us. "Trust in the Lord, with all your heart, and do not lean to your own understanding." (Prov. 3:5-6)

Let's Go Back

"The whole congregatin said to them (Moses and Aaron), 'Would that we had died in the land of Egypt, would that we had died in this wilderness." (Numbers 14:2)

The people of God had seen Him do incredible miracles to deliver them from slavery in Egypt. They had witnessed the parting of the Red Sea, and the destruction of Pharoah's mighty army. They had come to the edge of the Promised Land. God had promised that He would give it to them. But ten of the spies came back and spread a bad report about the giants in the land.

Now God's people would rather go back into slavery and bondage. Now they would rather die under the cruel taskmasters of Egypt. Now they are grumbling and complaining against God's chosen leaders. When they were suffering in Egypt they had enough faith to let God lead them out. But now, they do not have enough faith to enter into God's promise.

Egypt represents the bondage of sin. The wilderness represents a carnal life, a life lived less than what God desires. Canaan represents the victorious abundant life, not heaven. How many Christians do not have enough faith to enter into God's promised Victory in their daily lives? How many would rather return to the bondage of sin and the cruelty of the satanic taskmasters? Will you trust God to not only bring you out of the sin of your past, but into the Victory He desires for your future?