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Giants in the Land

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To love God and live in joyful dependence on Him, is how we are created to live.  Anything less does not work, at least not well.  Reading the Old Testament reminds me that I, as have God’s children through the ages, fall short of this best way of life.  It reminds me of the heartache that will follow if I refuse to change my ways.  Things go better when we follow God’s plan, which is to love Him, and acknowledge our total dependence on Him.  Today I found myself in Leviticus, literally and figuratively, where the Bible records the story of the Israelites after their deliverance from Egypt but before their entrance into the Promised Land.  Listen to Moses, recounting the story to the people.  

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“And I said to you, ‘You have come to the hill country of the Amorites, which the Lord our God is giving us.  See, the LORD your God has set the land before you.  Go up, take possession, as the LORD, the God of your fathers has told you, Do not fear or be dismayed.’  Then all of you came near me and said, ‘Let us send men before us, that they may explore the land for us and bring us word again of the way by which we must go up and the cities into which we shall come.’  The thing seemed good to me, and I took twelve men from you, one man from each tribe.  And they turned and went up into the hill country and came to the Valley of Eschol and spied it out.  And they took in their hands some of the fruit of the land and brought it down to us, and brought us word again, and said, 'It is a good land that the LORD our God is giving us.’  Yet you would not go up, but rebelled against the command of the LORD your God.  And you murmured in your tents and said, 'Because the LORD hated us he has brought us out of the land of Egypt, to give us into the hand of the Amorites, to destroy us.'”

Deuteronomy 1:120-27 (ESV)

 

 

“And I said to you, ‘You have come to the hill country of the Amorites, which the Lord our God is giving us.  See, the LORD your God has set the land before you.'”  

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Through Christ we can become children of God.  As His children, God  has not necessarily promised us physical property to inhabit, but He has promised us many things.  Things for this life, things for the life to come (not to mention the life to come itself).  Who has set these things before us?  Us? With all of our planning, hard work and effort? Hardly.  It may well be good to have vision, to work heartily, but let’s be clear; like the Israelites, God orders our steps and it is He who provides what He has purposed to provide.

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“' Go up, take possession, as the LORD, the God of your fathers has told you, Do not fear or be dismayed.'”  

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Our calling is not complex.  Go.  Take.  Don’t be afraid.  But sometimes we don’t go.  We plan to go, we are just waiting for a little more assurance.  We want to know how big the battle is going to be, how uncomfortable it might make us.   Then, then we will go.  

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“Then all of you came near me and said, ‘Let us send men before us, that they may explore the land for us and bring us word again of the way by which we must go up and the cities into which we shall come.'”

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Again, we need a little more information.  Really.  It is not that we do not want to go, it is just that we want to know the plan.  (As if the Red Sea opening up and swallowing 600 chariots and an army is not sufficient evidence that God has a trustworthy plan even when we don’t know the plan.)

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"The thing seemed good to me, and I took twelve men from you, one man from each tribe.  And they turned and went up into the hill country and came to the Valley of Eschol and spied it out.  And they took in their hands some of the fruit of the land and brought it down to us, and brought us word again, and said, 'It is a good land that the LORD our God is giving us.'"

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Yeah!  The assurance we seek, God really is true to His word.  Let’s go.

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"Yet you would not go up, but rebelled against the command of the LORD your God."

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   Oh, wait a minute.  Obstacles stand in the way.  We know we can depend on our God, but we like independent dependence.  You know, the kind where we conquer the task after He shows us how capable He has made us, not the kind that calls us to leap out of our comfort zones and trust Him for the landing.  

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“And you murmured in your tents and said, 'Because the LORD hated us he has brought us out of the land of Egypt, to give us into the hand of the Amorites, to destroy us.'”

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Frail.  That is what we are.  It does not take long for us to go from hopelessness to miraculous deliverance to thinking that God doesn’t like us.

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How much better it goes when we are okay with depending on Him.

Totally, utterly depending on Him.

His plan.  His way.  His means.

We can trust Him.  We can trust His love.

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Not only do we not have to do it ourselves, we are not supposed to do it ourselves.  And by “it” I mean everything.  Love Him.  Trust Him.  Live with steadfast faith in Him.  When life is good.  When life is hard.  There is a reason of ourselves we cannot do it.  We need Him.  

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I am entering a “hurry up and wait” season of life.  By His grace, I pray to wait with anticipation, not just for what I wait for, but for Him.  I do not know if what I am waiting for will show up, but I do know that He will.

 

I do not know how the journey will go.  I would certainly like to spy it out, but in this case my hands are tied.  Perhaps that is a good thing.  Perhaps some obstacles would cause me to hesitate rather than step.  

 

There was a man once who understood what it meant to depend on God.  He trusted in the good times.  He trusted in the hard times.  His name was Job.  Job met some obstacles, devastating losses that would cause anyone to question whether or not God actually liked them.  Job’s initial response to loss was not to question, but rather to bow down and worship.  

Step One-Utter submission.  A rightful response as opposed to resistance, anger, why me, how can I fix this, etc...

Step 2- Worship.  Demonstrative fear (awe, magnification) of the Lord.  Focus on the never changing greatness of God rather than the current situation.  When life brought challenge for Job, rather than analyze his plight or try and circumvent the pain, Job did what He was accustomed to doing, He bowed before God in awe and in complete dependence.    

 

Maybe you find yourself in a land of plenty today.  Maybe you find yourself in a wilderness.  Either way, you are totally dependent on God.  You can rest on His promises, so do.  Rest in Him.  Not in a passive I do not have to do anything sort of way, but in an active show me where to be and what to do today sort of way.  Rest from your plan, your worry, your need for more information.  You do not need to know, you just need to know the One who knows all things.  Press into Him, and let Him take care of the giants.

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