"Here, there be Giants!"

There’s this story in the bible about a time when the people of Israel completely missed out on the promises of God due to their unbelief. The people of Israel were coming out of over four-hundred years of bondage in Egypt. God has spoken through his prophet and leader Moses, and through “many signs and wonders” he has delivered them out of the hands of the Egyptians. Through their journey God continually shows up in mighty miracles: they crossed over the Red Sea, fed by manna from heaven, water from rocks, healings, in a pillar of cloud in the day and a pillar of fire by night, and even coming to dwell among them in his Shekinah glory in the Tabernacle (if you don’t believe me, just watch the movie). God’s presence was continually visible to these people...but they never seemed to completely “get it”. Their journey, while marked with miracles of God’s glory, was also marked with their continual griping. Throughout the story the people are continually speaking badly about their situation, so much so that scholars refer to them as the “murmuring generation”.  Nothing was ever good enough, and no promise that God ever made was bigger than their perception of their problems.

After eleven months of traveling the people of Israel arrive at the “Promised Land”. We call it the Promised Land because it had been “promised” by God, hundreds of years earlier to Abraham (who is the ‘father’ of the Israelites). This is it, their moment of triumph. They are at the cusp of realizing all of their dreams, not only of their generation—but countless generations prior. As they arrive at the outskirts of the land they decide to send in twelve spies (one from each of the twelve tribes that make up the people of Israel) for a little recon mission. The twelve spies return and give their report—the land is good, just as God has said (shock!)...”flowing with milk and honey” (sounds sticky!) However, the spies also noted something else in the land...people. Not just any people, warriors, a people that looked “like giants”, and fortified cities...major obstacles! “Ahhh! Hide your wife, hide your kids! (sorry I couldn’t resist). Not all the spies are upset at the obstacles. There are two dissenters, the minority-report we could call them. A couple of younger guys, Caleb and Joshua, (young is relative here, probably in early 40s late 30s) stand up and give a different account. They give the same facts, the land is everything they had ever dreamed...and yes there are some pretty bad dudes there and some gnarly fortified cities, but...and this is a big but (like Sir Mix-a-Lot type), they are quick to remind the people that while all of the problems they see are real, so are the promises of God. You see, they had the same facts, but they also had faith. Caleb proclaims to the people, “...the Lord is with us; do not fear them.” Caleb remembered the promises of God, the same ones that had been heard by all of the tribes—God is “giving this land to us.” Caleb’s pleas go unheard, the people refuse to see God’s promises to be bigger than their problems...and they rebel against God. God’s had enough of this generation of grumblers and he proclaims that none of their generation, save Joshua and Caleb, will ever set foot into the Promised Land—they are doomed to wander in the wilderness until every one of them has died. Their refusal to recognize the promises of God...and the power of the God who made these promises, led to their missing of the promise altogether. In short, they allowed perceived problems to be bigger than the power of God’s promise (like what I did there with the ‘p’ thing...see I am a Baptist!)

While this story took place thousands of years ago...it takes place daily in the lives of God’s people today. Too often we give undeserved power to problems...to “giants” that are but gnats in contrast to the power of God. When we do this place our problems above God. Through our actions we are saying to God, “you’re not big enough...you can’t do it”. What we need to be focused on, however, are not the problems...but the promise, better yet...the voice that makes the promise. So as you seek to live out the commands of God (loving God completely, yourself correctly and others compassionately) you will no doubt find obstacles...but never fear, obstacles can quickly become opportunities to glorify God, when seen through the eyes of faith.