THE LAND (THE PLACE) GOD HAS GIVEN YOU
Numbers 13:1-2, 33 And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying,
[2] Send thou men, that they may search the land of Canaan, which I give unto the children of Israel: of every tribe of their fathers shall ye send a man, every one a ruler among them.
[33] And there we saw the giants, the sons of Anak, which come of the giants: and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight.
Is a grasshopper any match for a giant? If a grasshopper and a giant were going to fight against one another, my bet would be on the giant, wouldn’t yours? How can a grasshopper win with such a deficit of power? This was the cry of desperation heard from some of the men sent to spy out the land of Canaan. Sent to view the condition of the land and the people they came back with this opinion; we are like grasshoppers in our own sight. They cried further to say; In verse 31, “we be not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we“. How destructive are those four little words to the heart, “we be not able”? So destructive were their words that the entire nation of Israel lifted up their voices and wept that night. It crushed them and it sent them into a spiral of despair, doubt and fear all because of the negative report of another. They were dwarfed in the enormity of the enemy and the task God had given them. They were defeated before they even began.
It’s been said, when we set our focus on a problem we become one! How true this was for the spies sent out from Israel. We will never accomplish the will of God with our eyes off of Jesus! Their eyes were on the enemy rather than on God. Powerful Lesson: Friend, where we fix our gaze, will determine the strength of our walk with Jesus. Everything they had seen the Lord do went out the window the minutethey took their eyes off of God Almighty and laid eyes on the giants of the land God had already given to them. The choice of having the land had already been made by God, the One Who owned the land, the One Who held the deed to it; it was HIS to give, it had already been settled. The question was never would God give it to them, but rather would HIS people receive what HE had already extended?
God in HIS wisdom spoke to Moses in verse 2 of our text saying; “Send thou men, that they may search the land of Canaan, which I give unto the children of Israel: of every tribe of their fathers shall ye send a man, every one a ruler among them. Notice how God instructed the picking of the spies, “everyone a ruler and leader among them”. These were no ordinary men; they were men who were considered to be leaders among their tribes, men of influence and power, men whom the people would listen to. These men, gifted with this power of influence, were chosen to go out and view God’s gift of the land and the people who were in it. They came back with a report about the land and the people, but the problem came in when they came back with a report God never told them to give; a report about themselves; “we are not able to go up…we are like grasshoppers”!
God never chose Israel based on their strengths. They were enslaved, poor and oppressed when HEbrought them out to bring them to this land. Israel was needy, whiney and very fearful. They were a people who did not know war for they had never gone into battle. They were untrained! Did you catchthat? They were untrained, unequipped yet God was sending them to battle. This is so like our God! HE doesn’t call the trained; HE trains the called, HE doesn’t call the gifted, HE gifts the called, and HE doesn’t call the strong, HE strengthens the called! Well Gory! In other words, God takes a grasshopper, a seemingly nothing or nobody to this world and through Jesus makes a giant!
Has God called you to a great task and you fear because you lack experience, training and strength? Then there is good news! There is no enemy that can defeat the child of God and no land that cannot be conquered when the God of Heaven is with them. You are a giant when you have God’s Hand on you and you are in the land (THE PLACE) God has called you and given you!
Bro. Lawrence Longworth Isaiah 61:1 “the opening of the prison to them that are bound;”
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