My Mom shared something last weekend at the women’s retreat that has been stirring in my heart all week. It has been such an encouragement to me that I wanted to pass it on to you on this beautiful Sunday.
In the book of Numbers in the Bible, chapter 13, the children of Israel were standing at the edge of their promised land. They had finally reached their destination after a very challenging journey through the desert. God speaks to them and tells them to send men from every tribe to spy out the land which He was giving to them. So they send in the spies into the land and they travel all over the land seeing all of the people and cities, and they see that the land is absolutely beautiful. It is everything that God had promised them. A land “flowing with milk and honey”, in other words full of abundance. In fact, they cut such an enormous bunch of grapes from a vine that it takes two men to carry because it is so heavy with grapes.
However, when they finally they come back to the people to give them their report they say, “Yes, the land is wonderful and full of abundance, but there are giants in the land! We will never succeed.”And of the spies that went to see the land, only Caleb and Joshua stand up and say, “Yes, there may be giants, but have you seen the size of their fruit! God has given us this land, let’s go in.” Their eyes weren’t on the giants. To them it was a settled deal that God was going to give them the land. They looked at the giants and thought, “Look at the size of those men. Imagine what it takes to feed them, and all of that food is now ours!”
I love this story because we all have “giants” in our lives. It is so easy for us to be overwhelmed by them and back away from the destiny that God has for us. If God is leading you into something, the presence of giants should just be a great indicator that there is wonderful fruit and abundance ahead of you. What we have to get into our hearts is, “If there are giants in my life, imagine the size of the fruit they are eating and that fruit is my inheritance!” Giants in our life just mean that God is going to do something amazing, if we will just have the faith and courage to go into the land.
The children of Israel feared the giants and had to wonder in the wilderness for 40 more years and it was only their children that finally entered their promised land. In fact, the Bible tells us that of all of the people who gave and heard the report that day, only Joshua and Caleb were allowed to enter the promised land. Only Joshua and Caleb looked at the land and didn’t see the obstacles, they saw the fulfillment of promises of God.
Many of you today have dreams in your heart, and even promises from God and you have allowed your fear of the giants (obstacles to your dream) to keep you from what God has for you. I just want to challenge you today, that it’s not how big the giants are in your life, it’s how big is their fruit! I want to leave you today with the words of Joshua and Caleb in exhorting the people to go into the land, because they are an exhortation for you today,
“The land we passed through to spy out is an exceedingly good land. If the LORD delights in us, then He will bring us into this land and give it to us, a land which flows with milk and honey. Only do not rebel against the LORD, nor fear the people of the land, for they are our bread; their protection has departed from them, and the LORD is with us. Do not fear the giants.”
Numbers 14:7-9