May 22, 2012
So Joshua told the Israelites, "Come and listen to what the Lord your God says. Today you will know that the living God is among you. He will surely drive out the Canaanites, Hittites, Hivites, Perizzites, Girgashites, Amorites, and Jebusites ahead of you. -- Joshua 3: 9-10 (NLT)
Joshua is largely considered one of the greatest war strategists in history. But his true testimony always was found in his unwavering faith in who God is, what God has promised, and how God was going to deliver. Remember that for 40 years prior to Joshua taking over the leadership of Israel from Moses, they all were wandering the wilderness together. God's stern judgment upon a disbelieving people.
Moses had led the people right up to the border of the Promised Land. It was called the Promised Land because God promised it to Israel. Twelve spies were sent out to see about the land. The land was so prosperous that it took two men to carry a single cluster of grapes between them on two poles! But whenever there are the promises of God staring us in the face we can expect the enemy to be whispering in our ears. You see, there were giants in the land and ten of the spies couldn't see past their giants to see the promise:
But the other men who had explored the land with him disagreed. "We can't go up against them! They are stronger than we are!" So they spread this bad report about the land among the Israelites: "The land we traveled through and explored will devour anyone who goes to live there. All the people we saw were huge. We even saw giants there, the descendants of Anak. Next to them we felt like grasshoppers, and that's what they thought, too!" -- Numbers 13: 31-33 (NLT)
We felt like grasshoppers and that's what they thought too. Forget what God has promised, the task looks too tall for us! Forget who God is -- take a look at those giants! It may sound funny but realize how often we do the exact same thing to God today? God has promised us a land too that is flowing with milk and honey. He has promised us the abundant life filled with victory but how many of us still struggle and walk in defeat? How many of us look at the giants we face and say the task is simply too hard? But there were two of the twelve spies who had a different report. Caleb and Joshua had faith in the God they served and the promises He had made:
Two of the men who had explored the land, Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh, tore their clothing. They said to all the people of Israel, "The land we traveled through and explored is a wonderful land! And if the Lord is pleased with us, he will bring us safely into that land and give it to us. It is a rich land flowing with milk and honey. Do not rebel against the Lord , and don't be afraid of the people of the land. They are only helpless prey to us! They have no protection, but the Lord is with us! Don't be afraid of them!" -- Numbers 14: 6-9 (NLT)
They have no protection, but the Lord is with us! What a stark contrast to the doubt and unbelief. Unfortunately, the majority was ruling and God had enough:
""Because your men explored the land for forty days, you must wander in the wilderness for forty years--a year for each day, suffering the consequences of your sins. Then you will discover what it is like to have me for an enemy.' I, the Lord , have spoken! I will certainly do these things to every member of the community who has conspired against me. They will be destroyed here in this wilderness, and here they will die!" -- Numbers 14: 34-35 (NLT)
Only Joshua and Caleb were spared from the disbelieving generation. The rest died wandering in the wilderness. This brings us back to the key verses and Joshua standing on the edge of the Promised Land once again. Once again there were people living in the land. Blocking the manifestation of the promises of God. Not just giants but now there were seven different groups of people living in the land God had promised to Israel. But Joshua didn't care how many there were or how big they seemed. The only thing that mattered to him then was the same thing that mattered to him 40 years earlier -- what has God promised! Surely He will drive out ahead of you anything that inhabits the land He has promised. If He has to do it seven times, He will. Why? Because He has promised and He is not a man that He should lie:
God is not a man, so he does not lie. He is not human, so he does not change his mind. Has he ever spoken and failed to act? Has he ever promised and not carried it through? -- Numbers 23: 19 (NLT)
So who is living in your land today? What giants or foreign tribes have you allowed to set up shop in your territory? What mountain do you keep on circling, waiting for God to remove it even though He has told you that with faith as small as a mustard seed you could remove it! Is there bitterness living in your land today? Unforgiveness? Faithlessness? Is there an addiction you cannot get past? Is there grief that won't let go of your soul? Whatever giant it is that is sitting in your land we need to do two things today -- get a hold of the promises of God and then stand on them.
I am not suggesting it is easy in our flesh to ignore what our soul is selling us. The giants were real beloved. The seven different peoples were real. Christianity is not about denying reality it is about believing that God is bigger than what we might see, feel, or fear. We have to get a hold of the promises of God again because we can lose them so easily wandering around in the wilderness. We need to get back into the Word and read it until we see the scope of the promises God has made for us and the land He wants us to conquer. Once we have secured those promises again, we need to hold on tight to them. We need to stand on them and no matter what we see before we need to declare on faith that God will drive out before us that which does not belong to Him. Who is living in your land today? If God has promised that land to you, and you stand on His promises by faith -- He will surely drive them out before you.
Rev. Anthony
