"The Lord told Joshua, 'Don't be afraid and don't panic: Take the whole army with you and march against Ai!' See I am handing over to you the king of Ai, along with his people, city and land." Joshua 8:1
Do you remember the story where we find the Lord instructing Moses to send out men to inspect the promised land? They were to "seek out their enemies and develop strategies to defeat them". "God was going to allow them to possess the promised land but first they had to defeat and drive out some of their enemies in order to conquer and possess the land."
This morning I was reminded of the 10 spies whom came back with bad reports. They reported to Moses that the land was indeed flowing with milk and honey, "but the inhabitants are strong, and the cities are fortified and very large". They reported that their enemies made them seem like grasshoppers. But, Joshua and Caleb had a different report. Caleb spoke up to say "Let us go up and occupy it, for we are well able to conquer it." Numbers 13:30b The Israelites responded with unbelief. They cried and murmured against Moses and Aaron. They did this so much so that Joshua and Caleb went to drastic measures to put their attention back on God. They tore their garments and told the people that the land is exceedingly good land and that "if the Lord delights in us, then he will bring us into this land and give it to us- a land that is flowing with milk and honey". See Numbers 14: 6-8.
The measures that Joshua and Caleb took put them in a position to be stoned. Can you imagine both their faith and the fear this could have produced? I am at awe of their courage and their faith in our God. Today we struggle with believing God just as the Israelites did back then. God has made promises to each of us and we often doubt Him. With those promises come some action on our parts. We have to develop our own strategies of how we are going to defeat the devil when he comes to try to steal, kill and destroy. We have to go through some battles, some setbacks, some "this wasn't suppose to be this way or this wasn't suppose to happen to me" in order to get to that door of opportunity!!
But this bible story reminds me to not be afraid and to believe God! Often times we are standing right at the door of our blessings from God but because of our past or our unbelief we miss out because we are simply too afraid. Or God has allowed us to open the door and step in but we are too afraid to walk in it!! You know what we are afraid of? We are afraid to trust God, to take Him at His word that He's got us. That He's in this with us!! We are afraid of change. We are afraid of the unknown. We are afraid that God just might bless us with that thing we have been praying and waiting for. We are afraid that we might not know how to handle the fullness of His blessing. But ladies let me speak to you and myself that we are more than able to handle whatever the Lord sees fit to bless us with. We are more than capable of walking through any door, inhabiting any land/position He places us in because we armed with The Word of God! We are more than conquerors and we have been promised an abundant life!! And since He has been so kind to hand it to us, let us be grateful and enjoy it with trust in Him.
WALK BOLDLY AND CONFIDENTLY IN THAT THING!!!
Blessings,
Liz
