Giants in the Land!

Numbers 13 is a great example of being called to go somewhere you've never been and do something you’ve never done. Equipped for it with God’s presence and encouragement but not doing it because of fear and self-disqualification.

Look at it, beginning with verses 1 and 2:
1 The LORD said to Moses,
2 "Send some men to explore the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the Israelites. From each ancestral tribe send one of its leaders…

Now, skip down to verse 17 : Moses gave them specific instructions:
17 When Moses sent them to explore Canaan, he said, "Go up through the Negev and on into the hill country.
18 See what the land is like and whether the people who live there are strong or weak, few or many.
19 What kind of land do they live in? Is it good or bad? What kind of towns do they live in? Are they un-walled or fortified?
20 How is the soil? Is it fertile or poor? Are there trees on it or not? Do your best to bring back some of the fruit of the land." (It was the season for the first ripe grapes.)

They spent 40 days there… and came back to report what they saw!

Read from verse 26 on… The report has 2 very distinct parts:
Part 1 – (verse 26 & 27) – This is a land flowing with milk and honey!
What GREAT news… God is providing for our needs! Look at these grapes, for crying out loud! This is a land flowing with milk and honey! All we’ve had for the past couple of years is manna, quail and water – think of it! No more quail burgers, no more ba-manna-bread, no more manna-cotti...

Sounds AWESOME doesn't it? You can almost imagine Moses and the elders asking excitedly…What next? What other great news can you tell us?? Come on, let’s hear what next?? We can’t wait!!

Part 2 – BUT (why is there always a “but”?) – (verse 28 & 29) –
28 But the people who live there are powerful, and the cities are fortified and very large. We even saw descendants of Anak there.
29 The Amalekites live in the Negev; the Hittites, Jebusites and Amorites live in the hill country; and the Canaanites live near the sea and along the Jordan."

They named off every possible enemy (Specifically the giants) and excuse as to why NOT to go in and take the land (especially the giants)… if you look at the last verse in the chapter, you see that they thought little of themselves, let alone what others would think. “We are like grasshoppers in our own eyes…” They went so far as to say they’d rather go back to Egypt rather than enter the land.

They didn’t take into account that God was the one who promised them the land, and that if He was giving it to them that He would not just let them die, but He would show Himself strong and able to bring His word to pass.

Their rebellion and refusal to enter the land cost them another 40 years of wandering around the desert.

No, God didn’t desert them, He still dwelt among them in the Tabernacle; He still provided for them; He still led them with the pillar of fire by night and the cloud of smoke by day. Of all of those who left Egypt, only Joshua and Caleb went in to the land God promised the Children of Israel because they had a different spirit and were willing to go when God said to go.

How does this relate to today? As I've mentioned in previous posts, as a church, we are in the beginning phase of refocusing our ministry. It is a process that can be met with resistance even if it is approached with considerable prayer and preparation. Even if we face resistance though, we must move forward if this is where God is calling us to go.

Looking at the word refocus, it has no meaning if we don’t realize that we are OUT of focus in the first place.

I’d like to think of it like this - it’s like looking through a telescope towards a moving ship on the bay… Over time, as the ship moves closer or farther away it goes out of focus, you can’t tell what it looks like… we haven’t moved, but the ship did. So, we have to twist the knob to bring it back to focus.

As a church, we’ve moved through the seasons of life and time. So has our community. As things have changed, we need God to twist our knob as a church in order to bring us back INTO focus.

Now, here we are, as a church, with God pressing us towards the process of refocusing our ministry to be effective in our community. We can look at it much like they did in Numbers 13, with 2 ways to go:
1) To engage the refocus while our purpose is still in sight, looking towards the future and it’s fruit.
Or
2) To not engage the process, and watch our church lose relevancy in the community and ultimately lose sight of it’s purpose completely.

I leave you with two questions to think about today:
1) Do we look at our community as being the land of God’s promise?
Or
2) Do we look at our community as being a place to avoid because it’s filled with giants and the ground is hard?

Let's not be so quick to disqualify ourselves or those God has placed in our lives. When we are empowered by His Spirit and called to the mission, He will meet all of our needs, prepare the ground in front of us and change the people we meet. Though there are giants in the land we shouldn't be afraid. God is with us!

Let's keep loving people, and keep Chasing the Mission!