Kicking Giants out of Your Land

Have you ever been given a present that you just weren’t expecting? I have. It was at Christmas. When we first got married my husband and I didn’t have much money so we gave each other a small budget to get presents, this tradition has continued for a number of years despite our growing resources and family. The other year, I opened a present and it contained a Kindle and it was far more than the budget that I was used to. I think my response was one of joy and surprise and then … ‘But I haven’t got you anything that good!’ My husband didn’t give me a thoughtful and lovely present because he wanted a great gift too, he gave it because he knew I would love it and he loves me. This reminded me that we can often fall into this trap of needing to somehow earn the gift that GOD gives to us.

Last week I wrote about GOD telling the people to explore the land that He was providing for them. He wasn’t teasing them with he prospect of the land but was giving them the opportunity to get excited about what He was going to give to them.

I hope I don’t ruin the story for you, but the people decide that they can’t take the land and reject GOD’s promise. They talk about the giants in the land and are fearful that they look small there. They don’t see themselves as GOD sees them. GOD promised them this land a long time before they were even born. He knew and planned who He wanted to walk into it. They cannot see themselves living in the promise that GOD had prepared for them, because, in their minds, they weren’t worth all that extravagant abundance. It is true, they weren’t worth it, they were a multitude of nomadic slaves with nothing impressive to offer in return. They turned to fear to guide them.

I wonder if we can relate to this?! I know I can. I’m quick to run to looking at my faults and problems, to all the failures and smallness of who I think I am. I can think that perhaps one day I’ll earn that respect, promotion or calling … but it can’t be for me right now, not with the mess that I am in. I can let fear dictate to me how to respond to a situation or even when to be seen. My giants might be as simple as problems that I can’t see a way around, the obstacles to my calling or even the remnants of a past battle that haunt me. I’m just like the Israelites! But that doesn’t make either of us right!

They did not see themselves as GOD saw them. They were children of a promise, chosen to be His people, carriers of His grace and love, freed from slavery and adopted into His family. GOD had promised the land to them, He had brought them out of Egypt and led them to the land, He wanted them to explore it, see the goodness of what He provided and then enter in. GOD knows me better than I know me, He knows my history, what I am capable of (and what He is capable of) and who I am created to be … He wants me to step into the me that He sees.

Thank goodness for Caleb! He saw things differently.

We should go up and take possession of the land, for we can certainly do it. Numbers 13:30

While the majority got stuck in fear (and dragged everyone else there too), Caleb and Joshua kept their eyes and heart set in what GOD had promised to Abraham way back in Genesis 13. It wasn’t that they didn’t see the difficulties, they chose to focus on the promise of GOD’s presence.

… but the Lord is with us. Do not be afraid of them. Numbers 14:9

If GOD is for you … what can be against you? Romans 8:31

It isn’t that Caleb didn’t see the same things as the other spies, he saw the giants too, but he chose to trust that GOD had it covered. Why would GOD lead them to this place, tell them to explore it and then not follow through with giving them the land? Caleb was confident that the GOD he had come to know was faithful and strong and not dependent on people.

I love that GOD speaks in so many ways. Just as I was about to do this page in my Bible a friend told me about something that GOD wanted to say to me. She had said that the things that had been my rooftops, the things that I had been under, I am now going to dance on. What an encouragement! In other words, the things that had been the giants in the land that GOD had promised to me were not created to be in my land. It caused me to see the land that I had been exploring for quite a while in a different way. I was to see it as the land I was made to go up into and possess. I don’t need to be afraid because the Lord is with me.

Maybe this word is for you too… if we listen to the enemy lie about the power of the giants and what he would say as the lack of wise strength of our GOD, we will be just like the Israelites and perhaps never possess the land that GOD wants us to possess. The enemy wants to tell us that the giants are too big, the things we have been through were or are too tough, the things that we can offer are inadequate or that the person that we are is too small. By listening we can easily miss what GOD has called us to possess. We need to remember that GOD doesn’t see us that way at all. He doesn’t waste anything and turns those ‘giant’ places into lands flowing with milk and honey for us.

I’m writing this with a prayer that over the summer weeks you will not only explore what GOD has for you but step into it too.

I’m taking some time off social media to do, among other things, some exploring and possessing land with GOD. See you in September.

Katy 😉