Land of the Giants
With toes curled tightly over the edge of the diving board and the refreshing blue water 12 feet below, I found myself at 7 years old for the very first time standing on the high diving board. With friends cheering below, which seemed more like a mile away rather than just 12 feet, I was faced with the decision that one step forward would bring great accomplishment, pride and acceptance or one step backward would bring great failure, embarrassment and ridicule.
The Israelites in our passage this morning are standing at the edge of the Promised land, the land God promised to give them for their own, poised to reap the blessings and the treasures that lay in the land of Canaan.
The 12 spies returned from exploring the land with a glowing report—the fruit was large and luscious and the land indeed “flowed with milk and honey”. When they returned they reported that the land was just as God had promised but they observed that there were obstacles in the land as well—the people were powerful, the cities fortified and there were even giants in the land. Their observations led to negative interpretation (we can’t attack these people), which led to exaggeration (all the people are giants) and ultimately led to paralyzation (let’s all just forget the whole thing and go back to Egypt).
Canaan, in the Old Testament, is a type of the kingdom of God, God’s rest and the peace found in His presence. The promise of the kingdom of God is given to every believer—but how often do we get right up to the edge of God’s peace, staring at the fruit of His rest, only to back away because of the giants living there.
How many come right up to the edge of salvation, get a glimpse of the joys others express, feel the conviction of the Spirit in their hearts but pull away because the giant of the world beckons to them. [Felix in the Book of Acts, after hearing Paul relay the gospel message of salvation through Jesus Christ says, “You may leave now; I’ll send for you later when I find it convenient to hear about this again.”]
How many come up to the edge of walking in total obedience to God, seeing the blessings of a consecrated life and the rewards of servanthood, desiring to be committed to that life, but decide that the price is too costly and the time too demanding.
But you see my friends, it wasn’t the giants in the land that made them complain and grumble against God, nor is it the obstacles in our own Christian life that keep us from a fulfilling walk with Christ, it is the giants in the heart—the giants of unbelief, of fear and of complacency that really keep us from enjoying God’s peace and presence.
See, every Promised Land has its giants, every blessing has its challenges. When the rich man asked Jesus what he must do to inherit eternal life, Jesus answered, “Keep God’s commandments and sell all you have and come follow me.” The blessing of eternal life was met by the challenge of getting his priorities in order.
I. The first giant we face is the giant of unbelief.
When you think about it, God simply said to go and explore the land, not determine if it was the right place. God already knew the land was good and already gave it to the Israelites. So—the Israelites had no reason not to believe God. They had both His promises that this would be their land and it would be bountiful, but they also had experience on their side as well. God already delivered them from slavery in Egypt, He fed them each and every day and He went before them as a cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. We too live both by God’s word in Scripture and our experiences with Him. So why does unbelief even enter in?
Here’s what we think—
It’s those darn giants again—we would have no problem trusting God if it weren’t for those challenges and obstacles all around us!
You see my friends, the giants are there to test our trust and belief as well as bring us to maturity.
James 1:2—
Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.
God is teaching us that our faith never grows in comfortable surroundings—as a matter of fact, if things are too easy it doesn’t even take faith at all.
If it’s difficult and gets done anyway, our faith grows and God gets the glory. Have you ever noticed—
When God is going to do something wonderful, He begins with a difficulty.
When God is going to do something really stupendous, He begins with an impossibility.
We can go ahead and doubt God’s promises in our lives, we can doubt that our church will ever grow and be blessed; after all that’s what the Israelites did and the result was 40 years of wandering in circles. I don’t know about you but I don’t feel like wandering for the next 40 years
Unbelief will always blind you to God’s greatness and magnify your own weakness.
Remember that!
II. The second giant we face is the giant of fear.
For the Israelites, the fear of giants and fortified cities outweighed the blessing of the fruit that they saw. V. 32 says they began to see the land of milk and honey as the land that devours those living in it. Quite a switch!
You see, the element that contributes the most to fear in our Christian walk is that we measure obstacles and challenges against our own strength and resources instead of focusing on God’s power and resources.
The Israelites saw themselves as grasshoppers in the eyes of the giants, where instead they should have seen the giants as grasshoppers in the eyes of God.
As David was being pursued by King Saul He cries out to God in Psalm 27:1—
The Lord is my light and salvation, whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life, of whom shall I be afraid?
In v. 4 he says—
May I dwell in the house of the Lord...for in the day of trouble, he will keep me safe in His dwelling.
The important question is not, “How big is the problem” or “How big am I” but “How big is my God?”
Paul wrote to a discouraged Timothy in 2Tim 1:7—
For God did not give us a spirit of timidity but a spirit of love and of power and of self-discipline.
My friends, when fear keeps you away from God’s leading remember that He is your refuge and you can do all things in Him who gives you strength.
III. The third giant we face is the giant of comfort and complacency.
A few giants show up and all of a sudden everything is just fine where we are, it’s not so bad here—just wandering around, no nation, no homeland, no place to settle. The Israelites began to remember and long for the days when they were slaves in Egypt. “Oh, the garlic and the leaks.” Have you ever noticed that in your Christian walk? What fear and unbelief don’t do, comfort and complacency makes up for—suddenly mediocrity and the status quo seem just fine.
The fruit is bigger than life, BUT there are giants living in the land.
The land flows with milk and honey, NEVERTHELESS it will devour us.
Two conjunctions that will kill a zealous Christian are BUT AND NEVERTHELESS.
I would be more obedient but...
I would get more involved with the church nevertheless...
I would tithe more often but...
I would go where you are leading me God nevertheless...
My friends, if there is no risk, there will be no growth. The aim of comfort and complacency is to avoid taking risks. Now I am not talking about being reckless and irresponsible, but if we seek the Lord and feel the Spirit’s leading, we can risk the criticism and judgment of others and even the ridicule because God has blessed what we’re doing. Complacency avoids that at all cost and holds us back in our comfort zones.
Most times God works out of comfort zones and challenges us to go beyond them. If you think about it—Paul because he was a Pharisee and highly educated man probably was the best qualified to preach to the Jews, his own people. But God chose him to bring the gospel to the gentiles instead. He pushed Paul and stretched him to the limit. There were times when Paul despaired of life itself. But he continued to grow and push for the finish line.
Joshua and Caleb risked being singled out and outnumbered by the rest, yet they stood boldly and said “we should go up and take possession of the land for we can certainly do it. Of the entire group, these two were the only ones that God allowed to enter into the Promised Land because they trusted God and were willing to risk the obstacles for the blessings.
I never did jump that day as a 7-year-old—the 12-foot giant that lay in front of me scared me away. It would be years before I would try it again and I think of all the things I didn’t attempt in the meantime and all the accomplishments I missed out on because of doubt and fear.
10 of the 12 spies that went out to explore the Promised Land forgot God’s promises; they forgot His works, His faithfulness and His provision. All they could see were the giants. They took their eyes off the solution, off what they knew to be true and dwelt on the problem.
My friends, I really feel that our church has been standing for some time on the edge of God’s leading, and all we can see are the giants and the challenges—there are size challenges, financial challenges, resource challenges, property challenges and yes there are even motivation and desire challenges. Sadly, I feel in many ways the giants of unbelief, fear and complacency are winning. I feel where challenges were once perceived as opportunities to demonstrate our faith and trust in God’s provision are now seen only as insurmountable obstacles.
For the Israelites, 40 days of testing, tasting and exploring resulted in 40 years of aimless wandering because the giants were too formidable.
Will you be one of the two or one of the ten? Will you reap the blessings of God’s rest or will you waste them by wandering in the wilderness? The exploration is over and the reports are in—how will you cast your vote?
