I am so thankful for God’s blessings in my life. I have a beautiful wife and two adorable twin boys that are cuter than your kids. Oh it’s true and yes, I will fight you. I have a loving and supportive family, great friends and a super awesome Kia minivan with a backup camera and heated seats. #spoiled #notsponsoredbykiabutcouldbe
That doesn’t mean life doesn’t have it’s struggles. I was reading Exodus and you think back to the people of Israel. They’ve been slaves in Egypt for generations. They’re just trying to make it through to tomorrow. They God shows up with Moses. God sends plagues, parts a sea, rains bread from the sky, and shoots water out of a rock just to name a few things. So when they finally get to their ultimate destination and start checking out the Promised Land, they get scared. They see large cities with massive walls, the great armies with men bigger and stronger than themselves. So even though God had already done so much and brought them so far, they decided it wasn’t worth it. “I mean, it’s not even really that great of a Promise Land. Who needs all that trouble? We’re just fine where we are.” That’s the Jeramy Collins version of Numbers 13:31-33.
But I think that’s how a lot of us feel sometimes. We work hard to get where we are in life. We grind and suffer and persevere to get to the end to see even more frustration and obstacles to overcome. We look at what lies ahead and decide where we are is fine.
Just to be completely open and honest this is how I feel now. I have worked my entire life in children’s ministry. I know it is my gifting and calling. Every church I’ve ever been a part of, all I’ve ever wanted to do is help children be everything God has created them to be. For the past several years, I have pursued full time employment in children’s ministry to no avail. It’s caused lots of frustration, anger, resentment, sorrow. Why would God give me these gifts and talents and not provide an avenue to use them? So I came to a point where I said, “I’m fine where I am. Clearly if I was suppose to be in full time children’s ministry I would be but I’m not. I have a wife and two kids and a kick butt minivan. I fine just where I am.”
But I’m not fine. I still believe in my heart that there is more. That just around the corner is the “Promised Land.” I’ve come too far and worked too hard to give up now and that dream and destiny is worth fighting for. “Worth Fighting For” Joshua and Caleb recognized this first hand. They saw the enemies that were inside the Promised Land, but they knew the risk was worth the reward. In Numbers 14:8, Joshua and Caleb told the people of Israel that “If the Lord delights in us, He will bring us into the land and give it to us, a land which flows with milk and honey.” They believed that there was more to life than what they had received. They believed in God’s word and chose to stand firm and trust in him.
We have to remember that we unfortunately live in a fallen and broken world that is going to continuously attack us, even when we enter the “Promised Land” God has established for us. But we can’t give up. We can’t let adversity win. No matter what stands between us, God’s Promise is worth fighting for.
