Now therefore, give me this mountain of which the Lord spoke in that day; for you heard in that day how the Anakim were there, and that the cities were great and fortified. It may be that the Lord will be with me, and I shall be able to drive them out as the Lord said.”
I received through WhatsApp last week, some photos of the skull and skeleton of Goliath, the giant whom King David slew. It was purportedly a result of an archeological find in Israel. The photos showed Goliath to be a giant of at least 20 feet tall, and a head as big as an armchair! I learnt later that those photos were photoshopped and exaggerated.
Whatever it was, the fact remains that David did kill an intimidating giant. Caleb in Joshua 14 asked for a mountain occupied by giants of the day. He recognized 2 very important facts: God will do what He has promised, and the giants are real!
Caleb remembered the time when God promised him his Promise Land. Due to the unbelief of others, the hostility they showed towards him, Joshua, Moses and Aaron, to the point of wanting to kill them, he missed God’s promised blessings for the subsequent 40 years. For him to enter into his Promise Land at this point, he needed God’s presence more than anything. He needed to stay above and come out from the entanglement of strife, bitterness, disappointment and discouragement. He needed to forgive and show grace, in order he may enter into God’s grace.
This year we shall see God bringing us into new beginnings, new flourishing, advancing into our Promise Land. In order to enter into what God has promised, sometimes we need to first “take” the mountain in front of us. What is the mountain with giants in your life? It could be some new challenges ahead. It could be having to face our fears, past failures and defeats. The giants could be in us, our unbelief, lukewarmness, discouragement, disappointment, bitterness, offence, etc. All these can hinder us from entering into God’s promises for us.
Get out from the entanglement with your past. Forgive and show grace. So that you might enter into God’s amazing grace this year!