New Morning Mercies #177

Discouragement focuses more on the broken glories of creation than it does on the restoring glories of God’s character, presence, and promises.

They were standing on the borders of the land that God had promised them. It stretched out with beauty before their eyes. They had sent explorers into the land to check it out. The report came back that it was rich and lush, producing sweet and succulent fruit. But the children of Israel were not jumping up and down in celebration and anticipation. They were not chomping at the bit to get going. They were doing quite the opposite; they were digging in their heels and refusing to move at all. They stood there grumbling against the Lord, saying: “Because the Lord hated us he has brought us out of the land of Egypt, to give us into the hands of the Amorites, to destroy us. . . . ‘The people are greater and taller than we. The cities are great and fortified up to heaven’” (Deut. 1:27–28).

The Bible says that these historical moments, significant times of spiritual evaluation and decision, have been recorded for our example and our instruction because these were people just like us. It was the most wonderful moment of grace in their lives. They were about to be given what they did not deserve and could not earn. Life, rich and full, was on the other side of that border. It was theirs for the taking because the One who had redeemed them from bondage was not just a Deliverer of freedom; he was also a Giver of life. They had earned nothing, but they were about to get it all. But they refused. They would not move. It all seemed unrealistic and impossible. It seemed like a cruel setup; the big, spiritual bait and switch. They had been promised a land of their own, but what they got was a place filled with people who didn’t want them there. What in the world was God doing anyway?

Their disappointed thinking had a fatal flaw in it. What they saw as being in the way of God’s plan was actually part of his plan; what caused their faith to weaken was actually God’s tool to build their faith.

God knows what you too are facing. He sees well the brokenness that is all around you. He is not in a panic, wondering how he’ll ever pull off his plan with all these obstacles in the way. Don’t be discouraged. God has you exactly where he wants you. He knows just how he will use what makes you afraid in order to build your faith. He is not surprised by the troubles you face, and he surely has no intention of leaving you to face those things on your own. He stands with you in power, glory, goodness, wisdom, and grace. He can defeat what you can’t, and he intends these troubles to be not enemies that finish you but tools of grace that transform you.

For further study and encouragement: Joshua 1