The Power of God’s Presence
During Israel’s time in the wilderness, God works to show them his power and faithfulness. But despite God’s efforts, when Israel faces its greatest test, it fails. On the precipice of the Promised Land, the Israelites refuse to enter when they discover the land is filled with powerful people. This is why the spies don’t believe Israel can’t be victorious. But Caleb and Joshua offer a minority report. While they understand the people are formidable, they see the power of God’s presence with them as decisive. When the Naysayers win the day, God sentences that generation to wander aimlessly.
Israel failed the test because they saw their weakness as too great for God’s power to overcome. His people can still fall into this trap today. While God hasn’t commanded us to invade the promised land, he has commanded us to live out the presence of his kingdom in this present world. This is a heavy lift. Loving enemies, welcoming strangers and giving to all who ask, go against the grain for most of us. And so we can refuse to try, because, seeing our weakness, we think it impractical. But, like Israel before us, we discount The power of God’s presence in our midst. We forget that God can take our halting and inadequate efforts and, by his grace, make up the difference. While we have no hope of doing it perfectly, we can trust that God’s grace at work in us. That our lives, given over to his purposes, will be enough to claim the promised land.
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