Have you realized how sometimes we say one thing but believe the other. Typical example is when we say we believe in God and yet worry about everything? I believe we all have been there before. I have always been very nervous when it comes to flying. The reason being because I am not in control. The same is true for most believers, we want to be in control of everything in our lives. But to give control to God will mean we trust him totally. That will mean to believe what we say – That He is our God.
Walking or Wandering?
In the sermon, Our wilderness experience, Pastor Neil Acheampong made a statement that made me pause and think. The question was “Are YOU walking or wandering?
What is walking? Walking as intentionally putting one foot in front of the other. Walking is done intentionally. In our journey through life, we can only make progressive strives when we do it intentionally with God. Not just lip saying but really trusting when we don’t see or know the way.
What is wandering? The dictionary defines it as aimlessly traveling from place to place; itinerant. Wandering is an aimless act. End result cannot be calculated and therefore no progress is made when you wander. Wandering is associated with no plan, no defined destination.Wandering does not leads anywhere.
What causes us to wander instead of walking. Unbelief
Unbelief kept the people of Israel in the wilderness for 40 years. A journey some believe takes about 10 days. God knowing their strength for war led them away from waring countries and they reached the borders of Canaan about 11 weeks from Kardish-Bernie. They sent 12 spies to the land of Canaan and upon the reports of 10 men, they believed they were unable or incapable.They saw themselves as grass hoppers compared to their enemies. We are the same today. There are days we see our problems and we feel like grass hoppers because in the moment we forget the greatness of our God.
What is God telling us to do that we have decided we are incapable of doing? It seems huge and we feel small. “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.” – Jesus told the woman of Samaria at the well-John 4:10.He is telling us the same, if he is asking us to do something he will supply us the grace to do it.
It is also common to believe the popular report. The popular report kept them wandering for years. Who are you listening to? The world says we become weaker with the number of our days and we sing the chorus with them but the word of God says as our days so shall be our strength be – Deuteronomy 33:25. Meaning the older we get the stronger we should get. Whose report will you believe. The report you believe will cause you to either walk or wander. We cannot spend all our days on earth wandering. We will have to either believe God and walk or live our lives in unbelief and wander.
The land of Canaan had giants for a purpose.To build the city for God’s people. A land with large, flourishing cities you did not build, houses filled with all kinds of good things you did not provide, wells you did not dig, and vineyards and olive groves you did not plant – Deuteronomy 6:10-11 – this was the land God was bringing them to. The giant – so called because of their size were placed on the land before them to build bigger houses. Plant bigger vine yards. The machine they had will be bigger to accomplish their work. These were all done by the giants but in God’s purpose for the Israelites. The Israelites were going to inherit all these big good stuff but it took them years to get them because of unbelief.
The size of your giant determines the size of your inheritance. Caleb saw the giants as bread to be fed on – Numbers 14:10. The giants are in our lives to make us stronger. Very few believers will see them that way like Caleb and Joshua. Many like the other 10 spies who had also experienced God’s power at the Red Sea were not willing to placed their lives in God’s hands.The people were ready to stone the two who believed. It feels the same today, many will stone the one who believe and tell them to be realistic. Because Caleb and Joshua believed, they and their descendants inherited the land.What promises will your descendent miss because of your unbelief?
Don’t keep wandering and forfeit your inheritance in Christ Jesus. Decide to walk. Believe God. It might look scary to let go completely but your hands are too small to hold on to you life. His hands are much bigger.
Reference: Dictionary.com
