Messages

Glass Half Empty

8.24.09

Moses sent twelve spies into the Promised Land to check out who the enemy was and to develop battle strategies to defeat them. God was going to allow them to go into the Promised Land, but they first had to defeat and drive out their enemies in order to conquer and possess the land.
When the spies came back, ten of them came back with a bad report. They said their enemies were giants and that their kingdoms were too well fortified and they wouldn't be able to defeat them. Glass half empty

Now mind you, God had just got done pulling and delivering them out of Egypt with one of the greatest displays of His supernatural power the world has ever seen with Him throwing 10 whopper plaques against the Egyptians and then parting the Red Sea to give them safe passage into the wilderness.

When God saw their negative attitudes and their lack of faith and belief in Him and His power, He literally threw up His hands and said that was going to be it. At this point, He tells them that all of the men 20 years and older would not enter into the Promised Land due to their lack of faith and belief in Him.

You see Joshua and Caleb were the other two spies that went out and when they came back they had a different outlook. They saw the glass half full and viewed the promise land for truly what it was (Numbers 13  26-33). Because of this, entire generations perished in the desert and were not allowed in. (the older generations)

Joshua became the leader that eventually led them in. Moses himself was not allowed to go in and he died and was buried out in the wilderness.

Joshua then goes into the Promised Land with his strong faith and belief in God, and then proceeds to literally wipe their enemies off the face of the earth and conquer and possess the land that God had promised their forefathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

How we can apply this to our lives
The Promised Land for today's Christian refers to God's call on that person's life. For the Christian that will fully surrender his entire life over to God the Father - I believe God will place a specific call or calls on that person's life. However, it may take many years before God releases this person into what his true calling is going to be for Him. Sometimes it may take years of preparation to get ready for this call.

But once this call comes in and you are getting ready to cross over into your Promised Land, many Christians get cold feet at the last minute and walk out on their call. They start to get too focused on all the negative possibilities they will encounter if they take the call. Fear starts to set in and they then bail out of the boat.

Don’t get cold feet and don’t bail out of the boat when God directs you to your promise land. We will all face challenging moments in our lives and it is at that time we need to have the faith to see the glass half FULL. Allow your faith in God to guide you through this time of uncertainty...see things through Gods eyes and not as others would have you see them.

Tim Carlisle