No Longer a Grasshopper

This past week at School of the Word we were discussing how sometimes things happen to you. You believe God was leading you in a certain direction, but for whatever reason, you don't obtain the thing that you felt God was leading you toward. You may, or may not, understand why the thing didn't happen. You may be deeply disappointed or hurt because it DIDN'T happen, but there comes a time when you just need to "get over it".

Consider the Israelites...They wandered in the desert, led by Moses, but protected and cared for by God through the mighty miracles He performed on their behalf. He was leading them out of bondage (and a victim mindset) to a land flowing with milk and honey. In spite of all the miracles God performed, the children of Israel complained much and were fearful for their well-being. They didn't seem to grasp at times that the Creator of the Universe went with them and was on their side.

When the Israelites were camped out in the Desert of Paran, God directed Moses to send a leader from each of the twelve tribes to explore the land of Canaan, which God was GIVING to them. After 40 days the leaders returned to give account of what they had found. They discovered that indeed it WAS a land of abundance. A land with pools and streams of water. A land where there was wheat and barley,olive oil and honey, grapes, pomegranates and figs. Where iron and copper were abundant. The people would lack nothing. The people who lived in the land, however,were powerful; some were giants. Their cities were large and fortified, with "walls reaching the sky".

Caleb and Joshua were highly excited by what they saw! They remembered the miracles that God had performed and the people groups that God had helped the Israelites subdue and overcome. Caleb declared, "We SHOULD go up and take possession of the land, for we can certainly do it."

The other ten leaders were of a different mindset. They spread a bad report among the Israelites saying, "We can't attack those people; they are stronger than we are...The land we explored devours those living in it. All the people we saw there are of great size. We saw the Nephillim there (the descendants of Anak come from the Nephillim). We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them."

The Israelites became disheartened and fearful. Their belief and trust in God seemed to disappear in a puff of smoke. They rebelled against what God had commanded them to do. Their fear of man suddenly became bigger than their (holy) fear of God. They resorted to what was comfortable and familiar to them: the victim (slave) mindset;to complaining and grumbling. They didn't want to fight for the "something better" that God wanted to GIVE them. They would rather be grasshoppers than the strong and courageous people that God was calling them to be. So, God sent them back into the desert for forty years to humble the Israelites, to test them, to know what was really in their hearts. He made them a people dependent on Him.

Fast forward forty years...Once again, God has brought the Israelites to the border of the land flowing with milk and honey. They are standing at the Jordan River. They are now a people humble before God. They are still a stiff-necked people, but they now realize that it is GOD who fights their battles for them. God who sends their enemies fleeing in terror before them. God who provides for all their needs. It is not their own righteousness or strength that will cause them to possess the land before them. It is because the people of the land were wicked and God wanted to drive them out in order to uphold the oath that HE swore to their fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. They were no longer grasshoppers. They were ready to be strong and courageous because that's what God was calling them to be. They now knew that God would destroy their enemies just as He promised.

We, as Christians, are often like the Israelites. God calls us to something bigger than ourselves. Something outside our comfort zone; to something outside our box. He leads us right up to the edge of where he wants us to go...waiting for us to make the next move and step out in faith on His behalf just so that He can prove Himself faithful. We suddenly forget who we are in Christ and immediately fall back into our old mindsets; into the mindsets of captives. We become like those grasshoppers: edgy; nervous; ready to jump at the first sign of danger.

God has not called us to the mindset of a captive. He has brought us out of our own Egypts - out of our own slavery and bondage to sin - and is leading us to our own Promised Land flowing with milk and honey; to our own place of abundance in Him. It is not through our own strength or righteousness that we obtain this, but through what God has done for us in Christ Jesus. God is calling us to be strong and courageous. He has led us to the edge of the Jordan and He is now waiting for us to step out in faith - to "get over" those boundaries that are keeping us from the something "bigger and better" that God has for us. He wants to prove Himself faithful. He wants us to develop an "if-God-is-for-me-who-can-be-against-me" mindset. Strong and courageous. No longer a grasshopper.

Funny, I Didn't HEAR Any Gunfire...

Last evening I went to see and hear my (step)brother-in-law, Dan Mohler, preach. Even though God has been using Dan to preach the Gospel for several years now, this was the first time I have witnessed Dan in action.

The Dan I am accustomed to is soft-spoken, gentle, kind, has a sense of humor, loves nature, and does not draw attention to himself. Last night I saw Dan as a bold man of God, who wields the truth of the Gospel like no other I've ever seen or heard.

God's Word and the truth of the Gospel is so familiar to Dan that he is able to shoot the love of God out of his mouth so rapid-fire that I feel like an automatic assault rifle just left me laying in the dust, looking up at God and thinking, "Funny, I didn't hear any gunfire... God, I'm not even sure what just hit me, but I think I'll just lay here and think about what was fired at me until I can recover enough to stand in the truth of that Word."

I've never been hit with the love and truth of God's Word like that before. I don't know how long it will take till I am strong enough to be declared "healed", but when I am healed, I want to run back into the line of fire.