I’ve often thought of what it must have been like for God’s people, on the
verge of entering the Promised Land, and hearing Moses rehearse the promises God
had made to protect and prosper them.
And here they were, a nation of former slaves, wanderers in the wilderness,
and they were to conquer this unknown territory. I’m thinking it would be strange if they didn’t
have a little panic fluttering around in their bellies, perhaps the understatement
of the century!
Doing a quick look-back over the past forty-two years, when we sold the family
house and loaded up our kids and a U-Haul to go half way across the country to
seminary, I know there were times when I felt that flutter in my own
belly. Of course it was also an
adventure, but the panic possibilities were a sobering force. On this side of four decades later I can say,
without hesitating, the panic worry was a matter of not trusting God’s
promises, yet fully understanding that was dumb. If God could sustain and feed a million
Israelites in a wasteland, wandering for forty years, without their shoes and
clothes wearing out, he could certainly take care of the Brownworth tribe. Along the way there were some shortages of
what we thought we needed…but never did we
suffer the loss of what He promised…His presence. We experienced unexpected provision when the
pantry was empty, finances when the wolves howled, and more than a few healings
of our physical and emotional need. Our
kids were loved by some pretty awesome church grandmas and grandpas, and
somehow our old cars managed to keep rolling along. We have been truly blessed, sometimes in
spite of our tiny faith.
For You Today
It seems the
difference between tiny faith and big faith is the willingness to let go; we
need to be able to let go of what we think we need, or what we want because it’s better, and let God decide. When you’ve done that, you’ve
done your part of conquering the only territory for which you’re responsible,
your own heart.
There
are about 2,000 devotional posts and 400 sermons in the Rocky Road Devotions library. To dig deeper on today’s topic, explore some
of these:
Big Faith and Jailbreak!
[1] Images: Title Image today is a portrait in oils of our Wellie, by Jennifer Brownworth Klim Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation©
No comments:
Post a Comment