When you look around the landscape of your life, what do you see? Maybe your season is early motherhood, and the baby is crying, the dirty diapers are fully ripe, and the rush of toddler demands is just ahead. Or maybe you’ re facing a challenging career, and the shadows of corporate giants are always looming. Or possibly after a big milestone with your health, your age, or your goals, you’ re looking ahead to uncharted territory, unsure what’ s behind that wall.
Before we barge into the Promised Land, we gotta look around at the landscape to know what we’ re stepping into. In the land surrounding Joshua and the Israelites, birds are chirping, acacia are in full bloom, and the rush of the Jordan River is just ahead. But so are the formidable walls of Jericho. The cities are already inhabited by many enemy nations( Exodus 33:2). And oh yeah, roaming lions and wild animals could“ become too numerous for you”( Exodus 23:29, NASB).
So hold up. Why here of all places? Why have the Israelites set their sights on this chunk of land when it’ s already occupied? And excuse me, but what gives them the right to march in as if they own the place and push out people who have put down roots here for centuries?
Well, it’ s because they do own the place. Rewind to the beginning, and we find that when God blessed Abram as the father of many nations, He also gave him this exact plot of land as a permanent possession.“ You can be sure that your descendants... will be oppressed as slaves for 400 years.... After four generations your descendants will return here to this land”( Genesis 15:13, 16).
Being those exact descendants four hundred years later, these Israelites are ready to march ahead. They are armed with the deed signed by the Creator of the land Himself, and you can almost hear them humming, determined to reclaim what rightfully belongs to them,“ This land is my land... this land was [ not ] made for you and me.” Without batting an eye, they are prepared to seize all that God has for them.
Like the Israelites, you have been armed with a promise from Jesus Himself:“ The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life and have it abundantly”( John 10:10, ESV).
This offer of life to the full isn’ t dependent on your circumstances. It doesn’ t change when the battle rages or the giants trespass. It doesn’ t dissolve when anxiety climbs to an all-time high, disappointment hits, or there are setbacks in your plans. No, this promise stands the test of time.
Yes, Jesus saved us for all eternity, giving us a heavenly home— and if that’ s all He ever did, that would be MORE than enough. But our God is so good that He didn’ t stop there.
Jesus also came to set us free today from sin, death, and shame. He sent His Spirit to dwell in us, bearing the fruit of love, joy, peace,
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