In The Land
but by my spirit, saith the Lord of hosts.
Zechariah 4:6
And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Send thou men, that they may search the land of Canaan...And they returned from searching of the land after forty days. And they told him, ...surely it floweth with milk and honey; and this is the fruit of it...And they brought up an evil report of the land...saying, The land...eateth up the inhabitants thereof; and all the people that we saw in it are men of a great stature. And there we saw the giants, the sons of Anak, which come of the giants: and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight. Numbers 13:1-33.
We all know the story as related in the 12th through 14th Chapters of Numbers, when the children of Israel neared the land of Canann, the land which God Himself had promised them. Despite ALL the times the Lord had already delivered them out of trouble, when the giants showed up, they fell apart with fear. They, like us today, kept forgetting: it was not through their might, nor their power, that they had been delivered out of bondage. It was not through their might, nor their power, that they had been promised the Land of Canaan. It was not through their might, nor their power, they had not only been preserved, but protected and blessed, to reach the boundaries of that very "Promised Land".
Out of the group of men which Moses sent to spy out The Promised Land, only TWO, Joshua and Caleb, said, "Let us go up at once, and possess it; for we are well able to overcome it."
Numbers 14:6-9 tells us, Joshua and Caleb rent their clothes in desperation, pleading with the people, saying, ...rebel not ye against the Lord, neither fear ye the people of the land; for they are bread for us: their defence is departed from them, and the Lord is with us: fear them not. Too late! Grasshopper Mentality had struck!
Joshua and Caleb were trying to get the people to see with more than just the "natural eye"--they wanted the people to see with their "spiritual eye". With the "natural eye", all they saw was how big the giants were, and how little they were, by comparison. Joshua and Caleb wanted the people to remember all the previous times when they had faced what "looked like" insurmountable odds against them, yet the Lord had brought them through, victorious. Did you know that in order to go forward, you have to sometimes fall back? That's right, that's what I said. In order to PROgress, sometimes you have to REgress. In order to go forward in your spiritual life, sometimes you have to fall back--fall back on the promises of God. Fall back on the remembrance of all the times He's brought you through one adversity after another.
Come on now, I'm guilty of it and if you'll admit the truth, you're guilty of it, too: something we don't have an immediate solution for problems that crop up in our path, and it's, "Oh God, oh God, oh God, oh God, what am I going to do now?" You've heard that old saying, "Easy as falling off a log"? Well, the solution to that for which we have no ready answers, no quick remedies, is to fall back--fall back on the remembrance of all the things that God has already brought us through!
But that's not to our liking, is it? It's either fight or flight, with us. Instead of our first "line of defense" being to remember all that the Lord has already done for us, and thus being reassured that He will continue to take care of us, you and I start coming up with our own plans, don't we? We either wade in without being prepared and make a total mess of things, or turn tail and flee, don't we? Psalms 46:10 tells us, Be still, and know that I am God... James 4:7, 8 and 10 tells us, Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you...Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.
We are not "into" being submissive to God, are we? We've got it all backwards--we flee from the devil. We're not the least bit interested in drawing nigh to God--we're too busy coming up with a way to retaliate or run (the old "fight or flight" thing).
This time, though, the children of Israel's disobedience, rebellion and murmuring against God's appointed leaders would not go unpunished. God had Moses tell them: Your carcases shall fall in this wilderness; and all that were numbered of you, according to your whole number, from twenty years old and upward which have murmured against me. And your children shall wander in the wilderness forty years, and bear your whoredoms, until your carcases be wasted in the wilderness.. Numbers 14:29,33. Why 40 years? One year for each day it took them to spy out "The Promised Land". True to His Word, God allowed only two men of that entire assembly that day, Joshua and Caleb, to enter "The Promised Land".
but by my spirit, saith the Lord of hosts.
Zechariah 4:6
The Lord told Gideon, that "mighty man of valor", ...Surely I will be with thee, and thou shalt smite the Midianites as one man. Judges 6:16. Thirty-two thousand men were assembled to do battle against the Midianites. Wow! 32,000 strong! What an army! But God told Gideon, "That's too many!" Too many? Too many? What you mean "too many"? God told Gideon, ...lest Israel vaunt themselves against me, saying, Mine own hand hath saved me. Judges 7:2. Get it?
but by my spirit, saith the Lord of hosts.
Zechariah 4:6
OK, so there were 10,000 men left. Not the huge force Gideon had started out with, but still a sizeable army. But the Lord wasn't through: He told Gideon, "That's still 'way too many men. Take 'em to the river. Those who lap up water like a dog, send away. Those who bend upon their knee and take water into the cup of their hand, keep." 9,700 more men were dismissed. That's easy math: 10,000 minus 9,700 leaves 300.
Now I want you to picture this with your "mind's eye": out of 32,000 men, 300 were going to do "major battle"? So what were the weapons this army of 32,000 minus 31,700 took with them into battle? A trumpet in every man's hand, with empty pitchers, and lamps within the pitchers. Gideon's instructions to them were: "When I blow with a trumpet, I and all that are with me, then blow ye the trumpets also on every side of all the camp, and say, The sword of the Lord, and of Gideon!" I want you to notice something there now: they did not carry swords with them--they declared their victory by "The sword of the Lord". What is the "sword of the Lord"? Ephesians 6:17 tells us it is ...the word of God. When they obeyed God, they had His Word to fight the battle for them!
What was the outcome that day? And the three companies blew the trumpets, and brake the pitchers, and held the lamps in their left hands, and the trumpets in their right hands to blow withal: and they cried, The sword of the Lord, and of Gideon. And they stood every man in his place round about the camp; and all the host ran, and cried, and fled. Judges 7:20,21.
I want you to notice something else there: And they stood every man in his place round about the camp... Did it say they engaged the enemy in hand-to-hand battle? Nope--it says, one more time, let's read it: And they stood every man in his place round about the camp...
but by my spirit, saith the Lord of hosts.
Zechariah 4:6
King Saul promised a huge reward to anyone who could kill Goliath: great riches, one of the king's daughters for a wife, and a lifetime exemption from paying taxes. Still, no one had taken the king up on his offer--that is, no one but David, the "ruddy-with-bright-eyes" youth who still had the stink of sheep on him. David was taken before King Saul, where he repeated his offer to take on Goliath. King Saul thought somebody was playing a joke on him--he was not amused.
We can picture the scene: the distraught king with a flushed-face youth before him, who told the king, "Hey, don't underestimate me. I keep my father's sheep, and killed both a lion and a bear that attacked the flock."
Let's face it, none of King Saul's seasoned soldiers were breaking down the palace doors to volunteer for a suicide mission, yet there stood a youth, full of confidence: "The same Lord that delivered me out of the paw of the lion, and out of the paw of the bear, he will deliver me out of the hand of this Philistine."
So King Saul gave David his own armour: the royal tunic, helmet of brass, coat of mail, his own personal sword. It's not hard to imagine how it all fit: King Saul, himself, was described as from his shoulders and upward he was higher than any of the people. 1st Samuel 9:2. Not only that, but Saul was experienced in the wearing and use of such things--the youth, David, was not. Can't you just see David blundering about in the ill-fitting armor? He was more likely to do himself harm than put a dent in any giant!
David rejected the king's armor in favor of that which he was familiar with: his staff and his sling. On his way to meet Goliath, he stooped over and picked up five smooth stones from the creek bed and put them in his shepherd's bag.
When Goliath saw David, talk about roaring and stomping around in a mad fit? Goliath yelled at David, ...Am I a dog, that thou comest to me with staves? And the Philistine cursed David by his gods...Come to me, and I will give thy flesh unto the fowls of the air, and to the beasts of the field. 1st Samuel 17:43,44.
Now I want you to get what David said back to Goliath, and I want you to underline it there in your Bibles:
Thou comest to me with a sword, and with a spear, and with a shield: but I come to thee in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom thou hast defied. This day will the Lord deliver thee into mine hand; and I will smite thee, and take thine head from thee; and I will give the carcases of the host of the Philistines this day unto the fowls of the air, and to the wild beasts of the earth; that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel. And all this assembly shall know that the Lord saveth not with sword and spear: FOR THE BATTLE IS THE LORD'S, and he will give you into our hands. 1st Samuel 17:45-47.All of us know how this story ends: Goliath lumbered forward toward David, and David, unafraid, hurriedly ran toward Goliath. Don't you know both armies held their collective breaths? I mean, it had to be a ludicrous sight, let's face it: a literal giant about to do battle with a mere lad? Yet the Word of God tells us that ...David put his hand in his bag, and took thence a stone, and slang it, and smote the Philistine in his forehead, that the stone sunk into his forehead; and he fell upon his face to the earth. 1st Samuel 17:49. Not only that, but David stood on Goliath's dead body, and with Goliath's own mighty sword, cut off Goliath's head. Verse 51 of that chapter tells us, ...And when the Philistines saw their champion was dead, they fled.
Now I want you to think about these three examples today: what is the one MAJOR thing they all have in common? God got the glory in all three. None of the three could be attributed to the might of men.
but by my spirit, saith the Lord of hosts.
Zechariah 4:6
We just are NOT willing to do that, are we? We REFUSE to make a full commitment of our lives to Christ, and then wonder how we are going to defeat the giants we face in our lives.
What giants are in your life, today? Sickness, marital discord, financial woes, wayward children, lost loved ones--whatever "giant" there is, we have the unchanging promises of our God that He will be our very present help in trouble.
"Giants In The Land" Copyright © 2005 by Patricia Sikes.
All Rights Reserved.
As performed by the Happy Goodmans
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