Better Is One Day

"But the men who had gone up with him [Caleb] said, “We are not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we.” And they gave the children of Israel a bad report of the land which they had spied out, saying, “The land through which we have gone as spies is a land that devours its inhabitants, and all the people whom we saw in it are men of great stature. There we saw the giants (the descendants of Anak came from the giants); and we were like grasshoppers in our own sight, and so we were in their sight." - Number 13:31-33

But Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, who were among those who had spied out the land, tore their clothes; and they spoke to all the congregation of the children of Israel, saying: “The land we passed through to spy out is an exceedingly good land. If the Lord delights in us, then He will bring us into this land and give it to us, a land which flows with milk and honey." - Numbers 14:7-8

Of the 12 men who were sent out, 10 of the men saw the land and its people through their own eyes - from man's perspective. The same way that we often do when God says "Go and do something in My Name" God always asks us to do something that is beyond our natural ability. After all, it is a mission from God. Only Joshua and Caleb considered what God could do through them even though they saw the same things that the other 10 men had seen.

In "The Lion, The Witch, And The Wardrobe" by C.S. Lewis, the character Susan asks Mr. Beaver if Aslan [a type of Christ] is safe to which Mr. Bever replies, "Oh no! Aslan is not safe, but He is good." So often we hear God, we know what He has said, but we respond as though He had some mal-intent. Or perhaps He was talking to the wrong person. We would be wrong on both counts.  

By the way, those 10 men died in the desert with the rest of the unbelieving and disobedient generation. Only Joshua and Caleb were allowed to cross the river Jordan 40 years later. My point - you may not get a second chance to experience God doing a work through you.

I recall a volunteer asking me if I liked being in Mississippi as we stood in the middle of the great destruction and loss wrought by Hurricane Katrina. I thought about it and replied, "There is nothing better than being in the center of God's will, geography and difficulty have nothing to do with it." That was not bravado talking, but my realization that one day walking with God is better than a thousand elsewhere.

"For a day in Your courts is better than a thousand. I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God Than dwell in the tents of wickedness." - Psalm 84:10

Think about it – Pray about it – Believe it – Walk in it. Let your light shine and give God the glory.

By Faith Alone By His Grace Alone And For His Glory Alone