Scripture: Numbers 14:8 – “If the Lord is pleased with us, he will bring us into this land and give it to us, a land that flows with milk and honey.” (NRSV)
How many of you have ever faced an insurmountable task? Something that was beyond your ability or even your comprehension? I know that I have from time to time. And sometimes when I do, I feel like procrastinating or running away, but the truth is that I do not have to, even if I do not ultimately succeed. The key is to rely on God and let faith and hope guide you to where you need to go.
I am currently about halfway through my Lenten sermon series on the Road to the Promised Land (check out the sermons on our United Church of Assonet YouTube channel if you have not been at church). We have been looking at the travels of Abraham and Moses to the “land flowing with milk and honey”, the land we know to today as Israel. To the Israelites fleeing slavery in Egypt, this seemed like an insurmountable task, even with all the evidence that God was on their side. God had sent Moses to demand that Pharaoh let his people go. God sent plagues to force Egypt to obey. God parted the Red Sea to allow them to escape the Egyptian army. God led them by cloud and fiery pillar across the wilderness. God gave them manna, the bread from heaven, to make sure they would not starve. God had Moses strike a rock to release water so they would not die of thirst. God spoke to Moses and gave the people the Ten Commandments and the other laws which they should obey to create a just society among themselves. Again and again God supported them along their road.
And again and again, the people failed him, complaining about their suffering, and turning to idols instead of the God right in front of them. The crisis point came when the Israelites were about to enter the Promised Land and Moses sent twelve spies into the land to scout it out. The twelve found a land rich with fruit and other resources. But it was also a land that was filled with strong people and villages. Caleb, the most faithful of the spies, believed that God would guide them to find a place in such a land, despite the difficulties, just as God had seen them through their problems in Egypt and the wilderness. The other spies, however, looked at the task ahead of them and thought it was insurmountable. Nothing they or God could do would work, and so they gave up, and worse, they lied about the inhabitants of the land when they returned so the people would give up, too. They said the villagers there were giants who would swat them like grasshoppers. The Israelites panicked and refused to go on.
At this point, Caleb and his friend Joshua tried to bring the people back to the truth. They said, “If the Lord is pleased with us, he will bring us into this land and give it to us, a land that flows with milk and honey.” All they needed to have was faith.
The people did not listen to God and had to remain outside the Promised Land for forty years. But you can listen to God. The spies made giants out of villagers, taking a manageable problem, and making it seem impossible. In our modern idiom, they made mountains out of molehills. If you think on your own tasks, they may seem insurmountable, but if you look at them one step at a time, you can work toward them. God is with you. And even if the tasks are beyond your power to accomplish alone, you can trust that God will empower others to finish the work that you have started. God teaches us that we are never alone. God created us to be in community, and even when the community seems against us, as the Israelites were against Caleb, we can still find some that will work after us. Moses did not enter the Promised Land, but Joshua led the people to settle and thrive there. Do not give up, do you part, and believe that God will bring you success in the end.
Prayer: God, grant me strength in my struggles and hope in my setbacks. May I always live in your house and your love. Amen.
Comments