Bits for Sunday, June 3, 2007

I’ve learned that when God tells me something one time, He really means it. When He tells me twice, I better hurry up and get it, because the third time might not be so pretty. This morning’s church service brought about a “twice” in my life. So I have spent much time pondering this afternoon, hoping to really get it.

About two weeks ago, at work, during office devotions, one of the girls read a little something about the Israelite spies who were sent into the promised land to scout out the good and the bad. I don’t know who wrote the devotional or where she got it, but apparently it was part of God’s teaching in my life. Good thing I didn’t call in sick that day.

I know that account up and down – or at least I thought I did. But I’d never before considered what she read. I always thought the spies came back with a bad report because they were just so scared of everything they saw. They went into this land and everyone was so tall and everything was so big and they felt so little…and they just chickened out. But what the devotional suggested was that they were so overwhelmed by the greatness that they thought it best to stay safely within the mediocre they knew.

Granted, the Bible does say that the spies came back (except for the brave Joshua and Caleb, of course) and spread a “bad report” about the land they explored. But when I read the contents of the bad report, I saw a bunch of excuses. “We can’t attack those people; they are stronger than we are…The land we explored devours those living in it. All the people we saw there are of great size…We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them.”

Hmmmm…seems to me that with different details, I’ve had this same conversation with God. “I can’t go there…I can’t do this…I can’t think about that…this is too much…that is too hard…blah blah blah.”

Though I can only speak for myself, I know that sometimes I would genuinely like to “go there…do this…think about that.” It’s not that I’m scared of what I see. But the enormity of what I see overwhelms me and I squash the possibility that it could be mine.

I gave much thought to the office devotional that day and thought very seriously about how it applied to my own life and fears. I wonder if I’m missing the enormity of what God has planned because, like the spies, it overwhelms me so much that I prefer tostay scared of it and don’t even try. Maybe God wants a little bit more of the Caleb spirit in me. (Caleb and Joshua were of the opinion that they should go for it. They saw the blessing in the enormity.)

So after munching on that for a few days, I arrived at church this morning and the sermon was about…guess what? The same passage. But today the focus was on how the promised land was an eleven day journey from bondage, but the Israelites turned it into a forty year excursion.

I’d have made a great member of the exodus.

If there is a way to turn an eleven day adventure into a forty year ordeal, I could head the committee. I’m queen of making things more difficult than they have to be. Just ask anyone who has worked with me through the years.

Even though I was slightly distracted by the four year old who sat with me this morning (I’m pretty popular among the preschool crowd), I caught enough of the sermon to know that this was my second warning. Not only am I to avoid being overwhelmed by the enormity of my future, I’d better not be turning my life into a procrastination party.

Gulp.

They go hand in hand, I think. I keep procrastinating, thinking that eventually, I won’t be so overwhelmed. It didn’t work out so well for the Israelites. The only ones who actually got to move forward and enjoy the overwhelming blessing were those who weren’t afraid to try to get it.

Point well taken, God.

I’ll try not to make You come back for round three.