A PROBLEM OR A PROMISE?

But the people living there are powerful, and their towns are large and fortified.  We even saw giants there, the descendants of Anak! Numbers 13:28 (NLT)

Often, we should view the problems in our lives as a blessing and not as obstacles!  In the thirteenth chapter of Numbers, Moses sent 12 spies to spy out the Promised Land that God promised to give the people of Israel!  Ten of the twelve spies came back with what the Bible calls an evil report (Numbers 13:32).  Although these spies initially conceded that the land flowed with milk and honey and that the fruit was very bountiful (Numbers 13:27), they focused more on the obstacles than the promise that God had made them.  In fact, God had told Abraham hundreds of years before, "I am giving all this land, as far as you can see, to you and your descendants as a permanent possession" (Genesis 13:15 NLT).  If we can see the promises of God as a done deal in our hearts, God will make sure the promise is manifest visibly!  God did not view the giants in the land as a problem but as a stepping stone in the fulfillment of what He had promised!

The giants in the land were not a problem but the indication of a promise that would soon be made manifest!  If the giants had not been in the land, some other nation would have already possessed such a bountiful land.  In a sense, without realizing it, the giants were actually gatekeepers for the Israelites of this land promised to them.  God would surely fulfill His promise to Abraham and his descendants.  Just like God had created the land that He swore to give the Israelites, He had also created the giants and saw the defeat of the giants already as an accomplished truth!  Similarly, in our own lives God does not view our perceived "giants" as obstacles but stepping stones to the fulfillment of what He has promised!  Jesus put it this way, "I have told you these things, so that in Me you may have [perfect] peace.  In the world you have tribulation and distress and suffering, but be courageous [be confident, be undaunted, be filled with joy]; I have overcome the world. [My conquest is accomplished, My victory abiding]" (John 16:33 AMP).  Even at the beginning of creation, God did not see the darkness as a problem or even say anything about it, but He simply said, "Let there be light" (Genesis 1:3).  Don't view the problems you face as obstacles today but merely as stepping stones in fulfillment to what God has promised you!