Do You See Giants? Or Fruit?

"They came back to Moses and Aaron and the whole Israelite community at Kadesh in the Desert of Paran. There they reported to them and to the whole assembly and showed them the fruit of the land. ²⁷ They gave Moses this account: "We went into the land to which you sent us, and it does flow with milk and honey! Here is its fruit. ²⁸ But the people who live there are powerful, and the cities are fortified and very large. We even saw descendants of Anak there. ²⁹ The Amalekites live in the Negev; the Hittites, Jebusites and Amorites live in the hill country; and the Canaanites live near the sea and along the Jordan."

³⁰ Then Caleb silenced the people before Moses and said, "We should go up and take possession of the land, for we can certainly do it."

³¹ But the men who had gone up with him said, "We can't attack those people; they are stronger than we are." ³² And they spread among the Israelites a bad report about the land they had explored. They said, "The land we explored devours those living in it. All the people we saw there are of great size. ³³ We saw the Nephilim there (the descendants of Anak come from the Nephilim). We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them." Numbers 13:26-33

I know we all have experienced this. You're going through a struggle, a trial, or simply coming to something new in your life, and you see the giants. You see the tough spots, you see all the work that needs to be done and you simply become discouraged. In the passage I've shared above, the Israelites went into the promised land and came out with their report of how it is. Yes, it's beautiful and flowing in milk and honey, and the fruit is amazing and abundant... but there are giants, big bad meanies who will eat us for breakfast. And they forgot that God promised to give them this land. The forgot that they have a God who can do anything if they only ask, and surely, God would help them defeat these giants.

Yet Caleb and Joshua saw the fruit. They saw the promises of God fulfilled, and they had the faith that God would take care of the giants for them, and told the people so. But all the people heard was the word giants, and they let the fear take them over. They forgot about the grapes that were the size of a man. Caleb saw a tough situation, but instead of focusing on the bad- the giants, he focused on the fruit- the blessings of God. And God rewarded Caleb and Joshua for their faith:

"So tell them, 'As surely as I live, declares the LORD, I will do to you the very things I heard you say: ²⁹ In this desert your bodies will fall—every one of you twenty years old or more who was counted in the census and who has grumbled against me. ³⁰ Not one of you will enter the land I swore with uplifted hand to make your home, except Caleb son of Jephunneh and Joshua son of Nun." Numbers 14:28-30

So as I'm thinking about this, I'm thinking about my day to day. I have to tell you, I've been struggling a bit lately with where we live. It's crazy, I know, and when we moved where we currently lived, it was with the intent to stay here a good long time, because I hate moving. Yet as of late, I've just felt unsettled. The neighbors are all driving me up the wall- there's nothing worse than a screaming teenager just on the other side of your 8 year old daughter's bedroom wall. At 2:00 in the morning. And then there's the little things. There's the rocks in our landscaping, which are a nightmare. They are all over the place and are constantly needing to be picked up. And my list could go on. At the same time though, we have made a home here, and I have to stop myself and stop focusing on the giants- and instead, I'm trying really hard to focus on the fruit. Let's focus on the blessings and not the bad things. Because as I make these lists of things I don't like with where we are, I'm feeling unsettled and like ripping my hair out, really. Yet God has us here for a reason, and while are here, we are going to bloom where we are planted. Should he tell us to move, of course we'd do it, but not a moment sooner.

So instead of focusing on the giants, I'm trying to focus on the fruit. I'm focusing on the fact that we have the space we have in our home. I'm focusing on the vegetable gardens springing to life instead of focusing on those nasty rocks. And I'm focusing on all the little touches we've been able to add to our home to truly make it ours. I'm focusing on the wonderful southern exposure that fills our home with sunlight on a cold winter's day. And I focus on the beautiful birds that flit around our spacious open backyard. As it warms up here, I'll be able to focus on being able to open up the windows and feel a gentle breeze blowing through- I love lying in bed and feeling the fresh air blow over me gently in the night. I love that we're not on a major thoroughfare in town, so while we do get traffic, it's not near so bad as it could be. And I love that we do have a few good neighbors in the area, and location wise, we're very close to school so Abigail can take her scooter to and from school, and we're also close to a very nice park in town.

Sometimes it's really hard to focus on the fruit, and trust that God will take care of those giants. I really want to be like Caleb and Joshua, who focused on the fruit, on the good and the beauty of God's promises. God's promised to take care of us, and I will focus on that, and trust in that. He will provide for ALL our needs, and richly provides for our enjoyment!

"Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment." 1 Timothy 6:17

Sometimes, I just need to be reminded to focus on the fruit.