Keep Your Glass Half Full ...Of Faith In God

Numbers 14:5-9 - Then Moses and Aaron fell face down in front of the whole Israelite assembly gathered there. Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh, who were among those who had explored the land, tore their clothes and said to the entire Israelite assembly, “The land we passed through and explored is exceedingly good. If the Lord is pleased with us, he will lead us into that land, a land flowing with milk and honey, and will give it to us.  Only do not rebel against the Lord. And do not be afraid of the people of the land, because we will devour them. Their protection is gone, but the Lord is with us. Do not be afraid of them.”

It must have been the Israelites ‘go to answer’ for anything that went wrong in their lives.  After all that God had done for them…after the 10 miraculous things he had given them as signs of his protection and love...they wanted to abandon him…pick new leaders...and start back to Egypt. They had no faith….they had no vision of what God could possibly do for them to win a battle against the giants that lived in the land God had promised to give them.

We all have giants to face from time to time. They are probably not literal giants…but health issues…or financial problems…..or the loss of a loved one. If we choose the same mentality of the Israelites…we see our problem…our giant as a glass half empty…not enough resources to conquer it.

Caleb and Joshua…they saw the glass half full.  It was half full of faith in a God who had conquered 10 other ‘giants’ since they had started their journey.  They saw the good land spread out before them and were ready and even excited to see how God was going to take of this new problem too. They saw how they had grown each time a new problem in their life had been taken care of by God.

I needed the reminder to never see my glass of life as half empty.  A widow is always tempted to sink into a self-declared pity party when it gets too difficult. But that never allows any growth.  Only when we step out of the darkness that grief and other difficulties shines on our hearts…and let God shine his love full of light…do we start to see the glass is filling up once again with another lesson to build our faith in Hm.

Father…thank you for the reminder to remember that I gain strength by allowing you to help me with the problems I face.  Forgive me for the times that I have wanted to give up…and let the problem I face stop me from believing that you can conquer anything. Help me to keep Philippians 4:13 ready to recite to ole satan when he comes trying to get me to give up…so I can say…For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength. Amen.