Name: Linda
Monday, February 26, 2007
The Promised Land
I am very hesitant to write about my own interpretation of scripture. I worry that I may be way off base or that I will look rather foolish. However, I have had this idea rattling around my head for the past couple of days, and I thought I would take a chance and share. Please feel free to correct me if I’ve gotten this all wrong. I’m nothing if not teachable!
I’ve been reading through the Old Testament. The Israelites have blown it big time and will not be entering the Promised Land. Everyone over the age of twenty will die in the wilderness. Not a very pleasant prospect, but I noticed something this time I hadn’t noticed before. Even though they didn’t get to enter the Promised Land, they did win some battles, and they did get to keep the cities they conquered. God blessed them in spite of themselves, but they didn’t get to have the best that He had planned for them.
I got to thinking about my own life. Is it possible I missed my chance to get the best God had planned for me because of the poor choices I have made in my life? Certainly there have been victories and blessing in my life, but was there something more God had intended if only I hadn’t been so selfish and rebellious?
It was a sad thought. I mulled that over for quite some time. Then last night I read Moses farewell to the people he had led for all those years. In one place he spoke to those who had been there when the Israelites were forbidden to enter the Promised Land and condemned to wander for forty years in the wilderness. They were the ones who were under twenty years of age at that time. They had been there during that rebellious time. Perhaps they had even taken part in the complaining and the refusal to obey God and go in and take the land. However, they were being given a second chance to have all that God had planned for them right from the very beginning. The thought gave me such hope.
Perhaps it is also true for me. Perhaps it is never too late to walk into the Promised Land that God has prepared for me. I think it is possible to walk in the wilderness for all the years of my life and never reach it, but I don’t want that to happen. I want my heart to be fully His. I want to be all that He desires for me to be. I want to possess the land.
I’ve been reading through the Old Testament. The Israelites have blown it big time and will not be entering the Promised Land. Everyone over the age of twenty will die in the wilderness. Not a very pleasant prospect, but I noticed something this time I hadn’t noticed before. Even though they didn’t get to enter the Promised Land, they did win some battles, and they did get to keep the cities they conquered. God blessed them in spite of themselves, but they didn’t get to have the best that He had planned for them.
I got to thinking about my own life. Is it possible I missed my chance to get the best God had planned for me because of the poor choices I have made in my life? Certainly there have been victories and blessing in my life, but was there something more God had intended if only I hadn’t been so selfish and rebellious?
It was a sad thought. I mulled that over for quite some time. Then last night I read Moses farewell to the people he had led for all those years. In one place he spoke to those who had been there when the Israelites were forbidden to enter the Promised Land and condemned to wander for forty years in the wilderness. They were the ones who were under twenty years of age at that time. They had been there during that rebellious time. Perhaps they had even taken part in the complaining and the refusal to obey God and go in and take the land. However, they were being given a second chance to have all that God had planned for them right from the very beginning. The thought gave me such hope.
Perhaps it is also true for me. Perhaps it is never too late to walk into the Promised Land that God has prepared for me. I think it is possible to walk in the wilderness for all the years of my life and never reach it, but I don’t want that to happen. I want my heart to be fully His. I want to be all that He desires for me to be. I want to possess the land.
Blessings,
13 Comments:
It sounds to me like you have this thing nailed. You are obviously a God seeker,one that seeks His face and not His hand so all of the promises in the book are yours....
BE BLESSED :-)
As we get older, I think we always wonder "what if" we had done something different while we were growing up...but I always believe that it's never too late to do anything we want to do or be:-) xox
The English novelist, George Eliot, said "It's never too late to be who you might have been." Every day is another opportunity to achieve a goal or make a new start.
And the God we serve is the God of not only second chances, but many chances. That's the beauty of His redemptive plan. I've always been amazed at how many times the Israelites in Moses' day just messed it all up, and every time God offered another chance.
Don't let the past keep you from progressing today. I read a really wonderful quote on another blog the other day and it just jumped out at me:
"Finish every day and be done with it. You have done what you could...Tomorrow is a new day; begin it well and serenely and with too high a spirit to be cumbered with your old nonsense. This day is all that is good and fair. It is too dear, with its hopes and invitations, to waste a moment on yesterdays."
Linda, I believe you should live in the present not in the past. I also believe God is a loving God, and a forgiving God. That is why he sent his only beloved Son, Jesus so that he would die for our sins, so that we could live. Jesus didn't die for our sins so that we could walk around ambitiously looking for the promised land and if we should fall...that's it...no second chances. Faith is believing! Faith is trusting in the Lord with all your heart. Believing you are in God's favor because you are a child of God and he wants to bless you! It is having confidence because He is with you always and if he is with you there is no need for fear. Patience is a virtue...
God is a loving God and will always forgive us and wants to bless us.
You've read Beth Moore's book Believing God, right? If not you absolutely MUST! She talks about this exact thing! Going out to claim the promised land God has for us here on earth.
Not settling for His good when we can have His best! What a GREAT post!
PTL that you are in the scripture studying them. Way to go Linda!
What a great honest post! I know I often feel like you, that I am settling for mediocre when God has something spectacular planned for me.
I think seeking Him daily(as you are doing), studying His Word, and asking for direction and vision will lead us to our promised land.
You had some great comments I enjoyed learning from, too! You are such a blessing in this blogging world.
This post scares me to death. It hits right where I am at right now. I want to be everything that God wants me to be, to receive all of His blessings and gifts for me, but what if I screw up? I don't want to miss out on being used by God to make a difference for eternity.
Great post, Linda!
Linda, for what its worth, I think your dead on about this. :)
May we all make it to the land flowing of milk and honey!
I don't think there is any "right" or "wrong" way to interpret scripture - you just interpret it to how it applies to your own life. I don't think you sound foolish at all! Sounds like you have a very great interpretation and I think you are right that it is never too late to walk in the Promised Land!
I have been in this place too. The way I look at it is to see everything I have done or become over the years as preparation for whatever God has in store for me today or tomorrow. One day, hopefully, I will see how it all fitted together for a reason. The bad and good choices and paths I have wandered down. It is all part of the me I am today. And I trust Him.
You have shared some wise words today and I agree- it is never too late!
Linda this is beautiful, and never be afraid to write about the Bible. I have found I learn more myself when I do. I enjoyed reading this.
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