After camping out at Mt. Sinai for a full year, Moses told the Israelites to break camp, and he marched them to the edge of the Promised Land (Canaan). God then instructed Moses to send ten spies into the land and return with their impressions.
Upon their return, eight of the spies said that the land was indeed the paradise that God had promised. However, they also said that it was filled with ferocious giants, living in fortified cities that were unconquerable:
So they spread this bad report about the land among the Israelites: “The land we traveled through and explored will devour anyone who goes to live there. All the people we saw there were huge. We even saw giants there, the descendants of Anak. Next to them we felt like grasshoppers, and that’s what they thought, too!” Nm. 13:32, 33. NLT
I’m sure this ‘gang of eight’ did feel like grasshoppers, because they let their fear of the ‘Canaanites’ displace their faith in God’s assurance, to deliver the Israelites into the Promised Land (Ex. 3:8 & 17; Lv. 20:24). What have they done? They’ve called God a liar.
There were however, two remaining spies, who did hold fast to their faith. One was Caleb, who refuted the opinion of the other eight:
“Let’s go up now and take possession of the land because we can certainly conquer it!” Nm. 13:30 CSB
The other spy who sided with Caleb, Joshua, joins him in making a final plea:
“Only don’t rebel against the LORD, and don’t be afraid of the people of the land, for we will devour them. Their protection has been removed from them, and the LORD is with us. Don’t be afraid of them.!” Nm. 14:9 CSB
Instead, the Israelites cowed in fear, unconvinced of God’s protection, and refused to enter Canaan. Moreover, they threatened Caleb and Joshua with death. This was the last straw for God, who then speaks to Moses:
“How long will these people treat me with contempt? Will they never believe me, even after all the miraculous signs I have done among them?” Nm. 14:11 NLT
Once again, God is faced with purposeful impenitent sinners. Jehovah must judge them. His first intention is to wipe them off the earth. Again, Moses pleads for lives of the Israelites. Our merciful God relents, but not without punishment.
He banishes the present generation to 40 years of purposeless wandering in the wilderness – basically until they all die, (with the exception of Joshua and Caleb). Only their children will be able to enter the Promised Land…
Aren’t we beginning to see, over and over, that things don’t go well for those who turn against God’s will? If we do that, our lives become a ‘wilderness experience,’ where we wander aimlessly, searching for a love that never comes.
If God loves us so much, and promises to deliver us from our ‘valleys’ in life, why would we go against Him in the first place? It’s because of the way our thinking has been distorted. The blueprints of that distortion were laid down in the Garden of Eden, see A Devilish Indoctrination.
It is there that Satan planted the seeds of doubt about the veracity of God’s word, instilled the dread of Him suggesting He is malevolent, and fostered the false beliefs of self-doubt, due to the devil’s Big Lie, that says we are unlovable and unacceptable. The result is, that we live under a crush of self-created fear and its cousins: envy, jealousy, pride and anger, with which we practice to hide our ‘false ineptness’ – see Anger Kills.
Parents unconsciously feed this same malady to their offspring, which is further fomented by government, schools and the media – see What Are We Teaching Our Children and Evolution of the Dark Mind.
What follows is that we are afraid to put one foot in front of the other. We remain stuck, clinging to our past, because we are afraid to make different decisions. Why? Because we are sure that there are giants blocking our path forward, not realizing that we put them there – see The Past Sure is Tense.
The ‘giants’ are really the fear of death, the fear of abandonment and the fear of impermanence – see Fearless. If you are fearful, you go through life locked in a perpetual state of defense. One for the ways that you do that, is by creating a ‘self-image.’
When you were born, you did not have a self-image; you had a ‘God-image’:
So God created man in His own image, in the image and likeness of God He created him; male and female He created them. Gn. 1:27 AMP
However, somewhere in life, due to your emotional bumps and bruises, the berating ego in your head, and the voices from the heads of others, you decided to deny your God-connection, because you brought false meanings to the events in your life and you believed them.
For example, let’s say someone turned you down for a date. It could have been that you just weren’t their type, or that they might fear intimacy, or they didn’t want a relationship at that time. Yet, you make it about you and set a giant in your path – saying to yourself, ‘How could they be so insensitive? Can’t they see what a good catch I am?’
Ego jumps in saying, ‘They were so mean. You shouldn’t go out with them anyway. Did you see how ugly and stupid they were?’ And because that dark mind wants to keep you miserable, in order to control you, it redirects its criticisms back at you, e.g. ‘How could you be such a moron as to ask them out? You are so ugly, stupid and undesirable. What will others think when they find out that you were rejected? You’ll be alone the rest of your life.’
If you listen to that voice, you will build more giants, by keeping yourself focused on your primary wounds from the satanic indoctrination that screams you are unlovable and / or unacceptable.
So, what do you do? You create a false image – a mask constructed of the lies from that devilish chatter in your head, who tells you how you must present yourself to please others. In other words, you try to appear as someone who isn’t real, and you can never let your guard down. Why? Because that same vile voice has convinced you that you have monstrous inner parts, that if exposed, would bring you a lifetime of loneliness.
You become self-absorbed with the unending maintenance of your mask, tweaking it to serve the next person you meet, trying your best to be what they want. It’s exhausting and unrewarding. Worse, others never get to meet the real you, so your real needs are never met.
This happens to some degree to everyone. Why? Because we never examine how we think! We insist on being ignorant about who God made us to be, and we won’t admit what our mask is up to. Our self-image is a purposeful case of mistaken identity, as we try to fool ourselves into believing that our mask will bring the acceptance from others that we so sorely crave – which keeps sending us backhanded messages of worthlessness.
Our masks are built upon the framework of our suffering, the very thing we are trying so hard to avoid. Thus, we keep that same suffering on the center stage of our mental focus. Subsequently, real life is never lived, because our obsession with our self-image blinds us to our own God-given perfection.
If we don’t stop this vicious cycle, we will continue to judge ourselves for who we are not; and exact self-punishment, hoping it will make us good. You can’t beat goodness into anyone.
There is nothing wrong with any of us. It’s just that we have bought into the Big Lie that says we are damaged goods. There never was anything wrong with us and there never will be. However, we must reconnect ourselves to God, to see it.
YOU MATTER TO GOD. HE IS YOUR GIANT SLAYER!
For just as the body is one and yet has many parts, and all the parts, though many, for [only] one body, so it is with Christ. For by one [Holy] Spirit we were all baptized into one body, [spiritually transformed – united together] whether Jews or Greeks (Gentiles), slaves or free, and we were all made to drink of one [Holy] Spirit, [since the same Holy Spirit fills each life]. 1 Cor. 12:12, 13. AMP
For it was you who created my inward parts; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I will praise you, because I have been remarkably and wondrously made. Your works are wondrous, and I know this very well. Ps. 139:13, 14. CSB
Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you? 1 Cor. 3:16 ESV
How much more glorious can you be? This is how God sees you, and He is the ultimate authority.
As far as your ‘giants’ are concerned, they all have their basis in fear, and fear is not real. It is just a bevy of emotions that you let run amok. Call upon your Giant Slayer instead:
“It is the LORD who goes before you; He will be with you. He will not fail you or abandon you. Do not fear or be dismayed. Dt. 31:8 AMP
I sought the LORD, and He answered me, and delivered me from all my fears. Ps. 34:4 NASB
Even to your old age, I will be the same. And even to your graying years I will bear you…and I will deliver you. Is. 46:4 NASB
And one more thing, throw that mask, that false image, in the trash and let your perfect image, that God-image, shine forth…
Goodnight and God bless.