The Big Story: God Gives His People a Land



"When are we going to get there?"  "How much farther?"  All of us have heard those questions from our kids on long trips!  Or have said them ourselves!  Imagine how it would be if your trip took 40 years. That's how it was for the Israelites!

Their journey started when God freed them from slavery in Egypt.  It continued to Mt. Sinai, where God made a covenant with them.  From there, they journeyed to the southwestern side of Canaan.  At God's direction, Moses sent 12 spies into Canaan.  They came back with a great report about the beauty and fertility of the land.  But there were big problems.  The Canaanites had soldiers that looked like giants, and their cities were heavily fortified.  Most of the spies said they couldn't take the land.

The Israelites did what we often do in a crisis.  They had a meltdown!  They lamented that they ever left Egypt and griped that Moses had taken them all that way to die.  One spy, Caleb, said they could take the land with God's help.  But the people wouldn't listen.  So God condemned them to wander in the wilderness 40 years, until that generation passed away, save Joshua and Caleb.

That was a long time to think things over!  After 40 years, the Israelites camped east of the Jordan, near Jericho.  By this time, Moses, Aaron, and all the generation that had witnesses the wonders of the exodus had passed away.  Except for Joshua and Caleb.

After sending spies to Jericho and learning that its citizens were terrified of the Israelites, God led the Israelites to cross the Jordan River.  Priests carrying the ark of the covenant led the way.  When they got the river's edge, God stopped the flow of the river upstream at a place called Adam.  The Israelites crossed on dry ground, and soon conquered Jericho and the rest of the land.

This was an important milestone in the Big Story of the Bible.  Land is important to any nation, and Israel was no exception.  As part of his mission to save the world, God gave Israel Canaan, the setting in which he would develop them as his people.  The land would shape Israel even as Israel shaped the land.  It would also be the place from which would come Christ.  God gave Israel what it needed.

God also gives us what we need.  Sometimes when we face the challenges of his mission, we to into meltdown mode as well!  But God provides what we need when we follow his call.

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