I had mentioned awhile back that Kevin & I and some good friends of ours were privileged to share at an Orphan Care Meeting for our church body. Everyone had their roles. Kevin would share the Scriptural mandate upon believers for orphan care and his adoption testimony. JD & Jenny would share on foster care and some of their personal adoption and fostering experiences. We would present various ways in which believers could support and care for orphans. I figured I'd run the videos (see the sidebar) from the soundboard. They had it covered, I would be support person.
But Kevin wanted me to share something.
I really didn't have any idea what the Lord would have me share, so I began praying. One afternoon as I was praying the Lord brought Joshua and Caleb and the other 10 spies to mind. I went to the passage and felt like the Lord was showing me that all 12 spies had the same set of information...the same call. They knew that God had given them the Promised Land as an inheritance. That He intended it for them. They knew they were to report back on just how good that land was. However, following their tour of the place they were called to, 1o of the spies returned and spread a bad report. Yes, the land was all God had said, but there were fortified cities and giants! The 10 said they were so large that they looked like grasshoppers in their own eyes. Essentially...we know God wants us to go there, but the giants in the land are too big and we are too little...so we should disobey (okay...that's my paraphrase!).
Joshua and Caleb, on the other hand, upon seeing all of the same things...said: "It's true. They're real and big. BUT...OUR GOD IS BIGGER! He says to go...we should obey."
So, why share this at an Orphan Care Meeting?
Because God showed me He wanted me to share with anyone who was being called by God to adopt or foster that in that "land" there are many real and scary and big giants. They aren't hard to imagine or find. But if GOD is telling you that this is where He is sending you, where He wants you to go...well, He is bigger. (And, by the way He knew they were there before you knew they were there and they are placed there as an opportunity for Him to demonstrate how totally awesome in power He is.) He will go before you and behind you and be right there with you dealing with each and every giant as they come. Will you run away like the 10...or be bold and stout-hearted and faithful like Joshua and Caleb? It's all a matter of who/Who you are looking at...
God knew that lesson was designed for me more than anyone else in that room. You see, it would only be a matter of a few weeks until we would see Luke's face for the first time...and his paralysis...a giant in our eyes.
It is so obvious to me now, that the Holy Spirit had spoken to me about giants, grasshoppers, and God to prepare me for His plan. He wanted me to be looking at the size of my God so that when the giants seemed so large and my own abilities so grasshopper-ish in size...I would be prepared to obey based not on my sight but on my great, BIG, giant-slaying GOD.
Luke on June 7, 2007In Him,
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