Numbers 13:20 And what the land is, whether it be fat or lean, whether there be wood therein, or not. And be ye of good courage, and bring of the fruit of the land. Now the time was the time of the firstripe grapes.
Ah mih Friends, that word courage is a ‘helluva’ thing yes! It’s been the undoing, as well as the making of many living organisms. Per the dictionary, it means being brave, bold or fearless, having nerve or pluck, standing up for your beliefs, and in the vernacular, having manly parts, gumption or belly and backbone. Unfortunately, it’s not easy to come by, and invariably involves taking risks, stepping out of our comfort zone, against odds that are not always in our favour. However, to become true, mature believers, we need to have lots of it, especially in these trying and troubling times. Luckily for us though, we have the epitome of courage, Jesus, as our Lord, Saviour and Leader, so anytime we’re in need of it, all we have to do is look to Him. Oh I know that simply looking to Him won’t immediately instil the courage of lions in us, but we can start by reflecting on His awesome courage to undertake the awful job the Father allotted Him. When we read and meditate on His predicament, if we’re sincere, some of it will obviously rub off on us, then we can begin building our own personal brand of courage. And today I read a quote that not only got me on to this track of courage, but also seems very helpful in building it. It’s attributed to Mignon McLaughlin (1913-1983) an American journalist and author, apparently famous for her numerous noteworthy quotes, including this one. ‘The only courage that matters is the kind that gets you from one moment to the next.’ And that’s a very helpful way to look at it. You don’t always need to have a ton of it at once, but just enough for each situation that warrants it. Just getting up and getting started every day calls for courage, but not as much as if you were face to face with an animal, including the human variety, that threatened your life. Then you’d need oodles of it. So the easiest way to build our desperately needed courage is to take it one step at a time, one day at a time. Hopefully, by the time of real danger, we’d have built up a sufficient reservoir from which to draw on. And that’s where our Bit comes in. The Lord commanded Moses: ‘Send thou men, that they may search (spy out) the land of Canaan, which I give unto the children of Israel: of every tribe of their fathers shall ye send a man, every one a ruler among them.’ (Num.13:2) So Moses picked twelve leaders, one from each tribe and assigned them the dangerous task of going into the unknown Promised Land to gather pertinent info on the inhabitants. ‘And see the land, what it is (what it’s like); and the people that dwelleth therein, whether they be strong or weak, few or many; And what the land is that they dwell in, whether it be good or bad; and what cities they be that they dwell in, whether in tents, or in strongholds; And what the land is, whether it be fat or lean (fertile or barren), whether there be wood therein, or not. And be ye of good courage, and bring of the fruit of the land. Now the time was the time of the firstripe grapes.’ (Num. 13:18-20) Now mih Friends, that calls for a ton of courage, because you’re going into a totally unknown place and situation, certainly dangerous, if not lethal. And all your leader, Moses can tell you is ‘be strong and of a good courage’ Hn! Furthermore, he expects you to bring back fruit to show what the land possesses. I doubt if any of the twelve were thrilled with the dangerous assignment, and from the results, it seems their reservoir of courage was also sadly lacking. That’s why on their return, ten of them said, ‘surely, it (the land) floweth with milk and honey, and this is the fruit of it. Nevertheless the people be strong that dwell in the land, and the cities are walled, and very great: and moreover we saw the children of Anak (giants) there.’ (Num.13:27-28) Then they listed the names of other powerful inhabitants. Fortunately for us all Friends, two of those twelve, Joshua and Caleb, chose to differ. ‘And Caleb stilled the people before Moses, and said, Let us go up at once, and possess it; for we are well able to overcome it. But the men that went up with him, said, We be not able to go up against the people; for they are stronger than we…it is a land that eateth up (devours) the inhabitants thereof; and all the people that we saw in it are men of great stature.’ (Num.13:30-32) Right there mih people is an excellent example of the courage believers need to have. The twelve men walked through the same land, saw basically the same things and people, but ten lacked the necessary courage to stand on the promise of their God, who had brought them out of bondage in Egypt to give them that land of abundance, of milk and honey. Jesus hadn’t arrived on the scene yet, so Joshua and Caleb must have derived their courage, bravery, boldness, gumption from another source. Yes Friends, from the Lord God Jehovah, the God of their Fathers. They’d seen, felt and strongly believed in the power and promise of the Lord, so their hearts were filled with courage. It didn’t mean they weren’t afraid, for we all are when undertaking large or dangerous tasks, but the positive emotions in their souls and hearts, backed by their faith in their God, gave them the strength to overcome their fear. Remember Friends, courage is not the absence of fear, but the ability to overcome it. And in our troubled world today, we all need lots of courage to overcome the large amount of fear and negative emotion circulating throughout it, caused and noised abroad by Lucifer and his evil cohorts. And aren’t we lucky mih people! We have Jesus as an example and leader to boost our courage. The Israelites of old didn’t have Him, though I think they were better off, for they actually lived, saw and experienced the greatness of their God in their daily lives; from having Pharaoh release them, to crossing the Red Sea on dry land, then leading them through the wilderness by a cloud of smoke and pillar of fire, providing them with manna and finally bringing them safely to the banks of the Jordan, where they could see the promised Land. All they had to do was get up off their lazy, fearful fannies and go in and take it. If your God could do so much to bring you to that point, why wouldn’t He then ably assist you to conquer it eh? Sadly Friends, that’s the same attitude too many of us believers exhibit today. We talk a big talk about our God, but when it comes to obeying Him, we chicken out. That’s so unworthy of us mih breddren, and very demeaning and unappreciative to our Saviour Jesus, after all the hell He went through on our behalf. And we not done with this topic yet Friends, because it’s a big stumbling block in the Church today. So we’ll continue it tomorrow, God willing of course. Till then, pluck up nuh mih people, pluck up nuh. Much LOVE!…our words are important…but even more so are our actions…
Ah mih Friends, that word courage is a ‘helluva’ thing yes! It’s been the undoing, as well as the making of many living organisms. Per the dictionary, it means being brave, bold or fearless, having nerve or pluck, standing up for your beliefs, and in the vernacular, having manly parts, gumption or belly and backbone. Unfortunately, it’s not easy to come by, and invariably involves taking risks, stepping out of our comfort zone, against odds that are not always in our favour. However, to become true, mature believers, we need to have lots of it, especially in these trying and troubling times. Luckily for us though, we have the epitome of courage, Jesus, as our Lord, Saviour and Leader, so anytime we’re in need of it, all we have to do is look to Him. Oh I know that simply looking to Him won’t immediately instil the courage of lions in us, but we can start by reflecting on His awesome courage to undertake the awful job the Father allotted Him. When we read and meditate on His predicament, if we’re sincere, some of it will obviously rub off on us, then we can begin building our own personal brand of courage. And today I read a quote that not only got me on to this track of courage, but also seems very helpful in building it. It’s attributed to Mignon McLaughlin (1913-1983) an American journalist and author, apparently famous for her numerous noteworthy quotes, including this one. ‘The only courage that matters is the kind that gets you from one moment to the next.’ And that’s a very helpful way to look at it. You don’t always need to have a ton of it at once, but just enough for each situation that warrants it. Just getting up and getting started every day calls for courage, but not as much as if you were face to face with an animal, including the human variety, that threatened your life. Then you’d need oodles of it. So the easiest way to build our desperately needed courage is to take it one step at a time, one day at a time. Hopefully, by the time of real danger, we’d have built up a sufficient reservoir from which to draw on. And that’s where our Bit comes in. The Lord commanded Moses: ‘Send thou men, that they may search (spy out) the land of Canaan, which I give unto the children of Israel: of every tribe of their fathers shall ye send a man, every one a ruler among them.’ (Num.13:2) So Moses picked twelve leaders, one from each tribe and assigned them the dangerous task of going into the unknown Promised Land to gather pertinent info on the inhabitants. ‘And see the land, what it is (what it’s like); and the people that dwelleth therein, whether they be strong or weak, few or many; And what the land is that they dwell in, whether it be good or bad; and what cities they be that they dwell in, whether in tents, or in strongholds; And what the land is, whether it be fat or lean (fertile or barren), whether there be wood therein, or not. And be ye of good courage, and bring of the fruit of the land. Now the time was the time of the firstripe grapes.’ (Num. 13:18-20) Now mih Friends, that calls for a ton of courage, because you’re going into a totally unknown place and situation, certainly dangerous, if not lethal. And all your leader, Moses can tell you is ‘be strong and of a good courage’ Hn! Furthermore, he expects you to bring back fruit to show what the land possesses. I doubt if any of the twelve were thrilled with the dangerous assignment, and from the results, it seems their reservoir of courage was also sadly lacking. That’s why on their return, ten of them said, ‘surely, it (the land) floweth with milk and honey, and this is the fruit of it. Nevertheless the people be strong that dwell in the land, and the cities are walled, and very great: and moreover we saw the children of Anak (giants) there.’ (Num.13:27-28) Then they listed the names of other powerful inhabitants. Fortunately for us all Friends, two of those twelve, Joshua and Caleb, chose to differ. ‘And Caleb stilled the people before Moses, and said, Let us go up at once, and possess it; for we are well able to overcome it. But the men that went up with him, said, We be not able to go up against the people; for they are stronger than we…it is a land that eateth up (devours) the inhabitants thereof; and all the people that we saw in it are men of great stature.’ (Num.13:30-32) Right there mih people is an excellent example of the courage believers need to have. The twelve men walked through the same land, saw basically the same things and people, but ten lacked the necessary courage to stand on the promise of their God, who had brought them out of bondage in Egypt to give them that land of abundance, of milk and honey. Jesus hadn’t arrived on the scene yet, so Joshua and Caleb must have derived their courage, bravery, boldness, gumption from another source. Yes Friends, from the Lord God Jehovah, the God of their Fathers. They’d seen, felt and strongly believed in the power and promise of the Lord, so their hearts were filled with courage. It didn’t mean they weren’t afraid, for we all are when undertaking large or dangerous tasks, but the positive emotions in their souls and hearts, backed by their faith in their God, gave them the strength to overcome their fear. Remember Friends, courage is not the absence of fear, but the ability to overcome it. And in our troubled world today, we all need lots of courage to overcome the large amount of fear and negative emotion circulating throughout it, caused and noised abroad by Lucifer and his evil cohorts. And aren’t we lucky mih people! We have Jesus as an example and leader to boost our courage. The Israelites of old didn’t have Him, though I think they were better off, for they actually lived, saw and experienced the greatness of their God in their daily lives; from having Pharaoh release them, to crossing the Red Sea on dry land, then leading them through the wilderness by a cloud of smoke and pillar of fire, providing them with manna and finally bringing them safely to the banks of the Jordan, where they could see the promised Land. All they had to do was get up off their lazy, fearful fannies and go in and take it. If your God could do so much to bring you to that point, why wouldn’t He then ably assist you to conquer it eh? Sadly Friends, that’s the same attitude too many of us believers exhibit today. We talk a big talk about our God, but when it comes to obeying Him, we chicken out. That’s so unworthy of us mih breddren, and very demeaning and unappreciative to our Saviour Jesus, after all the hell He went through on our behalf. And we not done with this topic yet Friends, because it’s a big stumbling block in the Church today. So we’ll continue it tomorrow, God willing of course. Till then, pluck up nuh mih people, pluck up nuh. Much LOVE!…our words are important…but even more so are our actions…
SCRIP-BITS 