Fighting the Giants in Canaan Then and Now

“And they [the spies] spread among the Israelites a bad report about the land they had explored. They said, “The land we explored devours those living in it. All the people we saw there are of great size” Number 13:32.

Moses sent 12 spies to Canaan to spy out the land God had promised them. The above passage alludes to this. To read the whole account, click this link.

For every promise God gives us, there is a corresponding giant. God had promised the Israelites a glorious land. A place that flowed with milk and honey. Where gold and copper could be dug from the hills. A place of large and abundant fruit.

Giants in Canaan

But there were also giants in Canaan. It was home to people so powerful and intimidating, they made the Israelites feel like grasshoppers (Numbers 13:33). It was enough to cause them to cower in fear, give up their faith and lose all hope.

But this is always the way it is. When God gives us a glorious promise, there will also be situations that make the fulfillment of the promise look impossible and seem hopeless.

God gave the patriarch Abraham the promise that he would have a son with his wife Sarah. But the next thing we hear of them, Abimelech, the king of Canaan had “taken” Sarah into his harem (Genesis 20:2). How is Sarah going to bear Abraham’s son when she isn’t even with him anymore?

Big promise, Big giant.

For anyone reading not familiar with the story, Sarah did end up having a son with Abraham. She was 90 and he was 100 years old.

Or take Joseph also from the book of Genesis. God gave him a glorious promise that he would be a ruler. And that even his family would bow down to him (Genesis 37:5-8). But the next thing we hear about Joseph, he’s a slave in Egypt. And then a prisoner (Genesis 39:1, 20).

Big promise, Big giant.

But, in the end, after many years of testing, Joseph did become a powerful ruler in Egypt. And second only to pharaoh himself.

The Promise: One Third Will Be Left

I’ve seen this pattern in my own life as well. The Lord gave me a promise about my son Sam. He had been diagnosed with Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma a second time at 13 years old. The prognosis was not good. His doctor gave him one chance in three to live five years.

I used a daily promise calendar back then. And you’ll never believe what my promise for that day was. It was an obscure passage out of Zechariah.

‘In the whole land,’ declares the Lord,
    ‘two-thirds will be struck down and perish;
    yet one-third will be left in it.
This third I will put into the fire;
    I will refine them like silver
    and test them like gold.
They will call on my name
    and I will answer them’;
I will say, ‘They are my people,’
  and they will say, ‘The Lord is our God.’ Zechariah 13: 8, 9”

It was a beautiful promise that he would survive. Even the reference 13:9 was significant. Sam was 13 at the time and his sister who ended up donating her marrow for the bone marrow transplant he would eventually need was 9! 

At the time, I had no idea how prophetic the “go through the fire” part would be though.

The Giant: A Certain Death Sentence

Three weeks after I received that promise he contracted a strep infection because the chemotherapy had knocked out his immune system.  The infection migrated into his bloodstream and as a result of the sepsis he went into septic shock.

Then because of the infection, he ended up with Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome and then a malignant fungus invaded his lung.

Each of these conditions alone could’ve been enough to kill him. All of them together were a certain death sentence. Forget about the one chance in three. His doctors gave him zero chance of survival at this point. And the next step was hospice.

But prayer was being offered for him continually by myself, my church as well as our family and friends. And God intervened and did a miracle.

He finally recovered enough to have a bone marrow transplant three months later. He is now 31 years old, married and loves God with all his heart.

Big promise, Big giant.

What giants are threatening to take down the promise God has given you? Whatever you’re going through, just remember the giants in Canaan were no match for God’s faith-filled people. He fought for them and ultimately gave them the victory.

To read another post similar to Fighting the Giants in Canaan Then and Now, see Israel In the Wilderness: The Prerequisite. Check out other related posts here: The Israelites in the Wilderness Refused Grace and Why The Israelites Died in the Wilderness.

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