As followers of Jesus Christ wait for His return, His Second Coming, we can sometimes, maybe often, feel kind of like the Israelites as they traveled through the wilderness. Sadly, the wonder of the daily provision of the Lord wore thin, and the relentlessness of the wilderness conditions began to cloud their vision of Who God is. Even though He was among them in a tangible way, by a cloud by day and by fire by night.

After just over two years of wandering in the wilderness, most of Israel still refused to believe God, to take Him at His Word. Twelve spies were sent into the Promised Land to “check it out”. They saw strongly walled cities, some members of a Canaanite clan that had overactive pituitary glands and seemed like giants, and 10 of those 12 spies referenced their ability to do what God said they were to do in their own human abilities.

God never asked them to trust in their own strength. He told them to trust Him. Joshua and Caleb were faithful, believing they could do what God has said because God was with them and would go before them. The other 10 spies sowed fear and unbelief into the rest of the nation of Israel and the people trusted in themselves rather than in God. It took 40 more years of wandering for the nation while the unbelief was purged from their ranks.

Followers of Jesus Christ have been given new hearts and a new spirit in which the Holy Spirit has taken up permanent residence to live out in us and through us the Life of Jesus Christ.

In Ephesians 3:20-21, the Apostle Paul writes, “Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen!”

Paul is stating the fact that the very power that raised Jesus Christ from the dead is NOW working IN us. It is able to do FAR MORE that we could ever ask or imagine. We are neither abandoned to the relentlessness of daily living nor left without the power to endure and flourish in life. In Romans 8:37 Paul calls us “super-victors” because we are united to God in Jesus Christ and he lives His life in us.

Sometimes the magnitude of the needs we see in the world around us, in our own lives and the responsibilities we carry can weigh so heavily that we seem like “grasshoppers” in our own eyes. Life’s circumstances can loom like giants before us. St. Augustine said, “Beware of despairing about yourself: you are commanded to put your trust in God, and not in yourself.” We need to adjust the focus of our lives. We need eyes like Caleb and Joshua.   

Follower of Jesus Christ, God not merely with you, He is in you, working in you. Bernard of Clairvaux said, “God is willing, able and ready in His mercy and grace to speak into the most mundane areas of life. Jesus came, Jesus is coming again and daily, He is with you coming into all aspects of human living with the Power of His resurrection. Turn your eyes upon Jesus.