18900 Libby Rd. Maple Heights, OH 44137
from the pastor's desk
Words's of Life
Don't let your past determine your destiny.
In the book of Numbers the 13th chapter the children of Israel are facing their God ordained destiny. After being enslaved in Egypt, for 430 years, they were getting ready to enter the promised land of Canaan. What a bright future and hope that laid ahead of them. But there was one problem that stood in their way. Unbelief. A lack of trust in Jehovah God who brought them out of Egypt.
But how could this be? They had experienced deliverance from the ten plagues in Egypt, They saw God open the Red Sea and they walked across on dry land. They saw Pharaoh's army drowned and as they traveled thru the desert God gave them water from a rock and He fed them with manna from heaven for forty years. Surely they trusted God, right?
So, as they stood ready to enter the land God had promised them, they sent twelve spies to check out the land and bring back a report. Two reported a land flowing with milk, honey and grapes so large that it needed two men to carry them. But ten spies gave a negative report as they saw those who inhabited the land as strong and mighty. They feared they could not take the land. The children of Israel allowed their past bondage in Egypt to shaped their future. They saw themselves as insignificant and powerless and desired to go back to their familiar life of slavery rather than face the obstacles before them and believe God's promise in Numbers 13:2 "I will give them the land".
Facing the future may be difficult even though God gives us His promise. Because of the negative report we may have received from people in our past we may be afraid to trust God. Faith and trust in God and His word will always get us to our God ordained destiny even when our past slavery, bondage, addiction or besetting sin is difficult, hard and painful. We will get to our promised land when we fully trust God.
