God’s Best

Have you ever been distracted or side-tracked from something that God has asked you to do and ended up with second best? This is what happened to the Israelites when they entered the Promised Land. God had promised them that they would occupy the whole of the land, but they didn’t realise that they would have to work for it, and that entailed lots of battles and took many years.

After all the years in the Wilderness, and then fighting their way in, it’s understandable that they were tired and just wanted to settle down, but God had given them clear instructions to clear the land of all the peoples who were living there. But they didn’t. Sometimes they were tricked by the people, who made them think that they’d come from a long way away, when in fact they were ‘locals’, and sometimes it seemed they just hadn’t the stomach for the fight.

The reason God wanted them to clear the land was that the indigenous people worshipped idols and sacrificed their children on the altars of false gods, and God knew that if they were allowed to stay, the Israelites would gradually be seduced into copying them. And, eventually, this is what did happen.

They compromised, did half a job, and ended up missing out on the best that God had planned for them: an unbroken relationship with Him. This is sometimes what happens to us. God gives us a vision and we set off, full of good intentions, and everything goes fine to begin with, but over time we get tired, begin to cut corners and compromise, so although we are still heading in the right direction we aren’t as focussed as we should be and we begin to miss out on the best God has for us.

God is always faithful to His promises. He will never break them. If He gives you a vision, that vision will remain, even though you may have lost sight of it or it’s become bogged down in the mire of daily life. We need to ask God to show us where we’ve allowed compromise, or sin, to obscure our vision, and give us fresh heart to draw close to Him and keep pressing on with whatever He’s called us to do.

‘Not a word failed of any good thing which the Lord had spoken to the house of Israel. All came to pass’ (Joshua 21: 45). God does His bit, we have to do ours!

Prayer: Heavenly Father, thank You that You’re always faithful, even when I’m not. Forgive me if I’ve lost sight of the vision You’ve given me. Please restore that vision, and give me wisdom to clear away everything that hinders me from fulfilling it. In Jesus’ precious name I ask it, Amen.