In January and February, we traced Israel’s journey of destiny from its inception through the lives of the fathers of their faith–Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. We also walked in the footsteps of Joseph who saved the world from a great famine and Moses who delivered God’s people from slavery.
This month, we find Israel at a crossroads of spiritual destiny. They are standing at the border of their Promised Land, their God-given destiny. Sadly, they do not advance into the land to secure it. Instead, they turn back into the wilderness where they wander around for forty long years. With the exception of Moses, Joshua, and Caleb, all of that generation dies, and a new generation is raised up and prepared to inherit God’s promises.
The people of God were on the threshold of their destiny, but they did not enter in. Why was this so? For the next few months we will study reasons why Israel failed to claim their Promised Land. You may be thinking that this sounds like pretty negative subject matter for a daily devotional guide, but remember at the beginning of our journey–in the Introduction–there was a statement that this guide is not one designed to share sweet stories that make you feel good.
We are on a march to destiny, and that involves dealing with both negative and positive issues.
In generating electricity, both a positive and negative wire are required to produce power. The insulation from each must be stripped down and then plugged into a switch or receptacle. This stripping down process is not easy, but it is necessary to produce power. If you hook up only the positive wire, you do not generate power. You get no electrical current. There is no light to dispel the darkness. You must put the negative and the positive together. When you do that and then flip the switch, the light comes on.
The same is true in the spiritual world. We must strip down and expose the negatives in our lives in order to receive positive input from God and produce spiritual power. We must deal with the negative first so we can see where positive input is needed.
During the next few months as you study these meditations, continually ask yourself: “What are the hindrances that are preventing me from claiming the promises God has given me? What are the obstacles blocking my pathway to destiny?”
We will deal with major obstacles in the lives of the Israelites, hindrances which will block the fulfillment of God’s promises in your life. This month you will learn how disobedience and the words coming out of your mouth can abort your destiny. Death or life can be determined by what you say and how you respond to the Word of the Lord.