Ain't No Giant Gonna Hoo-do Me!

Joshua 14:8
Nevertheless my brethren who went up with  me made the heart of the people melt with fear, but I followed the LORD my God fully.

This verse comes as a result of Joshua retelling his story of the trek from Egypt to the promised land.
It came at a time when Moses picked twelve men to cross over the Jordan river to spy out the land to see if it was everything God had told them.

The twelve spy's surveyed the surrounding territory and then made their way back to the camp of Israel to report to Moses and the people what they had found. The report started out simple enough. "We went into the land where you sent us and it certainly does flow with milk and honey (Numbers 13:27)."
But then some of the spies, ten be exact, began to talk about the people who inhabited that land.
1.) They are strong.
2.) Cities are fortified and very large
3.) We saw the descendants of Anak there (Giants0
4.) It is a land that devours its inhabitants.
5.) We became like grasshoppers in our own sight and so we were in their (giants) sight.

12 men went into this land.
12 men saw the same thing.
Only two had reports that God indeed would give them this land.
What happened?
The ten who gave the negative report did not trust God and his ability to carry through with his promise.

We see this type of mentality and belief everyday in people of addiction.
They doubt the Power of the twelve steps (which by the way is JESUS CHRIST)
They acknowledge that the steps might work for others, but not them.
In their own eyes, their addiction is that giant that is unbeatable.
They acknowledge their desire to occupy this new promised life of sobriety, but the evidence of addiction in their live overpowers their need to be free of it. They are not to the point of trusting in a Power greater than themselves who could restore them to sanity.
They are not to the point of making a decision to turn their will and their life over to the care of God as they understood Him to be.

It takes this Power to break through the defenses set up by addiction.
It takes one who like Joshua or Caleb (Numbers 13:30) who will step up and say, "We should by all means go up and take possession of it (this promised life), for we shall surely overcome it."
Don't let the giants of your addiction hold you at bay from this new life of sobriety by their taunts and bad reports of others.
Lay down your fear and doubt and realize the truth of God.
That God is who He claims to be.....
And....
God will do what He has promised to do......

May you find what has been given to me...
Not of my own doing, but by the loving, gentle hand of Jesus.
God on you......

mb