TODAY IS…

a wonderful day to hold on for the last half hour.

“So they said to one another, ‘Let us appoint a leader and return to Egypt.’”  Numbers 14:4 NASB

Someone said, “The greatest challenge in receiving great things from God is holding on for the last half hour.”

Many of us often make this statement very true. Let’s look at the Israelites, for example. They followed God’s direction and endured several years of hardship to arrive at Kadesh, at the very edge of the land promised by God.

Twelve men were sent to look around and report back. They were gone for 40 days and when they returned, only Joshua and Caleb were in favor of proceeding to conquer the land God had promised.

Caleb spoke confidently of entering Canaan, “But the men who had gone up with him said, ‘We are not able to go up against the people, for they are too strong for us.’” (Numbers 13:31 NASB).

God had promised them that the land would be theirs, but insecurity, fear, and doubt overcame them at the last moment. Their faith in God deserted them in “the last half hour.”

God’s patience is greater than that of any human being, but the Israelites were certainly testing it here. They had complained all the way from Egypt. They had expressed their doubt more than once. Even though they were now poised at the edge of the land they had endured much hardship to reach, they were now seriously considering going back the way they came rather than take the final “leap of faith” and enter the land God said He would give them.

How could they doubt Him now?

The same God who parted the Red Sea so they could pass safely and then destroyed Pharaoh’s army had promised victory over their enemies, and they could not hold onto their faith for just a little longer?

Something similar has probably occurred in the life of many of us. We have prayed for something and followed God’s direction, believing that what we have asked for has met with His approval. We have believed that we have God’s assurance that we will reach our goal. We have prayed in faith and we have gotten within sight of achieving what we have worked for.

And at the last moment, the shadow of doubt is cast over us, and we stop moving toward our goal. We somehow convince ourselves it is God telling us that we cannot do what we believed we could do.

But it is not God.

It is fear placed within us by the evil one and we must conquer that fear through prayer and faith and continue boldly forward until we have reached our own promised land.

All we have to do is ask God to help us hold on for “the last half hour”.

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Taken from “TODAY IS….A Gift From God”, (C) 2013 Tony Casson