Beyond Our Heart's Desire

Scripture Texts: Numbers 13; Deuteronomy 1:19-28; Joshua 14:6-9

God had promised the people they would possess the land. Further God had not given the people any reason to think the promise would not be followed through on. Yet when the spies went and visited the land their report came back saying they should not go into the land.

Even more strange is before saying they cannot go into the land the spies describe the land as an ideal place. It is flowing with milk and honey, the grapes were of huge size and everything was exactly as God had promised them. Yet their fear kept them from experiencing the promise of God. Only two of the spies who explored the land would ever call that land home, Caleb and Joshua.

Caleb and Joshua saw all the same things the others saw, even the giants. However, they also knew that the God of the universe had promised the land to them and would be the one who would lead them in settling the land. They were ready to claim the promise but the others were not ready. Years later God honors Caleb and Joshua by letting them be the only ones from the community to make it to the land, and they are given the portion of land that they desired most. So not only does God bless them for their faithfulness by fulfilling the promise, God also gave them the desire of their hearts.

When we stood in front of the congregation and God to exchange our marriage vows on our wedding day there was a very important promise made as part of those vows. It came before the part where we shared our vows to each other when we accepted the promise of how God would be active in our marriage. We were charged by the pastor to live our lives in accordance with the Scriptures and to pursue a marriage based on the teaching of God. The promise was that if we were faithful to God with our marriage that God would establish and bless our household.

Along the way in our marriage there have been times when we have had to choose between living in our marriage the way God calls us to or to go our own way. We have had to choose whether to hold to the promise or to act in fear. To this point we have chosen to hold to the promise of God and not only have we found the fulfilling marriage promised, God has blessed us with so much more.

We are blessed to be in a marriage with devoted love for each other. We get to serve God with our lives at home and at work. Our three children have a love for God, each other and other people. We are blessed to the point of our heart's desire, all because we choose to hold to the promise of God more than any other option.