I was young when
I learned chicken wasn’t necessarily a chicken. Chickens ran around my
grandmother’s yard during the day and were locked up in the coop at night. But
if my cousin asked me to do something I was scared to do and I didn’t do it, he
labeled me a chicken. And since I was somewhat afraid of adventure, I
often wore the label.
“I bet you won’t
jump off the tractor shed,” he might say.
“Are you crazy?”
I’d respond.
“Chicken. Bak,
bak, bak.”
Or if it was
something I initially said I’d do but then changed my mind about at the last
minute, I would be accused of chickening out. Either way, I was a chicken.
Of the twelve
spies Moses sent into the Promised Land, ten chickened out. Four hundred years
of Egyptian slavery was behind the Israelites. Now, they stood on the border of
the land God had promised their ancestors. Out of fear—or good sense—Moses sent
twelve men to peruse the land. It was promising all right, but was also guarded
by giants and walled cities. Only Joshua and Caleb maintained they could take
the land. The majority’s disobedience cost the Israelites forty years of
wilderness wandering.
It sounds reassuring
to tell people God won’t ask them to do anything they can’t do—but most of the
time that’s not true. God often asks us to do things we can’t do. If we can do
it, we don’t need him. If we can’t do it—but He helps us do it—then the
spotlight shines on him, and he gets the glory for what’s accomplished.
What God asks of
us, he enables us to do. He would have enabled the people to conquer the
land—and he did for another generation forty years later. The walled cities and
giants were no problem for them when God was their guide.
I wonder how
many things we’ve missed doing for God because we chickened out and never
started. Living the Christian life involves faith and trust, and sometimes the
faith must be blind faith—the kind children have.
Don’t chicken out on what God asks of you. He’ll always supply the strength, the way, and the
courage.
Father, help me
to trust you for the wisdom and power to do everything you ask.
I invite you to try my book Hurt, Hope, and Healing in eBook or paperback. If you seek hope and healing because of the hurts you have faced, this book is for you. Click on the title above to order your copy. And thanks to all our faithful followers who share our posts on Facebook, Twitter, and Linkedin.
