“Wonderful are Your works, . . .”
What is Canaan in your life?
- What is the inheritance God has planned for you, as you live and as you walk with the Lord?
- What is the work the Lord has planned for you, that which He wants you to do?
- Where is the place God wants you to occupy?
- What are the “good works” the LORD GOD has prepared for you to accomplish BEFOREHAND?
When the LORD spoke to His servant Moses and told him to send in twelve men (one from every tribe of Israel), Moses chose the twelve and commissioned them with the work they were to do.
- They were to “Go” into the land of Canaan.
- They were to “See” what the land looked like.
- They were to “Scout out” the people who lived in the land. &
- They were to “Determine” if their cities were fortified (meaning could they be penetrated and conquered).
The will of God never leads us where the grace of God cannot provide for our needs, and the will of God never leads us where the power of God cannot protect us. Maybe we need to read that last sentence again and again and again and again and . . . .
- Where is God leading you today?
- To whom is God leading you to speak?
What is Canaan in your life?
- Are you obediently going where the LORD leads?
- Are you obediently seeing the places the LORD would have you see?
- Are you obediently scouting out the people the LORD wants you to meet?
- Are you obediently determining if their hearts are ready for the LORD’S harvest?
We are the children of God; we are Jesus-followers; we have been redeemed by Jesus Christ; so, we have nothing to fear. Maybe we need to read that last sentence again and again and again and again and . . . .
There are “good works” GOD has already designed for us to do, and we are to be obedient.
King David, the servant of God, wrote:
“Wonderful are Your works,
(The Psalms 139: 14b NASB)
And my soul knows it very well.”
So many times, people say, “That was then, as in way back in the old days, and we are to follow the New Testament. Therefore, for those who want evidence how the LORD has already prepared the “good works” HE has for us to do, let us read the words the Spirit of God led the apostle Paul to write to the believers living in Ephesus. Today, in this 21st Century, this Word of the LORD still applies to us.
“For we are His workmanship,
(The Letter of Paul to the Ephesians 2:10 NASB)
created in Christ Jesus for good works,
which God prepared beforehand
so that we would walk in them.”
The LORD prepared the “good works” we were to do “beforehand,” as in before we were conceived in our mother’s womb, as in before we were born, and as in before we even lived a single day. The LORD also prepared HIS “good works” we were to do “beforehand,” as in even “before” we gave our hearts to Jesus. Maybe we need to read that last sentence again and again and again and again and . . . .
- How are we doing with that?
- Are we obediently walking in the work the LORD would have us to do?
What is the Canaan in your life the LORD is leading you to step into, to inhabit?
Consider an orange. Picture the soft roundness, the orange color, and the sweetness—of an orange. Now, also consider a pineapple. Picture the spiky, green top protruding upward from the hard-shelled exterior—of a pineapple. An orange grower cannot plant an orange seed and hope to harvest a pineapple. Neither can a pineapple tree be grown, in hopes that oranges will be harvested.
From the moment of their conception (the orange’s beginning and the pineapple’s), the LORD knows what each of these fruits are to become. The LORD orchestrates their “fruitiness” before they have even become a fruit that we purchase and bring home to joy. The orange should never strive to become the pineapple, and the pineapple should never hope to become like the orange.
Even more amazing is how the LORD determines their taste, their look, and their “good work” HE prepared them to do—“beforehand,” as in before they were even alive as tiny seeds or as small offshoots. THE LORD KNEW!
Therefore, in closing, let us return to the writing of the psalmist David, let us recall the Amazing Grace & the Wonderful Working Power of GOD! Finally, let us prayerfully and obediently follow the LORD going into, seeing, scouting out, and determining—the Canaan HE has for each one of us.
“For You formed my inward parts;
(The Psalms 139: 13-16 NASB)
You wove me in my mother’s womb.
I will give thanks to You,
for I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
Wonderful are Your works,
And my soul knows it very well.
My frame was not hidden from You,
When I was made in secret,
And skillfully wrought in the depths of the earth;
Your eyes have seen my unformed substance;
And in Your book were all written
The days that were ordained for me,
When as yet there was not one of them.”