Milk & Honey

 I once heard speaker, author, and actress Priscilla Shirer ask this question; "Will we know about Him, or will we experience Him?" She went on to say that the goal of the Israelites coming out of the bondage of Egypt  was to come into the land of abundance, the promised land. The Bible calls this the "land of milk and honey." She asked, "Is there milk and honey in our lives?" How we answer her second question hinges on how we've answered her first. Do we just know about Him, or are we experiencing Him intimately in our day to day living? 

I believe Genesis 28 speaks to this. Jacob, fearing for his life after threats from his brother Esau, is fleeing to Haran and the protection of his mother's relatives. He makes camp for the night and in exhaustion, falls into a deep sleep. As he sleeps, God comes to Him in a dream and says to him, "I am Lord, the God of your grandfather Abraham and your father Isaac. The ground you are lying on belongs to you, and I will give it to you and your descendents." God goes on to elaborate on this promise and then says, "What's more, I will be with you and protect you wherever you go.....I will be with you constantly until I have finished giving you everything I have promised." In the 16th verse, Jacob awakes and exclaims, "Surely the Lord was in this place and I wasn't even aware of it." Jacob's grandfather and father had both known, followed, and experienced God on an intimate basis. Jacob had grown up hearing and knowing about that God, but had never experienced Him. Till now. How like him are we?

Shirer says that the goal of coming out of bondage is to enter into abundance. To enter into the lifestyle of milk and honey. Sadly however, too many of us never really enter into the fullness of His abundance or partake of His "milk and honey." We never really experience and come to know the beauty of the God we say we believe in. We hear stories of Him. Our hearts are pulled towards Him, but our "knowledge" rests mostly in hearsay, not personal experience. 

I think there are two reasons for this. First, we have flawed ideas of what the land of milk and honey contains. We make it all about material things. An abundance of earthly riches. The Father certainly does give us good things, but this land will not be found until we first enter into it from within. Our full inheritance in Him is found in the inner riches of His peace, joy, rest, contentment, and strength, to name a few. The second reason is that we simply fear to enter in. It's estimated that about 2 million people left the slavery of Egypt. Of that number, only 2, Joshua and Caleb, did take possession of the land. The rest died in the wilderness. Two out of two million. Which group would you and I have been part of? 

Jacob began his journey with a solid knowledge about God, yet that night, as he lie down to sleep, he did so oblivious to His powerful presence in that place. When he awoke, it was with an experience of the God he'd only heard of. Are we ready to awake as well? Are we ready, at last, for the true milk and honey of the God we profess to follow? He offers such a land to us. Are we ready to enter in, or, do we remain in our wilderness?

Blessings,
Pastor O