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What Is the Promised Land?
In the Bible, the term
“Promised Land” refers to a specific region of land that God
endowed to His chosen people, as part of their heritage. The promised
land of Canaan, eventually called Israel, was a fertile land with
brooks and deep springs that gushed out into the valleys and hills.
The rich soil produced wheat and barley, vines and fig trees,
pomegranates, and olives. There, the Israelites would lack
nothing. Described in
Scripture as “a land
flowing with milk and honey,” the soil was rich for agriculture and
shepherding, the mountains provided security and protection from the
elements and their enemies, and the arid climate provided perfect
conditions for livestock to thrive. (Exodus 3:17; Numbers 13:27,
Deuteronomy 8:6-9)
In
Genesis
12:1, God tells Abram, "Leave your country, your people
and your father's household and go to the land I will show you."
God later confirms this promise to Abraham's son Isaac (Genesis 26:3)
and to Isaac's son Jacob (Genesis 28:13). In Exodus 6:8, God
reiterates His promise, saying, "I will bring you to the land
which I swore to give to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and I will give
it to you for a possession; I am the Lord.”
For migrating herders like
the Jews, having a stable home of their own would be a true blessing.
The promised land was a place to rest from their continual wandering.
But this promise came with conditions. First, God commanded that
Israel, the name of the new nation, had to trust and follow Him.
Second, God demanded faithful worship of Him (Deuteronomy 7:12-15).
After Moses led God’s
people out of Egypt and through the Red Sea, the time had finally
come for Israel to realize the fulfillment of God’s long-awaited
promise. In one miraculous display after another, God had clearly
shown Himself mighty to save. Now, the Israelites needed only to
believe God and follow His servant Moses into the desert wilderness
that would lead them to the promised land.
The Faith
of Joshua and the Fear of Israel
Through their deliverance
from Egypt, the Israelites had witnessed first-hand God’s
provision, His power, and His faithfulness to the promises made to
their ancestors (Genesis 15:14, Exodus 15:1-21)) And God continued to
provide for all their needs. As they began their journey to Canaan,
God provided food and water. (Exodus 16:12-15, Exodus 15:25) He
provided clothes and shoes that never wore out. (Deuteronomy 29:5) He
gave them His law. (Exodus 5:6-21) And most importantly God gave the
Israelites the gift of His sheltering and guiding presence. (Exodus
13:21)
SOURCE FROM: https://www.biblestudytools.com/bible-stories/the-promised-land.html
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When
I read these promises in the Old Testament, I think of how it so
closely applies to some of what I have experienced over the past
several years. I think of how I struggled and fought to care for and
protect my mother, who was starting to show signs of dementia back in
2015, after my stepfather passed away. I quit my job at my church, in
their counseling/community care programs and spent most days with
her. When she went into memory care inn 2019, I made sure she was
always cared for and did my very best to honor her wishes. That
created a lot of anger and resentment in my family towards me. But, I prayed and
persevered until her passing in 2023.
All
that time, I also prayed that the Lord would move my heart and lead
me to where He wanted me to go, once my mission there was finished.
My husband and I both have loved traveling. We often traveled to any
different states, and our hearts pulled us away from our “home
town” and to a possible new land…..a land God was preparing for
us way back in 2015(and even before that).
Now,
I believe the Lord didn’t reveal to us where or when that promised
land would become reality to teach us many lessons in faith,
patience, and full dependence on Him. In fact, we were actually
looking in different locations, only for each one we found to fall
through. Then, when we finally made a decision, the preparations and
journey to get to that place was nothing short of exhausting and
frustrating. It seemed like one setback after another took place.
Everything seemed to take so much longer and cost us much more than
we had hoped or anticipated. I have often compared our journey to
this “new promised land” to the Biblical journey of the Israelites or the journey
of the settlers that took the Oregon Trail….obviously on a much
smaller scale. And, I will admit, my faith in His calling for us was
pressed and tried, often with me very
close to calling it quits. But, in those times I would go into prayer with
the Lord and talk with
my family about it, who often pulled me back up to hang in just a little
longer.
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Fast
forward to where we are now….. thankfully, God never gave up on me
or ever went back on His promises to me. In fact, He has given me so
much more than I could have ever imagined!!
I am
blown away by the description in Genesis of the “promised land”
God was preparing for His people, and how closely that describes the
land we now live on. Similar to the land of Canaan,
our property has the following:
~ A
fertile land with brooks and deep springs that gushed out into the
valleys and hills.
~ The
rich soil has vines and
fig trees (not mentioned, but also all kinds of fruit trees, berries,
and a persimmon tree!)
~ The
mountains provided security and protection from the elements and
their enemies, and the climate provided perfect conditions for
livestock and plants
for all to thrive.
~
Described in Scripture
as “a land flowing
with milk and honey,”
~
Along with all this, we were blessed with a beautiful, warm house, as
well as a giant pole building for us to park our RV and our son to
park his van/turn into his official music studio.
GOD
KEEPS HIS PROMISES!! GOD
IS SO GOOD!!
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❤️❤️❤️
