“There we saw the Giants” Numbers 13:33

Yes, they saw the giants, but Caleb and Joshua saw God! Those who doubt say, “We be not able to go up.” Those who believe say, “Let us go up at once and possess it, for we are well able.”

Giants stand for great difficulties; and giants are stalking everywhere. They are in our families, in our churches, in our social life, in our own hearts; and we must overcome them or they will eat us up, as these men of old said of the giants of Canaan. The men of faith said, “They are bread for us; we will eat them up.” In other words, “We will be stronger by overcoming them than if there had been no giants to overcome.”

It is when we are in the way of duty that we find giants. It was when Israel was going forward that the giants appeared. When they turned back into the wilderness they found none. There is a prevalent idea that the power of God in a human life should lift us above all trials and conflicts. The fact is, the power of God always brings a conflict and a struggle. . . . Unless we have overcoming faith we shall be eaten up, consumed by the giants in our path. Let us have the spirit of faith that these men of faith had, and see God, and He will take care of the difficulties. (Streams in the Desert)

Eyes are mischievous instruments that increase their impish teasing as we age. Mine have acquired an exceptional ability to transform shadows into whatever I choose. Just yesterday, I scanned the not-too-distant fence line for a wild turkey I had spotted far to my right and then lost sight of as she marched with a twitch behind a stand of elms and pecans. Evening shadows morphed into a myriad of birds until I grabbed nearby binoculars for closer inspection. I did not find the turkey; instead, I discovered stumps, fallen limbs, and tall grasses that relinquished any resemblance to a bird in the light.

Much of my energy is expended wrestling with shadows. Granted, that may sound strange coming from a follower of the Light. After all, Jesus said that he is light, making me a child of the Light. Herein lies the crux of the problem. Wherever light exists, shadows are inevitable. Anything allowed to come between an object below and a source of light above casts an inescapable shadow. And to be quite honest, shadow wrestling is entirely of my own doing. The shadows darkening my existence are there because I have allowed an object to intrude between myself and the Lord. Will this be a passing cloud, or something lodged there long-term due to my own obstinence? Shadows by nature elongate and distort their objects of origin, so the pressing matter for me is to identify the habits, choices, emotions, vices, etc., that I tolerate, and eradicate them so that once again I may “walk in the light as he is in the light,” (1 John 1:7 NIV) and stop shadow boxing giants.