A man bought a new car, got it home and checked the trunk.  He was shocked to find that the tire-jack had been replaced by the Jaws of Life.

I wonder if that’s how Israel felt when they arrived at Canaan land.  The Lord promised them a bountiful land flowing with milk and honey (Leviticus 20:24) but that was not exactly what they found.  It was actually a really tough place to live. 

The western boundary was seacoast.  This could be a plus for international trade. But the waters of the sea carried sand from North Africa and left it on their shores so that they lacked deep water ports.

There were lots of worthless rocks but few valuable minerals.  They even had to import wood for building.

It was tough to travel – a land of random hills, valleys, swamps, and desert and smaller than New Jersey.

It is earthquake prone.  There is evidence of several cities that were leveled by quakes.   2/3 of the land was arid waste. The coastal areas were swampy.  3/4 of the land was mountainous.  Farming was a challenge.

Caanan was 100% dependent on the rain.  Every bit of the water in the Jordan River came from rain that had fallen in the land.  If it didn’t rain, they didn’t eat.

Because of the thickets and mountains the land was haunted by lions, bears, jackals, hyenas, leopards and wolves – challenges when trying to work the fields or tend the flocks.

Canaan is the primary intercontinental bridge that connects Africa with Asia and Europe.   Therefore, it was and still is the most strategic point of real estate in the Middle east.   In those days Egypt would march through Canaan to assault Mesopotamia and visa versa.   Canaan land would be assaulted and sacked when they did.  

So, God asked Moses and the Israelites to leave the rich bountiful Nile Delta region to move to a place that was poor for shipping, trading, mining, traveling, logging and especially farming.  The place was rocky, swampy, rain dependent, overrun with wild beasts and frequently ravaged by war.

So why would God provide that kind of home for the people He treasured?  He tells us in Leviticus 26:3-10.  

“‘If you walk in my statutes and are sure to obey my commandments, 4 I will give you your rains in their time so that the land will give its yield and the trees of the field will produce their fruit. 5 Threshing season will extend for you until the season for harvesting grapes, and the season for harvesting grapes will extend until sowing season, so you will eat your bread until you are satisfied…”

God described an extremely prosperous and bountiful place – plenty of rain, fruitful trees, ripened fields, and luscious grapes – each year every year (26:10).  But, He prefaced His promise with an if, “If you walk in my statutes and are sure to obey my commandments…”

He went on to say, “and you will live securely in your land. 6 I will grant peace in the land so that you will lie down to sleep without anyone terrifying you. I will remove harmful animals from the land, and no sword of war will pass through your land” (26:5b-6)

If they were to walk in His statutes, He also guaranteed that they would sleep in peace.  He would manage the wild beasts and stop the marauding nations at the border. 

God wanted them to live in a healthy state of tension.  If they were to obey it would be a fantastic home.  If they deserted Him, it would become a lemon of a land.  They had to live by their faith or languish without it. 

We too would like a milk and honey experience in life, but sometimes we taste vinegar instead.  This may be God’s gentle way of correcting us.  He disciplines the child that He loves (Hebrews 12:6-11).  It may be time to turn back to Him. 

A PRAYER: Teach us the Lord the way in which we should go.

This has been Jim Johnson and pickleheavenpress.com

May the grace of our Lord be with you Scripture passages are from the NETBible