What dreams do you have? What gets you so excited that you could talk for hours about it? What has God placed on your heart to do and accomplish?

Your Dreams

So many of us have dreams–dreams I believe God has put there. And yet, how many of those dreams fail to come to fruition? I believe there is one reason why those dreams don’t come to pass. Faith. More specifically, the lack thereof.

We lack the faith to see past the obstacles in our path that keep us from accomplishing that dream. It’s exactly like the spies in the Old Testament.

The Report

The Israelites have left Egypt and are on the verge of entering Canaan, the land God promised them. Moses sends twelve spies to check out the land over a forty-day period. The spies bring back a grape vine with grapes so large it takes two men to carry it. Then they give their report of what they discovered in the land.

We entered the land you sent us to explore, and it is indeed a bountiful country—a land flowing with milk and honey. Here is the kind of fruit it produces.

Numbers 13:27 NLT

They should have just stopped there. It was all good news. The land is prosperous and fruitful; it was going to be an amazing place to live. God had already promised it to them, but they couldn’t look past what was, to see what could be.

But the people living there are powerful, and their towns are large and fortified. We even saw giants there, the descendants of Anak.

Numbers 27:28 NLT

Their Punishment

Because of this report, God takes away the promised land from them. He tells them that they will all die in the wilderness and only their children will get to enter the Promised Land after forty years of wandering in the desert. Wow! That’s a pretty harsh punishment. Why? Why would God take it away from them? Because of giving a bad report?

No. It was because of their lack of faith. They didn’t have the faith to believe that God would give them the promised land, giants or not. Faith is a really big deal to God. Just look at how many times Jesus healed people because of “their faith.” Others missed out because they didn’t have faith. Hebrews reminds us that if we don’t have faith, we cannot please God.

And it is impossible to please God without faith.

Hebrews 11:6 NLT

Eyes of Faith

Reading this story makes me stop and think. What am I missing out on because I can’t see past the obstacles in my path? We have to learn to look with “eyes of faith.” We have to train ourselves to look past what is and see what could be.

What dream has God given you? What do you think he is calling you to do, but you haven’t gone after it because all you see are the giants? This is your encouragement to grow in your faith and to see past the obstacles to what could be and go after those dreams God has given you.

More Encouragement

For more like this, check out my post 6 Ways to Build Your Faith Today or check out Matt’s book, Momentum: The Simple Roadmap to Clarify Your Calling.