When it comes to struggles in our lives, we often try to find the easy way out. As soon as we feel any resistance while living our lives, we panic and begin searching for the quickest and easiest way out of the situation. As a result, we often miss out on lessons that God is trying to teach us because we do not go through what he has set in front of us.

They came back to Moses and Aaron and the whole Israelite community at Kadesh in the Desert of Paran. There they reported to them and to the whole assembly and showed them the fruit of the land. They gave Moses this account: “We went into the land to which you sent us, and it does flow with milk and honey! Here is its fruit. But the people who live there are powerful, and the cities are fortified and very large. We even saw descendants of Anak there. The Amalekites live in the Negev; the Hittites, Jebusites and Amorites live in the hill country; and the Canaanites live near the sea and along the Jordan.”

Then Caleb silenced the people before Moses and said, “We should go up and take possession of the land, for we can certainly do it.”

Then the men who had gone up with him said, “We are not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we are.”
— Numbers 13:25–31

God told the Israelites that the land was fruitful and would be theirs, but they were afraid to walk into what they didn’t know. They sacrificed what they were promised for what they could see. Don’t we fall into this trap so often in our own lives? We give up great things in our future because we are afraid of the tribulations that come with growing and of the pain that comes with it.

Another instance of this in scripture is in Genesis 25 and 26. We see two brothers, Jacob and Esau, the sons of Isaac. Being the older brother, Esau had the birthright to his father’s possessions once Isaac passed away. One day after a long hunt, Esau was starving, and Jacob had some stew cooked. Jacob told Esau that he would trade him a bowl of the stew for his birthright, and foolishly, Esau accepted.

Don’t we often trade away our eternal calling for temporary comfort? We exchange what’s coming to us for what we’re already in. My prayer for you today is that you would not sacrifice what’s in front of you for what you’re in right now. By faith, you are going to get through whatever you are going through, whatever it is.