Every Promise is Mine - Give Me My Mountain

“O taste and see that the Lord is good!” declared the Psalmist, and to better illustrate just how good the blessings of God are, he stated that He will “satisfy thee with honey out of the rock.” I wonder how many have ever given any real thought as to what honey out of the rock implied? The children of Israel to whom he spoke knew very well what he meant! Now, I don’t know of any way one can get honey out of a rock, but this saying was well known amongst the Israelites, and they knew what the reasoning was: It referred to the time of their exodus from Egypt and their forty-year journey through the wilderness where God sustained them. Wandering in the desert, their daily diet consisted of the manna which God rained down from heaven each day. When they lusted after quail, God sent quail until it was up to their knees. When they ate it, He killed them while its meat was still in their teeth! If they tried to hoard the manna, it rotted overnight (except for the Sabbath’s portion). The Bread Of Affliction For forty years they ate what was referred to as the bread of affliction that they might remember the day that the Lord brought them out of Egypt. Oh, but He not only led them out—He brought them into a land flowing with milk and honey, and He “made them
suck honey out of the 2 rock,” signifying a land so lush, so full of flowers for the bees, that the honey flowed from out of the crevices of the rocks! (Deut. 32:13). This was the inheritance that the Lord gave to them: The Land of Promise, but sadly, only two of the generation who came out of Egypt were allowed to go in. In fact, when Moses was gone up into the mountain to receive the Ten Commandments, he was gone so long that the people began to look back to the land of Egypt, and they desired to go back to its leeks and melons rather than to go on into the land of the Promise! A leek is similar to a spring onion, and they preferred to go back to the onions of Egypt than to go on to the honey of the Promised Land! And a lot of people today would rather go back into the stinking mess of the world than to go on into the Promise! You see, there is a difference between coming out of the world, and going into the Promised Land. Everybody that came out, did not go in! Likewise, a lot of Christians who have come out of the world, have not entered into the land of the promises of God! They’re still living in privation, want, fear, sickness: They’re in a wilderness experience, in a dry land, eating the bread of affliction, and not the honey out of the rock! For forty years in the wilderness, God tried Israel and proved them. They did not have the dainties of the land. They ate the manna, the water out of the rock that followed them, and, of course, the milk of the goats, and maybe some cheese for their bread. In Bible numerology, the number forty always typifies a period of trial and testing. God allowed Goliath to try Israel for forty days. Jesus was tried forty days in prayer and fasting in the wilderness, and every child of God who is going to follow the Lord has to go through what I call “a forty experience” as well. Each one will go through that period of trial and test. When he comes out of the world, he is a child of God, but he is still going to have to face that forty experience like Israel did. And this is where many Christians give up and go back! This is what the New Testament writers always call our attention to so strongly: That although God brought them out of Egypt, those who disobeyed, He did not take into the Promised Land! (Heb. 3:15-19). Their carcasses were strewn all over the desert, and except for Joshua and Caleb, He did not take in one of them! Only their grandchildren who were two generations removed were permitted to enter in! Do you know why? He did not want to take anything of Egypt into the Promised Land! He did not want even any remembrance of it, so He eradicated two entire generations and took in a generation who did not know anything about Egypt! He took in Joshua and Caleb because they didn’t look back to Egypt. They were looking on! I believe ole Caleb had his eye on his mountain the whole forty years! God had promised him a mountain, and the first thing he did when they got into the Promised Land was to say, “Joshua, Give me my mountain!” Caleb was eighty-five years old at this time, but he declared to Joshua: “I was forty years old when Moses sent me in to spy out the land, and he promised me that the land whereon I trod would be mine inheritance because I wholly followed the Lord. And I want you to know that I am as strong now to go in and come out and make war as I was then: Now, therefore, give me my mountain whereof the Lord spake in that day!” (Joshua 14:6-12). He wanted his promises, and I want mine! Like we learned in Sunday School: “Every promise in the Book is mine. - R. G. Hardy