I was young when I learned chicken wasn’t necessarily a chicken. Chickens ran around my grandmother’s yard during the day and were locked up in the coop at night. But if my cousin asked me to do something I was scared to do and I didn’t do it, he labeled me a chicken. And since I was somewhat scared of adventurous things, I often wore the label.
“I bet you won’t jump off the tractor shed,” he might say.
“Are you crazy?” I’d respond.
“Chicken. Bak, bak, bak.”
Or if it was something I initially said I’d do but then changed my mind about at the last minute, I would be accused of chickening out. Either way, I was a chicken.
Of the twelve spies Moses sent into the Promised Land, ten chickened out (Numbers 13:32). Four hundred years of Egyptian slavery was behind the Israelites. Now, they stood on the border of the land God had promised their ancestors. Out of fear—or good sense—Moses sent twelve men to peruse the land. It was promising all right, but was also guarded by giants and walled cities. Only Joshua and Caleb maintained they could take the land. The majority’s disobedience cost the Israelites forty years of wilderness wandering.
It sounds reassuring to tell people God won’t ask them to do anything they can’t do—but most of the time that’s not true. God often asks us to do things we can’t do. If we can do it, we don’t need him. If we can’t do it—but He helps us do it—then the spotlight shines on him, and he gets the glory for what’s accomplished.
What God asks of us, he enables us to do. He would have enabled the people to conquer the land—and he did for another generation forty years later. The walled cities and giants were no problem for them when God was their guide.
I wonder how many things we’ve missed doing for God because we chickened out and never started. Living the Christian life involves faith and trust, and sometimes the faith must be blind faith—the kind children have.
Don’t chicken out on what God asks of you. He’ll always supply the strength, the way, and the courage.
Martin Wiles lives in Greenwood, SC, and is the founder of the internationally recognized website, Love Lines from God. He is a freelance editor, English teacher, pastor, and author. He serves as Managing Editor for both Christian Devotions and Vinewords.net and is an instructor for the Christian PEN (professional editors’ network). Wiles is a multi-published author. His most recent book, Hurt, Hope and Healing: 52 Devotions That Will Lead to Spiritual Health, is available on Amazon. He and his wife are parents of two and grandparents of seven. He can be contacted at [email protected].