Comparisons With Your Opposition

Deuteronomy 3:3-4, 11

I hate shoe shopping! When I go into most stores, they do not carry my size. The few stores that do carry my size will almost certainly only have the ugliest possible shoes in my size. This is an instance where I am so grateful for online shopping. The problem I have is that I wear a size 15 and most stores only carry up to a 13. To wear a 15, your foot has to be 12 1/8 inches long. While I am above average, I am far from a giant. Shaq is 7' 1" and wears a size 23 shoe. His foot is 15 inches long. Wow! People have always measured and compared what we consider normal to better grasp what is considered abnormal.

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 “So the LORD our God also delivered into our hands Og king of Bashan, with all his people, and we attacked him until he had no survivors remaining. And we took all his cities at that time; there was not a city which we did not take from them: sixty cities, all the region of Argob, the kingdom of Og in Bashan.

“For only Og king of Bashan remained of the remnant of the giants. Indeed his bedstead was an iron bedstead. (Is it not in Rabbah of the people of Ammon?) Nine cubits is its length and four cubits its width, according to the standard cubit.

Deuteronomy 3:3-4, 11

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While most of their enemies were west of the Jordan River, there were two kingdoms of Amorites on the east side of the river. It was these kingdoms that God allowed the people of Israel to destroy. Last time we read about the destruction of Sihon's kingdom. In today's passage, we read about the kingdom of a giant man named Og.

Unlike Goliath who we were given his height, we do not receive such measurements about Og. What we do receive is the size of his bed. It was massive! To make a comparison, a king size mattress is 76x80, or 6 feet 4 inches long by 6 feet 8 inches wide. Og's bed is 162 inches long (13.5 feet) by 72 inches (6 feet) wide. Put two king size mattresses together from top to bottom and his bed was still 10 inches longer! This was a tall guy.

This is significant because the very reason the people refused to go into the promised land the first time was because of giants. Now, they have killed this massive Amorite king, and they have not crossed the Jordan river yet. God was showing them what they could do when they trusted Him. No matter how large the opponent may be, God is bigger. No matter how impressive they may seem, God is more impressive. No matter how strong they may appear, God is stronger. When He tells us to go and do what He has commanded us, He is going to fight for us. We may have to put forth effort in the fight, but, as David said, "The battle is the Lord's" (I Samuel 17:47).

That is exactly what Israel learned. They not only defeated Og, but his entire kingdom as well. They had spent 40 years wandering in the desert needlessly. If they had only trusted God the first time, they would have already been established in the land. God would have given this victory to their parents. All they had to do was trust Him. The same is true for us as well. When God leads us to do something, all we have to do is trust. However, we too often waste years wandering only to later claim the victory that God wanted to give us in the beginning.

Father, how foolish it is for us to doubt You. Yet, we all do. We question Your goodness, strength, or intentions. We look at our opponents or obstacles and think they are too big. We waste time because we do not trust You in faith.