There is a common biblical theme that I was thinking about today. God “gives” us the land but He has delegated driving out the giants to us.
I have been meditating on this. I think most of us kind of hope that we could show up and take up residence in the “promised” land without raising a finger to fight. The reality, is the promised land was occupied by very intimidating residents. This is why the Israelites balked at moving in and refused God’s command to go. This is why they ended up wandering in the wilderness for 40 years instead of moving into houses they hadn’t built and eating food off of vines they hadn’t planted.
Isaiah 53 outlines several of the giants that need to go for us to “enter in to God’s rest”
Hebrews 4
King James Version
4 Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it. 2 For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them: but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it. 3 For we which have believed do enter into rest, as he said, As I have sworn in my wrath, if they shall enter into my rest: although the works were finished from the foundation of the world. 4 For he spake in a certain place of the seventh day on this wise, And God did rest the seventh day from all his works. 5 And in this place again, If they shall enter into my rest. 6 Seeing therefore it remaineth that some must enter therein, and they to whom it was first preached entered not in because of unbelief: 7 Again, he limiteth a certain day, saying in David, To day, after so long a time; as it is said, To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts. 8 For if Jesus had given them rest, then would he not afterward have spoken of another day. 9 There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God. 10 For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his. 11 Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief.”
I will continue post in the comments so others can share and respond with comments of their own.
Healing and Discipleship 
Isaiah 53 World English Bible “53 Who has believed our message?
To whom has Yahweh’s arm been revealed?
2 For he grew up before him as a tender plant,
and as a root out of dry ground.
He has no good looks or majesty.
When we see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.
3 He was despised
and rejected by men,
a man of suffering
and acquainted with disease.
He was despised as one from whom men hide their face;
and we didn’t respect him.
4 Surely he has borne our sickness
and carried our suffering;
yet we considered him plagued,
struck by God, and afflicted.
5 But he was pierced for our transgressions.
He was crushed for our iniquities.
The punishment that brought our peace was on him;
and by his wounds we are healed.
6 All we like sheep have gone astray.
Everyone has turned to his own way;
and Yahweh has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
7 He was oppressed,
yet when he was afflicted he didn’t open his mouth.
As a lamb that is led to the slaughter,
and as a sheep that before its shearers is silent,
so he didn’t open his mouth.
8 He was taken away by oppression and judgment.
As for his generation,
who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living
and stricken for the disobedience of my people?
9 They made his grave with the wicked,
and with a rich man in his death,
although he had done no violence,
nor was any deceit in his mouth.
10 Yet it pleased Yahweh to bruise him.
He has caused him to suffer.
When you make his soul an offering for sin,
he will see his offspring.
He will prolong his days
and Yahweh’s pleasure will prosper in his hand.
11 After the suffering of his soul,
he will see the light[a] and be satisfied.
My righteous servant will justify many by the knowledge of himself;
and he will bear their iniquities.
12 Therefore I will give him a portion with the great.
He will divide the plunder with the strong;
because he poured out his soul to death
and was counted with the transgressors;
yet he bore the sins of many
and made intercession for the transgressors.
Can you spot the “giants” named in in this passage? This takes me right back to the beginning of the Bible. When God was done creating the universe, He said it was “very good”. This was true until the moment the giants invaded the land through Adam’s sin. Jesus came to redeem us wholly from the fall of man, to evict every “giant” that entered in as a result of Adam’s rebellion.
Sin, sickness, death, pain, grief, fear, are ones that stand out to me. This is why I personally have no tolerance for tempting thoughts, for self-centredness, for lying symptoms, for dishonesty, for fear, etc… I am deeply inspired by the example of Caleb below. I think Caleb and David in many ways personifications (real historical men too) of what our hear set must be in facing these giants. We must see them as an offense against God and therefore must see it as our personal God given mission to evict them wherever they dare to pop up in our lives. I have come to view their appearance in my life as an act of defiance against the finished work of the cross.
I also have come to believe that everything listed as a curse in scripture are also things to be evicted and no longer tolerated in our lives. Jesus redeemed us having become the curse for us by allowing Himself to be hung on the cross. Increase pain in childbearing is an example for women. Having to scratch a living from the land is an example for men. Scripture tells us several times that God blesses and prospers the man who walks in His ways.
Galatians 3:12-14 World English Bible 12 “The law is not of faith, but, “The man who does them will live by them.”13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us. For it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree,”14 that the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.”
Joshua 14 NLT “6 Then the children of Judah came near to Joshua in Gilgal. Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite said to him, “You know the thing that Yahweh spoke to Moses the man of God concerning me and concerning you in Kadesh Barnea. 7 I was forty years old when Moses the servant of Yahweh sent me from Kadesh Barnea to spy out the land. I brought him word again as it was in my heart. 8 Nevertheless, my brothers who went up with me made the heart of the people melt; but I wholly followed Yahweh my God. 9 Moses swore on that day, saying, ‘Surely the land where you walked shall be an inheritance to you and to your children forever, because you have wholly followed Yahweh my God.’
10 “Now, behold, Yahweh has kept me alive, as he spoke, these forty-five years, from the time that Yahweh spoke this word to Moses, while Israel walked in the wilderness. Now, behold, I am eighty-five years old, today. 11 As yet I am as strong today as I was in the day that Moses sent me. As my strength was then, even so is my strength now for war, to go out and to come in. 12 Now therefore give me this hill country, of which Yahweh spoke in that day; for you heard in that day how the Anakim were there, and great and fortified cities. It may be that Yahweh will be with me, and I shall drive them out, as Yahweh said.”
13 Joshua blessed him; and he gave Hebron to Caleb the son of Jephunneh for an inheritance. 14 Therefore Hebron became the inheritance of Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite to this day, because he followed Yahweh, the God of Israel wholeheartedly. 15 Now the name of Hebron before was Kiriath Arba, after the greatest man among the Anakim. Then the land had rest from war.”
I LOVE THIS PASSAGE. At 85, Caleb was still absolutely dedicated to driving out every last giant that God had called him to. Caleb understood that the giants need to be evicted for the land and God’s people to enter into HIS rest. There is just so much in this passage. God’s promises in this verse are absolutely conditional. Underline and highlight the qualities that Caleb possessed that allowed him to receive these blessings and the benefits he received as a result. Dear brothers and sisters, there can simply be no rest until the giants have been fully evicted.