May 5

When they came to the Valley of Eshcol, they cut down a branch with a single cluster of grapes, which they carried on a pole between two men. They also took some pomegranates and figs. — Num 13:23 BSB

God has given us glimpses of the good things of the heavenly life here in our earthly wilderness—previews of the full glory that awaits us.

The joy, peace, love, and grace we experience now are sweet, but they are only tiny samples of the abundance of blessings that fill the Better Land. The old rabbis used to say that when the famine began in Egypt and the storehouses were opened, Joseph threw the chaff of the grain into the Nile so it would float downriver and show those downstream that there was plenty of food stored for them upstream.

In the same way, the blessings of divine grace we enjoy in this world are little more than the husks of the heavenly blessings that await us. The joy we have now is deep and rich, but the joy of heaven will be infinitely deeper and richer.