A Spirit Like Caleb

In Numbers 14:24 God describes Caleb has having a different spirit. Because he follows God wholeheartedly he will see the Promised Land that God has promised to him and his descendants. Let us not forget that Joshua also entered into the Promised Land. What made Caleb and Joshua different to everyone else that ensured they saw the promise of God come to pass where others did not?

The Israelites wandered in the wilderness for 40 years, a journey that scholars say should have taken around 11 days – I am not well researched here so forgive me if that is a little less than accurate – we do know that it would most definitely have not taken years to make the journey. This was because the people rebelled against God, they worshipped other idols and they refused to listen to God’s Voice (Numbers 14:22).

These people had witnessed many miracles of God. He had guided them with a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. He had parted the Red Sea allowing them to cross safely out of Egypt and destroying their pursuing enemies. If everything had gone to plan the Israelites could have entered the land that had been promised to them within a few weeks. Moses sent out 12 spies to scout out the land that had been promised to them. Each of these spies were leaders of their tribes. Caleb belonged to the tribe of Judah and Joshua (Hoshea) to the tribe of Ephraim. These men explored the land for forty days.

When giving their reports to Moses, Caleb said, “Let’s go at once to take the land, we can certainly conquer it.” (Numbers 13:30) Yet the other men reporting back had a much bleaker report. Stating all the reasons why they would be destroyed if they tried to take the land. Their response was, “Next to them we felt like grasshoppers, and that’s what they thought too.” The other men were explaining how they felt and they assumed that’s what the people thought of them. They let fear overshadow the promise.

It really comes down to perspective. What we feel really is not important when it goes against what God says about us. Assuming other people think a certain way about us and having that affect our actions will surely never lead us to a healthy place. Our concern and actions should always be based on what God says about us, the promises he has given us. We can take confident assurance that God’s promises will always prove true and that he walks with us and is our strength and deliverance. Caleb knew this and walked in the confidence of who God is.

The bad report that the 10 spies had given to Moses and the people led to rebellion against God. They chose to believe the bad report rather than the report Caleb and Joshua had brought back. We need to be careful who we listen to and what we believe. Caleb and Joshua were in the minority in this situation. It was 2 positive reports and 10 negative ones. In this case it was the minority that made the choice to believe God, to be confident in his promise to provide what he said he would. I dare to suggest that if the people had chosen to believe Caleb and Joshua they may have also made it into the promised land.

This is how the free will God has given us can prevent us from living out the plans God has for us. When God has given you a promise and a call for your life, do you believe him above everything you see with your natural eyes. Or do you start to look at all the reasons why it can’t possibly happen for you. God is on your side, he will provide a way, he will be your strength, open doors for you that otherwise would not open. It is up to you to be like Caleb and Joshua and believe it and ensure your actions follow that belief.

The result of the Israelites unbelief and rebellion was to wander in the wilderness for 40 years – one year for every day the spies were scouting the land. It was a measure of the condition of their hearts. They did not remember all that God had already done for them and brought them through and in doing so rejected his grace and refused to listen to his voice. (Numbers 14:22)

When the people realised that they had sinned but revealed to Moses they were ready now to enter the promised land, Moses told them it was too late, the Lord would not be with them and their enemies would surely destroy them if they chose to go on. (Numbers 14:40-43)

We live in a time of the New Covenant and God has promised never to leave us or abandon us. If you try and enter a place that God does not want you to be, his blessing is not on that place for you. You will struggle and you will find that you don’t have the same covering or peace. Whereas, when you are in a place where God wants you to be, his peace and blessing are on that place. This is a place where doors open for you miraculously, where connections are made that you would not have had a chance of making before. This is a place where miracles occur.

Let us have a spirit like Caleb. One that chooses to believe God and his promise over everything we see. One whose actions follow what God has asked of us to do. Let us not be concerned with how other people view us and rather than choosing to see ourselves as weak grasshoppers, choose to see ourselves as the people God has created us to be. Let us fully receive our true identity in Jesus and walk in the power and authority God has given to us. And let us never forget all the things that God has already brought us through, all the miracles we have already seen. Let us be a people of faith. We do not need to know the future – God is already there! Let us be always conscious of God’s presence, and in gratitude to Him for everything he has already done and all he is going to do. Amen.