Thus Noah Did - 2 of 12
July 14, 2019
Can a person claim a great faith without believing in the faithfulness of God?
Today, we’ll have a look at a portion of the life of Caleb and delve into the nature of his faith, a faith that allowed him to stand before many and show confidence in the promises and the faithfulness of God.
“Send men to spy out the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the children of Israel; from each tribe of their fathers you shall send a man, everyone a leader among them.” (Numbers 13:1-2, NKJV)
God made clear the role of Moses, the spies for the nation of Israel, and most importantly God has made clear His role in this action; in this next step in His salvation plan.
Moses communicates to the twelve men where they are to go and what they are to do. Likewise, to their credit the twelve who are called respond with faithfulness, and they go into the land and observe as they are told to do.
But when it comes time for these twelve to report back that takes on a role that is not theirs to bear; ten of them focus on the obstacles, and not on God and, because of this, they ignore and forget the promises God made regarding their future.
“Nevertheless, the people who dwell in the land are strong; the cities are fortified and very large; moreover we saw the descendants of Anak there.” (Numbers 13:28, NKJV)
Admittedly, there is doubt and dissention among the people and we know this by the reaction of Caleb: “Then Caleb quieted the people before Moses, and said, ‘Let us go up at once and take possession, for we are well able to overcome it.” (Numbers 12:30, NKJV)
The greatest downfall of the Nation of Israel is that they have no memory for what God has promised, they give not accounting for what He has done and they, as a result, believe that their current circumstances will overtake them.
This was not the case with Caleb, for we can learn from his faith by what God testified regarding it, “But My servant Caleb, because he has a different spirit in him has followed me fully, I will bring into the land where he went, and his descendants shall inherit it.” (Numbers 14:24, NKJV)
The following of God fully made all the difference in the life of Caleb. It made all the difference in his speech, it made all the difference in his actions, and it made all the difference in his relationship with God.
In short, Caleb knew the promises of God placing his trust in them and left the means, the journey and the outcomes to the One who had proven Himself to be perfectly faithful in all His ways.
As Caleb did, so should we.