I greet you my “Walking with Jesus” friends, on this fourth weekend of 2022.
One of many things which fascinates me in life is how two people can look at the same situation or event and see things so differently. Have you noticed how quickly small differences can grow to disagreement and then even conflict? It happens all around us almost everyday doesn’t it?
Yesterday we looked at one of the most significant events in history. Numbers chapters 13 & 14 record for us that Moses had selected 12 men, one from each of the Hebrew tribes, all of them respected leaders. They’d been sent into the land which they believed God had promised to their ancestor Abraham and his descendants 500 years before. They spent 40 days exploring the land, each evening discussing what they had seen that day. They then returned to Moses and more than 1 million fellow Hebrew descendants of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Jacob’s 12 sons. I doubt we can overstate their anxiety as they prepared to receive the report of these 12 well known, respected leaders.
Perhaps you’ve heard stories from your ancestors about places which are significant in your long family heritage, but you’ve never been there. In some cultures the older folks call those places “the old country”, or “our family roots place”. If you’ve heard stories of those family heritage places from your grandparents or even great grandparents, I wonder if you’ve found yourself imagining what those places are like, and what it would be like to actually visit there or maybe even move to live there? That is exactly what these Hebrews had lived for many generations. None of them had ever seen the land where Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and their families had lived, the land of Canaan. But for generations they’d heard from the older folks that this place called “Canaan” was wonderful and was waiting for their return. The only question was WHEN would God lead them back to the land He had promised their ancient ancestors?
These 12 men knew the stories. They’d heard them since they were boys, from their grandparents and they’d repeated the stories to their children. But now they were entrusted with the privilege of being the scouts, the explorers, who would each represent their tribe of thousands of people as they investigated the land seeking to know if the stories were true! Have you ever been asked to represent a group of people? Do you remember the burden of responsibility to look and listen very carefully, knowing your eyes and ears were acting on behalf of other people? Remember the burden of knowing whatever you did or said represented those other people?
In the case of Joshua, Caleb and the other 10 scouts, it didn’t take long and their evening discussions, during those 40 days of exploration, began to evidence a problem. While they were all looking at the same land, the same cities, the same people, their perceptions and reflections about what they saw were dramatically different. So different, as you listened to those campfire discussions, you might have thought they’d been in different places during the day, looking at very different things! Why? What caused them to come to such different conclusions and therefore deliver such dramatically different reports to Moses and the people? Moses records that 10 of the scouts gave this report: “The people who live there are powerful and their cities are fortified and very large…. We can’t attack those people, they are stronger than we are. All the people we saw are of great size…we seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes.” (Numbers 13:28-33)
Moses also records that Caleb and Joshua gave this report: “The land we passed through and explored is exceedingly good. We should go up and take possession of the land, for we can certainly do it… If the LORD is pleased with us He will lead us into that land, a land flowing with milk and honey, and He will give it to us. And do not be afraid of the people of the land, because we will swallow them up. Their protection is gone, but the LORD is with us. Do not be afraid of them.” (Numbers 13:30; 14:6-9)
Now I ask you friends, how could the reports be so significantly different, when all 12 men were looking at exactly the same land, the same people, and they each had the same family heritage and experiences as Hebrew slaves whom God had rescued miraculously? The answer is found in one short statement which God made in His evaluation of these divergent reports. Numbers 14:24 says: “Because My servant Caleb has a different spirit and follows Me wholeheartedly...” Do you see it my friends? God identified three attributes of Caleb, which evidently shaped his perspective and caused it to be almost opposite from the other 10 scouts.
First, God described Caleb as “My servant”. Now remember Caleb and all of these Hebrews were slaves in Egypt. They understood all about a lifestyle of servanthood.
But a slave of an Egyptian and a servant of God are two entirely different things, right? Caleb evidently chose to honor God with every aspect of his life, including how he looked at things and how he anticipated the future. That’s very different from the slavemaster’s whip demanding obedience in the Egyptian mud pits with no future hope of any change.
Second, God saw that inside Caleb was a “different spirit”.
You and I both know people who have a critical spirit, or an argumentative spirit, or a skeptical spirit, or a sarcastic spirit, or so many other negative attitudes. We ask where does that negativity come from? Sometimes it comes from deep, unhealed wounds. Other times from unforgiveness or bitterness or deep insecurity. Do you know people in whom that wounding or negativity is so deep it seems to permeate every part of their personality and life? Are you attracted to or repulsed by those types of people?
Conversely do you know positive, optimistic people who seem to bring joy, encouragement, hope with them into any situation? That’s how it should be with anyone who has a relationship with Jesus, for the Holy Spirit of God should be alive and vibrant inside Christ following people, right? A few days ago we saw that God had selected 70 leaders among the Hebrews, and anointed them with His Holy Spirit, so they could help carry the leadership burden with Moses, do you remember that in Numbers 11:17? They are not named, so we don’t know if Caleb was among them, but clearly God identifies a spirit in Caleb which shapes how he views life and situations around him and the optimism with which he looks into the future because he knows God holds the future in HIS hand.
Romans 8:5-9 is one of my favorite Scriptures in the New Testament which challenges us to consider how the Holy Spirit should be significantly affecting how we think, make choices, and build relationships with people! So, as we think about Caleb, is it fair for you and me to ask… ‘do I have a spirit like Caleb? Is it evident in my words, my attitudes, my choices, my relationships?’
Thirdly, did you notice God said that Caleb ‘follows Me wholeheartedly’! Wow! I wonder what that means to you my friends? What do you do ‘wholeheartedly‘?
If you are employed, do you work ‘wholeheartedly‘? If you are married, are you ‘wholeheartedly‘ invested in making your marriage wonderful? If you are a parent or grandparent, are you investing in and praying for your kids and grandkids ‘wholeheartedly‘? Now here’s the big question… if you have trusted in Jesus Christ to be your Savior, is it Jesus’ assessment that you are building your relationship with Him and ‘following Jesus wholeheartedly‘? In fairness I need to invite us all to consider this question: what if I asked the people who know you best to tell me what they think you are ‘wholeheartedly‘ committed to? What do you think they’d say?
On that day when 10 leader scouts gave a discouraging, frightening report, the hearts of the people melted and they turned away from God. (Numbers 14:1-4) On that same day 2 of the leader scouts, and only 2, Joshua and Caleb called the people to see the land of promise through their eyes. They also did one other thing. Joshua and Caleb challenged the people to think back over the past 15 months or so and remember all God had done for them. The 10 plagues which ravaged Egypt, but God’s power protected the Hebrews living in Goshen. The Red Sea water tunnel which enabled more than 1 million people to run between two walls of water to the other side, but then those same two walls collapsed on Pharaoh’s army, drowning them. The bitter water turned sweet and the water gushing rock in the desert. Joshua and Caleb called the people to REMEMBER and through the lenses of remembering, to look forward to the challenges ahead, fully trusting their very same God would unleash His very same power to bring them into the new land. And finally, Joshua and Caleb called the people to look UP, the cloud of God’s Presence was hovering over the Tent of Meeting! God was among them!!
But the people did as most people do… they turned fearful, rejecting Joshua & Caleb’s report, setting aside the past, and even disregarding the cloud of God’s Presence, and they collapsed into doubt. Sadly, with that rejection of God, the door to the promised land closed for them. All of those adults except Joshua & Caleb died in the desert over the next 40 years of wandering. (Numbers 14:28-30)
So I need to ask today, with what eyes, what attitudes, what spirit are you and I facing life each day and looking into our futures? With Jesus there’s always optimism right? Are we living like Caleb and Joshua today my friends? Here’s a song to help us consider how we look at life. . .
Today’s Scripture is Numbers 13:27-14:9.
Choose below to read or listen.
Numbers 13:27-33
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Numbers 14:1-9
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Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.
Have a comment or question about today’s chapter? I’m ready to hear from you, contact me here.
Pastor Doug Anderson 262.441.8785
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
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