Caleb

Caleb

Numbers 13:26 – They came back to Moses and Aaron and to the whole community of the Israelites in the wilderness of Paran at Kadesh. They reported to the whole community and showed the fruit of the land. 27 – They told Moses, “We went to the land where you sent us. It is indeed flowing with milk and honey, and this is its fruit.

Verse 28 – But the inhabitants are strong, and the cities are fortified and very large. Moreover we saw the descendants of Anak there. 29 – The Amalekites in the land of the Negev; the Hittites, Jebusites, and Amorites live in the hill country; and the Canaanites live by the sea and along the banks of the Jordan.”

30 – Then Caleb silenced the people before Moses saying, “Let us go up and occupy it, for we are well able to conquer it.” 31 – But the men who had gone up with him said, “we are not able to go up against these people, because they are stronger than we are!”

It was like they all froze with terror at the words “But the inhabitants are strong…” Why do we constantly focus on the impossible and leave God out of the picture? Caleb silenced the people. He brought to a halt the report that started out great but was ending terribly. With boundless optimism he said the words “we are well able to conquer it.”

What obstacles to the kingdom of God stand in your way? Why do we think we have to try to gain it on our own strength? Thinking this way results in giving up when the going gets tough, the pain too great; the sacrifice too high and the mountain too steep.

The confidence of Caleb was the confidence of being aware of God’s constant presence. Caleb didn’t forget the display of God’s power throughout Egypt and when crossing the Red Sea. He witnessed the water flowing from the rock, the manna and the quail and so much more. The presence of God was right there with them in the cloud even as they were giving their report. With God’s presence there was no obstacle, no enemy, no trial too great for them to conquer.

With prophecy being fulfilled right before our eyes we are on the verge of seeing the forces of evil at work as we’ve never seen them before. We will be tempted to see ourselves as small as grasshoppers in comparison. Let us not be deceived by the evidence of our senses.

Please consider these verses: Romans 8:35 – Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? 36 – As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. 37 – Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.

Verse 38 – For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, 39 – Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

The essence of Caleb’s report was this: “What, then, can we say about all this? If God is for us, who can be against us?” – Romans 8:31. May our confidence, like Caleb’s, be grounded in the knowledge and faith that God is for us!