God takes the initiative in establishing and sustaining a relationship with His people – that’s His pattern throughout Scripture. God promises and His people believe and respond in faith and obedience. It follows then, that since God is faithful to us, we would respond by honoring Him with our faithfulness. In Joshua 14, when the people of God arrived in Gilgal and the promised land was about to be apportioned to the various tribes of Israel, we find Caleb reminding Joshua, the leader of Israel, that Moses had promised him 45 years earlier the high ground surrounding Hebron because of His belief in God’s promise that Israel would overcome the inhabitants of the region and occupy the promised land.
Going back 45 years, we learn from Numbers 13 that Moses had sent out 12 men to spy out the promised land and bring back a report. Caleb, backed by Joshua said, “We should go up and take possession of the land, for we can certainly do it.”
When it comes to life's problems and difficulties our human tendency is to view ourselves as grasshoppers facing giants. But we need to remember that "This is the victory that overcomes the world, even our faith" (I John 5:4b).
But the other ten spies said the occupants were too powerful to conquer. They said, “we’re like grasshoppers compared to them.” In Numbers 14, we find that the people of Israel were ready to stone Caleb and Joshua for the positive report they gave. God intervened, however, and no one from that generation, except Caleb and Joshua entered the promised land. Listen to what God has to say about Caleb in Numbers 14:24 – “But because my servant Caleb has a different spirit and follows me wholeheartedly, I will bring him into the land he went to, and his descendants will inherit it.” Now, 45 years later, the 85 year old Caleb reminds Joshua, his colleague and the current leader of Israel, of the promise made to him by Moses. Caleb says in Joshua 14:12 – “Give me this mountain of which the Lord spoke in that day; ….” We can tell by his language that Caleb fully expected Moses’ promise to be kept, and that this was to be the day.
What’s the application for us? Obviously, that we too would honor the God who initiated a relationship with us by being those of a “different spirit” than those who are controlled by fear or operate only according to human wisdom. And of course, that we would be those who follow God’s leading wholeheartedly, without hesitation or reservation, desiring above all to glorify Him. As God’s people, we look to the possibilities instead of the problems, refusing to accept a grasshopper kind of existence. For more on this, listen to the audio file of the message from August 8th, entitled “Honoring God.”
