Joshua 14:12So I’m asking you to give me the hill country that the Lord promised me. You will remember that as scouts we found the Anakites living there in great walled cities. But if the Lord is with me, I will drive them out of the land, just as the Lord said. This is Caleb speaking. He and Joshua were the only two scouts to encourage the Israelites to take the Promised Land, but when they refused he and Joshua were told that they would be the only two men left who would be able to enter the Promised Land after wandering in the Sinai Desert for 40 years. So, Caleb was 85 years old when he finally got the land that he was promised! I love that this 85-year-old man, who was still well and active according to the Bible, is all ready to charge in and conquer – after all this time, he still believed God’s promise to give the Israelites the land. He knows that the Anakites are giants and have huge walled cities, but he is confident in the power of God to help him remove them from the land. So, on faith he asks for the land he was promised, trusting that God will help him to subdue it so he can actually live there peacefully. So, perhaps when we know that God has called us to do something and it’s too big to be done on our own, we should go in anyway to claim our promised reward, trusting that God will conquer the giants before us as we move forward in faith. For example, God has called us to tithe our income back to Him. Right now, that means our budget is incredibly tight and sometimes it seems impossible to be able to make the ends meet. But, God has promised to provide, and so we tithe first, not always knowing how things will work together. And God does conquer the giants each month.
Numbers 26:51,64-65So the total number of Israelite men counted in the census numbered 601,730…Not one person that Moses and Aaron counted in the census had been among those counted in the previous census taken in the wilderness of Sinai. For the Lord had said of them, “They will all die in the wilderness.” The only exceptions were Caleb, son of Jephunneh and Joshua, son of Nun. I don’t know about you, but when I picture the Israelites following Moses around the desert, I picture a handful of people and a bunch of sheep. A couple of tents and the tabernacle. But that’s nowhere near what it must have been like. Imagine all the people who watched the Superbowl in the stadium. Most stadiums hold between 70,000 and 90,000 people. Now imagine 6 or 7 stadiums packed full of men (the census only counted men over one month of age… so it doesn’t even take into account all the women and infants!). All those thousands upon thousands of people were wandering around the desert following one man… Think of how crazy the city of New York is, all those people going all those places. Imagine all of them living in tents following the leadership of one man. That must have been one sight to see. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to grasp quite how arduous and chaotic that might have been at times. No wonder God laid out specific rules about how things were done! I also find it interesting that when this second census was taken, not one person was still alive who had been counted in the last census – except Joshua and Caleb. I wonder if they got frustrated because they were entering the promised land as old men instead of strong young men capable of doing much more? Or did God keep them strong so they could really enjoy it? It took 40 years to come back to the promised land, but God kept His promise and they were allowed to enter.
Deuteronomy 2: 16 “When all the men of fighting age had died,…” When the Israelites wandered in the desert, they wandered until all the fighting men had died. Once all the warriors were dead then God said it was time to conquer the Promised Land… What?! So, God waited until the only people left who could fight were men and boys with no fighting experience… and then decided to go and conquer a land filled with giants and kings. Wow. Talk about making sure the Israelites had to trust God. I guess they didn’t have much in the ways of strategy either since they had no experience. With me, I guess that God is waiting for me to stop fighting and admit that I don’t know anything about what’s going on. I don’t have experience here so why do I keep insisting my strategy (or whatever this blundering is called) is right? Maybe God holds me back from the Promised Land of His plan for me until I stop trying to be a warrior and let Him be in charge. When I finally let Him lead, and follow His battle plan (even if it seems crazy – like being silent while walking around a HUGE fortified city for 7 days before yelling and watching the walls fall down) maybe things will be smoother. I’ve never understood His ways of thinking. Maybe that’s why He’s the commander, not me. Now, if I can just remember to stop squirming and fighting and let Him be God.