God
is merciful does not mean that He would not exercise justice. So in response to
Moses’ intercession, He agreed to continue to relate with the people of Israel.
But he could not overlook their sin. The very generation that He brought out of
Egypt and had experienced His miracles, and tasted His goodness, would not
go into the promised land. Since they had shown such disrespect for God, He
would not allow them to inherit the promise He had given. All except for Joshua
and Caleb. For Caleb, this was what the Lord said of him, “…My servant Caleb
because he has had a different spirit and has followed Me fully, I will
bring him into the land which he entered, and his descendants shall
take possession of it.”
These
few verses draw our attention to the brief description of Caleb. In the
midst of a people who had shown disrespect for God and would not trust Him,
Caleb stood out. What can we learn from Caleb? Firstly, his name means
faithful, wholehearted, bold, and brave. God said that Caleb had a
different spirit, meaning that he was obviously different from the
ten spies who gave up at the slightest challenge. He was said to follow the
Lord fully. In other words, he was wholehearted and was single-minded in
following God. What a befitting name for Caleb. Like him, we must be faithful
to God and the call He has placed on our lives. And not only should we be
faithful to God, but we should also be wholehearted in following Him. When one
is faithful, one will boldly embrace the challenge and goal before him without
flinching. His target is to reach the goal granted him. Caleb was such a
person.
Another
way to describe Caleb would be that he was dogged. He doggedly followed the
Lord. To be dogged is to show tenacity and grim persistence. A dogged
person does not give up easily but is stubbornly persistent. Such a person
perseveres even when the challenges ahead look difficult. He does not give up
easily but would stick to the task till the goal is achieved. Caleb's type of
people are like faithful dogs, who would not depart from their master in the
face of challenges. When it comes to trusting God, we must be doggedly
faithful like Caleb. It is the most befitting response to a faithful God. So
let us be faithful to Him!
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