A Life of Faithfulness

By:  Dale Weckbacher

 

Text:  Joshua 14:1-15

 

Numbers 13:30-32

But Caleb quieted the people before Moses and said, “Let us go up at once and occupy it, for we are well able to overcome it.” ³¹ Then the men who had gone up with him said, “We are not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we are.” ³² So they brought to the people of Israel a bad report of the land that they had spied out, saying, “The land, through which we have gone to spy it out, is a land that devours its inhabitants, and all the people that we saw in it are of great height. 

(ESV)

 

In a social media age where friendships are shallow and relationships occur through a screen and not face-to-face, faithfulness is a rare commodity.  This is because one can end a friendship with the touch of a screen or click of a mouse.  Because of this ease of ending any relationship and the public nature of social media, people are reluctant to share deep feelings with each other.  Add to this the physical separation of people continuing to be quarantined due to Covid19, and faithfulness in relationships may become even rarer.  Caleb is an example of faithfulness to God, Joshua, and the people of Israel that has its reward in Joshua 14:6-15. 

 

The first mention in scripture of Caleb occurs in Numbers 13:6 where Caleb is selected as one of the spies sent into Canaan by Moses under the direction of the Lord.  These men were heads of their tribes indicating Caleb was already someone of prominence in Israel (Numbers 13:3).  Numbers 13:25-33 records the report of the 12 spies with Caleb declaring in faith that Israel was able to overcome the people dwelling in the land.  Joshua, one of the other spies also joined Caleb in declaring Israel could overcome the enemies living in the land with the Lord’s help (Numbers 14:6-8). 

 

Both Caleb and Joshua remained faithful to the Lord and now are standing in Canaan after having defeated the enemies the others believed would overpower them.  Caleb was forty when sent in to spy out the land and is now eighty-five (Joshua 14:6-10).  His faithfulness has remained through forty years of wandering in the wilderness and five years of war with the inhabitants of Canaan after Israel entered the land.  The Lord has kept Caleb strong during this time with Caleb now approaching Joshua about claiming his inheritance as a reward for his faithfulness both to God and to his fellow Israelites (Joshua 14:11-12).  Joshua grants Caleb his inheritance and the land had rest from war (Joshua 14:13-15). 

 

Caleb’s faithfulness teaches us that God rewards,

 

1)      Those having faith in God (Hebrews 11:6) – Faith in God is how we please God (Hebrews 11:6).  10 of the 12 spies entering the Canaan did not have faith in God and instead compared the small army of Israel against the large armies of the Canaanites, believing it was impossible to defeat these great armies.  Caleb and Joshua were faithful to God and had faith to believe that with God on their side, no enemy was too large to defeat because God had promised Israel the land they were spying out. 

2)      Those remaining faithful to God’s people – During forty years in the wilderness, Caleb and Joshua had seen the unfaithfulness of Israel.  They both might have had doubts about whether those crossing the Jordan with them would remain faithful once they saw the enemies they would face.  This is why God continued to remind Joshua to remain strong and courageous (Joshua 1:6,7,9,18).  Caleb and Joshua’s faithfulness to God caused them to remain faithful to the people of Israel with Caleb fighting with the people of Israel even though he was eighty plus years old. 

 

If someone at the beginning of 2020 were to tell us that we would experience shortages of toilet paper and hand sanitizer, being told to stay home, the shutting down of Churches, and the cancellation of sporting events, we would have had them committed.  Of course, we would have had to release them once these things started to happen, wondering how they could have known these things would happen.   The important thing to remember is it is not what happens to us that matters but how we handle it. 

 

God’s people must follow the example of Caleb and Joshua and remain faithful in the unprecedented times in which we live.  Joshua and Caleb did not know the details of what would happen once Israel entered Canaan and began to engage the people there, only that these details were in God’s hands and that God’s promise to Israel that they would occupy the land would come to pass.  God has promised his Church that the gates of hell will not prevail against it as long as God’s people remain faithful in declaring the truth that Jesus is the Christ the Son of the Living God (Matthew 16:13-18).  The Church must remain faithful to God and His Word and faithful to the communities in which we live by reaching out with the message of the Gospel to the lost (Mark 16:15) and making disciples of those that believe (Matthew 28:19-20).  If you are reading this and have not made a profession of faith in Jesus as your savior, I invite you to do so now by praying with me,

 

Dear Lord Jesus, I know I have sinned (Romans 3:23) and know that the penalty for my sin is death (Romans 6:23).  I ask you to forgive me of my sin and cleanse me as you promise in your Word (1 John 1:9).  I believe you died, spent three days in the grave, and resurrected from the dead and now declare you Lord of my life.

 

Those that just prayed now have a future of eternal life (John 3:16) but this does not mean life will be free from trouble and challenges, just that you now have the one that overcame the world fighting on your side (John 16:33).  We do not know the details of what lies ahead in our world but by living a life of faithfulness to God, can have the courage to face these troubles and challenges.  May God bless everyone reading this post.