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Technorati“Doubtless ye shall not come into the land, concerning which I sware to make you dwell therein, save Caleb the son of Jephunneh, and Joshua the son of Nun .”
Numbers 14: 30
King James Version
EXPLORATION
“The Vision of the Valiant”
“Spiritual victory comes only to those who are prepared for battle.”
Author Unknown
What does the word ‘valiant’ mean to me?
Do I show qualities of a ‘valiant’ person in my spiritual life?
“God did not say, ‘You shall not be tempted, you shall not be travailed; you shall not be afflicted.’ But He said, ‘You shall not be overcome.’”
Julian of Norwich
INSPIRATION
“The first step on the way to victory is to recognize the enemy.”
Carrie Ten Boom
Have you ever played a game where one person is given a piece of information and then they are told to share it with the person next to them, who in turn passes the message to someone else? This procedure continues until the one who started the circle gets the message back. The legendary American painter Norman Rockwell painted a picture that took the game of passing on a story to new levels and when the piece of information arrived at the original source, you can only imagine how twisted the tale had become as people told and retold the story.
We are quite a crazy group – because our individuality and our unique life experiences often make us look at things so differently. None of us come to shared events with the exact same viewpoint. This is why you get 10 different opinions or scenarios from 10 people who witnessed the same car accident. And it is why 12 jury members may have a difficult time coming to a unanimous decision on a verdict in a legal case.
A wide variety of viewpoints is not just a 21st century occurrence. Numbers 13 shows us that thousands of years ago, a group of spies sent by Moses to search out Canaan didn’t come back with an identical viewpoint.
In fact, only two people, Caleb and Joshua, thought like victors. These valiant men saw something all the others missed. While everyone in the scouting party went to the same places and ate the same food and traversed the same land, all some saw were giants and walled cities. Consequently, their report reflected their negative vision. All they saw was trouble.
But if we look at Caleb and Joshua and the report they brought back, you’d think they had gone to a completely different place than everybody else.
Numbers 13: 30 gives us the 4 key elements which were present and necessary in the vision of these valiant individuals who were victorious.
We find that Caleb, specifically, articulates the 4 critical elements:
Element #1: “And Caleb stilled the people.” The Psalmist David wrote about his Heavenly Father, “Be still and know that I am God” (Psalm 46: 10, K.J.V.). But there is an important part to this text we often fail to read. Why does God ask us to be still? David answers the question by saying that when we are still, rather than frantically trying to solve things for ourselves and chaotically running about, we are able to recognize our God is capable. This is what David penned: “Be still and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted on the earth” (Psalm 46: 10, K.J.V.). Somewhere in the negative whining, the children of Israel forgot their God was in charge. He was exalted and He could and would take care of them. As Meister Eckhart so beautifully wrote, “The very best and highest attainment in this life is to remain still and let God act.” Caleb recognized this truth as “he stilled the people.” Continue »
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