THOUGHTS ON CALEB 2

Part 2: They Should Have Known Better!


Note: If you have not yet read Part 1, doing so will help you understand this installment better. Thanks!


In spite of Caleb and Joshua’s repeated attempts to convince the crowd that they should go in and take the land because God would be with them, the Israelites chose to believe the other ten spies who convinced them that it would be suicide to attempt it. All that night the people cried and complained to one another about being brought out of Egypt only to perish by the sword in the Promised Land. The poison of rebellion spread quickly and freely, and by morning they had decided to appoint some new leaders who would take them back to Egypt!


What was wrong with them? Had they so quickly forgotten how horrible it was in Egypt? Yet, here they were, rebelling against Moses and against God’s plan for their lives. Moses, Aaron, Joshua, and Caleb all tried to dissuade them; but this only infuriated the mob, and they threatened to stone them!


These were the same people who had suffered as slaves in Egypt all their lives, who had seen the judgments against Egypt’s gods in the form of the plaques that God sent, who had experienced the angel of death passing over their homes while taking the firstborn of the families without the blood on their doorposts, who had seen the Red Sea parted and Pharaoh’s army drowned when they tried to pursue them, who had experienced the judgment sent on their own people after the incident with the Golden Calf, who had been led by the pillar of fire by night and the cloud by day, who had been fed supernaturally with manna yet complained because they had no meat (then faced another plague because of their complaining), and who had seen the judgment against Miriam when she and Aaron challenged Moses. But in spite of all this, they still rebelled! Incredible!!


This, then, became the first installment on the price that Caleb would have to pay before he could have his promised inheritance: he was rejected, rebelled against, and even threatened with death by people who should have known better! Many of them were his own friends and relatives!


I’m sure that most of us can identify with how Caleb must have felt. The ones who reject us that we didn’t expect it from are the ones who wound us the deepest. None of us expects to be accepted by our enemies or by people who don’t know us (in fact it is not at all surprising when they fight against us in some way), but when people with whom we have some level of relationship reject us and turn against us, they shock and hurt us in a way that no one else can!


Why do people who “should know better” respond like that, especially in this day and age? In reality, I believe that most of them (especially those reacting this way to leadership) do it for the same reason that the Israelites did it to Caleb … fear of the unknown. Whenever faced with something new, unfamiliar, and unknown, people tend to be quick to believe the horror stories that are always prevalent and freely circulated by those who have “been there” but failed to see it through the eyes of faith. It then becomes easy to find fault with those leaders who are trying to encourage them to experience something new.


Now, it would have been different if Caleb had done something that merited the rejection, but all he did was try his best to believe and obey God and to encourage others to do so also! He was a leader trying to get people to go in the right direction, but those who should have followed him stood against him.


Most of us have experienced rejection in one form or another at some time in our lives. Sometimes it is because we did something totally wrong. Obviously, there is no glory in that. But the truth is that even when our hearts are right and we are trying our best to do the right thing, two things inevitably come into play: 1) our humanity gets involved and causes us to mess up in at least one area (usually more); and 2) there will always be those who will use our mistakes as a justification for coming against us. And it especially hurts when it comes from those who “should know better!”


So what do we do when we find ourselves in a situation like this? Here are some suggestions:


• At first, do nothing! Our natural initial reaction would be to lash out in anger because we feel attacked and wounded. Or, if we successfully avoid doing that, the next impulse is to defend and/or justify ourselves. Neither of these reactions accomplishes anything productive; it only makes it worse.


• Instead, we should immediately get before God with as open a heart as possible. We need to ask Him to heal our wounds, to help us forgive those who came against us, to petition Him to forgive them for what they have done, and to reveal to us any areas where we may need to repent of wrong-doing. We will probably find that we need to repeat this step quite often as we walk through it!


• Next, we need to trust God that, even though this was meant to harm or destroy us, He will somehow turn it for good both for us and for His Kingdom. We must not give up! If we bail, the devil wins; if we hang in there, God wins! Don’t forget, He loves us!


• Finally, we need to try to respond in the opposite spirit. We need to do our best to demonstrate love for those who came against us, to be supportive of them any way we can, and to speak well of them whenever possible.


Remember, this is part of paying the price for our inheritance, our “Promised Land;” not just that which is awaiting us in Heaven, but also that which is promised to us in the here and now!






NEXT: THOUGHTS ON CALEB, Part 3