Of the 12 men sent to spy out the land, only Joshua and Caleb came back with a good report. They alone believed that despite the size and strength of the men in the land, God was able to give it to them. Here in Numbers 14, notice that the Lord called Caleb, “My servant Caleb.” God would later, in Joshua 14, reward Caleb because he had faithfully obeyed and was willing to follow the Lord wherever He led. Caleb was a humble man who feared and trusted God completely.<\/p>\n
The people, however, were not willing to listen to the encouraging and pleading words of Caleb and Joshua. They had no faith at that moment, they simply didn’t want to follow Moses, and they didn’t want to trust God. The scary part was that God would allow them to go back into the wilderness if they demanded it. The result was not pretty. They and their children’s bones were scattered across the desert. God won\u2019t force us to obey him either.<\/p>\n
So what was different about Caleb? God said, he “followed Me fully.” This is the secret and should be the goal of every one of us, to follow God fully, to follow completely, without a divided heart or bad attitude. Following the Lord cheerfully, consistently, without murmuring, and without arguing with Him is no small thing. If we would follow God fully, we must also have a different spirit<\/em>, one different from the spirit of the world and from our own natural spirit. We need the Spirit of God directing and guiding our lives. We need the Spirit of God energizing and empowering our attitudes and outlooks each and every day.<\/p>\n “LORD, we look for Your Spirit to move supernaturally through our lives this day. May You be able to say of us, at the end of this day, that we followed You fully.”<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n =============================================================<\/p>\n\n\n\n Numbers 14 KJV<\/p>\n\n\n\n 1<\/sup>\u00a0And all the congregation lifted up their voice, and cried; and the people wept that night.\u00a02<\/sup>\u00a0And all the children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron: and the whole congregation said unto them, Would God that we had died in the land of Egypt! or would God we had died in this wilderness!\u00a03<\/sup>\u00a0And wherefore hath the\u00a0LORD\u00a0brought us unto this land, to fall by the sword, that our wives and our children should be a prey? were it not better for us to return into Egypt?\u00a04<\/sup>\u00a0And they said one to another, Let us make a captain, and let us return into Egypt. 5<\/sup>\u00a0Then Moses and Aaron fell on their faces before all the assembly of the congregation of the children of Israel. 6<\/sup>\u00a0And Joshua the son of Nun, and Caleb the son of Jephunneh,\u00a0which were\u00a0<\/em>of them that searched the land, rent their clothes:\u00a07<\/sup>\u00a0And they spake unto all the company of the children of Israel, saying, The land, which we passed through to search it,\u00a0is\u00a0<\/em>an exceeding good land.\u00a08<\/sup>\u00a0If the\u00a0LORD\u00a0delight in us, then he will bring us into this land, and give it us; a land which floweth with milk and honey.\u00a09<\/sup>\u00a0Only rebel not ye against the\u00a0LORD, neither fear ye the people of the land; for they\u00a0are\u00a0<\/em>bread for us: their defence is departed from them, and the\u00a0LORD\u00a0is\u00a0<\/em>with us: fear them not.\u00a0\u00a010<\/sup>But all the congregation bade stone them with stones. And the glory of the\u00a0LORDappeared in the tabernacle of the congregation before all the children of Israel. 11<\/sup> And the\u00a0LORD\u00a0said unto Moses, How long will this people provoke me? and how long will it be ere they believe me, for all the signs which I have shewed among them?\u00a012<\/sup>\u00a0I will smite them with the pestilence, and disinherit them, and will make of thee a greater nation and mightier than they. 13<\/sup>\u00a0And Moses said unto the\u00a0LORD, Then the Egyptians shall hear\u00a0it\u00a0<\/em>, (for thou broughtest up this people in thy might from among them;)\u00a014<\/sup>\u00a0And they will tell\u00a0it\u00a0<\/em>to the inhabitants of this land:\u00a0for\u00a0<\/em>they have heard that thou\u00a0LORD\u00a0art\u00a0<\/em>among this people, that thou\u00a0LORD\u00a0art seen face to face, and\u00a0that\u00a0<\/em>thy cloud standeth over them, and\u00a0that\u00a0<\/em>thou goest before them, by day time in a pillar of a cloud, and in a pillar of fire by night. 15<\/sup>\u00a0Now\u00a0if\u00a0<\/em>thou shalt kill\u00a0all\u00a0<\/em>this people as one man, then the nations which have heard the fame of thee will speak, saying,\u00a016<\/sup>\u00a0Because the\u00a0LORD\u00a0was not able to bring this people into the land which he sware unto them, therefore he hath slain them in the wilderness.\u00a017<\/sup>\u00a0And now, I beseech thee, let the power of my Lord be great, according as thou hast spoken, saying,\u00a018<\/sup>\u00a0The\u00a0LORD\u00a0is\u00a0<\/em>longsuffering, and of great mercy, forgiving iniquity and transgression, and by no means clearing\u00a0the guilty\u00a0<\/em>, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth\u00a0generation\u00a0<\/em>.\u00a019<\/sup>\u00a0Pardon, I beseech thee, the iniquity of this people according unto the greatness of thy mercy, and as thou hast forgiven this people, from Egypt even until now.\u00a020<\/sup>\u00a0And the\u00a0LORD\u00a0said, I have pardoned according to thy word:\u00a021<\/sup>\u00a0But\u00a0as\u00a0<\/em>truly\u00a0as\u00a0<\/em>I live, all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the\u00a0LORD.\u00a022<\/sup>\u00a0Because all those men which have seen my glory, and my miracles, which I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and have tempted me now these ten times, and have not hearkened to my voice;\u00a023<\/sup>\u00a0Surely they shall not see the land which I sware unto their fathers, neither shall any of them that provoked me see it:\u00a0\u00a024<\/sup>\u00a0But my servant Caleb, because he had another spirit with him, and hath followed me fully, him will I bring into the land whereinto he went; and his seed shall possess it.\u00a025<\/sup>\u00a0(Now the Amalekites and the Canaanites dwelt in the valley.) To morrow turn you, and get you into the wilderness by the way of the Red sea. 26<\/sup> And the\u00a0LORD\u00a0spake unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying,\u00a027<\/sup>\u00a0How long\u00a0shall I bear with\u00a0<\/em>this evil congregation, which murmur against me? I have heard the murmurings of the children of Israel, which they murmur against me.\u00a028<\/sup>\u00a0Say unto them,\u00a0As truly as\u00a0<\/em>I live, saith the\u00a0LORD, as ye have spoken in mine ears, so will I do to you:\u00a029<\/sup>\u00a0Your carcases shall fall in this wilderness; and all that were numbered of you, according to your whole number, from twenty years old and upward, which have murmured against me, 30<\/sup>\u00a0Doubtless ye shall not come into the land,\u00a0concerning\u00a0<\/em>which I sware to make you dwell therein, save Caleb the son of Jephunneh, and Joshua the son of Nun.\u00a0\u00a031<\/sup>\u00a0But your little ones, which ye said should be a prey, them will I bring in, and they shall know the land which ye have despised.\u00a032<\/sup>\u00a0But\u00a0as for\u00a0<\/em>you, your carcases, they shall fall in this wilderness.\u00a033<\/sup>\u00a0And your children shall wander in the wilderness forty years, and bear your whoredoms, until your carcases be wasted in the wilderness.\u00a0\u00a034<\/sup>\u00a0After the number of the days in which ye searched the land,\u00a0even\u00a0<\/em>forty days, each day for a year, shall ye bear your iniquities,\u00a0even\u00a0<\/em>forty years, and ye shall know my breach of promise.\u00a0\u00a035<\/sup>\u00a0I the\u00a0LORD\u00a0have said, I will surely do it unto all this evil congregation, that are gathered together against me: in this wilderness they shall be consumed, and there they shall die. 36<\/sup>\u00a0And the men, which Moses sent to search the land, who returned, and made all the congregation to murmur against him, by bringing up a slander upon the land 37<\/sup>Even those men that did bring up the evil report upon the land, died by the plague before the\u00a0LORD.\u00a038<\/sup>\u00a0But Joshua the son of Nun, and Caleb the son of Jephunneh,\u00a0which were\u00a0<\/em>of the men that went to search the land, lived\u00a0still\u00a0<\/em>.\u00a039<\/sup>\u00a0And Moses told these sayings unto all the children of Israel: and the people mourned greatly. 40<\/sup> And they rose up early in the morning, and gat them up into the top of the mountain, saying, Lo, we\u00a0be here\u00a0<\/em>, and will go up unto the place which the\u00a0LORD\u00a0hath promised: for we have sinned.\u00a041<\/sup>\u00a0And Moses said, Wherefore now do ye transgress the commandment of the\u00a0LORD? but it shall not prosper.\u00a042<\/sup>\u00a0Go not up, for the\u00a0LORD\u00a0is<\/em>not among you; that ye be not smitten before your enemies.\u00a043<\/sup>\u00a0For the Amalekites and the Canaanites\u00a0are\u00a0<\/em>there before you, and ye shall fall by the sword: because ye are turned away from the\u00a0LORD, therefore the\u00a0LORD\u00a0will not be with you.\u00a044<\/sup>\u00a0But they presumed to go up unto the hill top: nevertheless the ark of the covenant of the\u00a0LORD, and Moses, departed not out of the camp. 45<\/sup>\u00a0Then the Amalekites came down, and the Canaanites which dwelt in that hill, and smote them, and discomfited them,\u00a0even\u00a0<\/em>unto Hormah.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Of the 12 men sent to spy out the land, only Joshua and Caleb came back with a good report. They alone believed that despite the size and strength of the men in the land, God was able to give it to them. Here in Numbers 14, notice that the Lord called Caleb, “My servant […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_s2mail":"yes","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5659"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5659"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5659\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15964,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5659\/revisions\/15964"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5659"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5659"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5659"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}