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Apr 28, 2024 06:00am

Faithful Follower

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Have you ever found yourself somewhere you didn’t want to be? Life takes an unexpected turn, and suddenly, the hopes and plans we had give way to rough circumstances or a particularly long, difficult season of life. Now, what if those unfavorable circumstances are the result of someone else’s sin—either against us or in our sphere? How can we be faithful followers of Christ when life seems unfair?

This is where Joshua and Caleb found themselves. They were the only two spies out of twelve who gave a faithful report when God commanded the Israelites to survey the promised land He was giving them to possess. Consequently, they were the only two people from their generation and older who got to enter the promised land and dwell there (Numbers 13). But before that could happen, they had to wander the wilderness for forty more years!

They had already traveled the desert for forty years just to arrive at the promised land. Imagine how tired you are after a long road trip—it’s sweaty summertime, the kids are whining, everyone’s achy and irritable, and you just want to take a shower and collapse in a soft bed. Now multiply that by forty years, thousands of people, stinky animals, and a whole lot of sand. Now imagine that upon arriving at your hotel, the manager says you aren’t allowed to enter the building! Sorry! Try again in forty years!

Joshua and Caleb were there, not for any wrong they had done but for the sins of other people! Caleb, it is said, was in his prime. He arrived at the edge of the promised land when he was forty years old. He had known nothing but quail, manna, tents, and sand. How sweet the idea of moving into a land flowing with milk and honey and choice fruits must have been! He could have spent some of his best years there—a strong man in the prime of life, serving the Lord and enjoying the fruits of his labor and the land. Yet because of other people’s sins, all of that was stripped from him. It was not until he was eighty-five that he got to enter the promised land (Joshua 14).

When we find ourselves in a similar situation, we can emulate the example of Joshua and Caleb. Although they could have spent the second forty years of their lives bitter and grumbling against the Israelites who had sinned and placed them in this predicament, they chose a different route instead—or rather, the same route they had always followed.

They remained faithful to the precepts of the Lord. When their former leader, Moses, died, God spoke to Joshua and said, “Be strong and very courageous, being careful to do according to all the law that Moses my servant commanded you. Do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may have good success wherever you go.” (Joshua 1:7). Joshua and Caleb were faithful to obey the Lord even in the midst of difficult circumstances, even when others might have said God was being unfair or unkind to treat them this way when they had done nothing wrong. But instead of believing the lie that God had given up on them, and therefore giving up on Him, they were careful to “ponder the path of [their] feet” and “not swerve to the right or to the left” but “turn [their] foot away from evil” (Proverbs 4:26a, 27). We also want to faithfully obey God’s commands even when it feels pointless or unfruitful, knowing that God is worth following no matter what our circumstances.

They made a regular habit of taking in the Word of God. God’s emphasis on the importance of His Word was clear when He instructed Joshua, “This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success” (Joshua 1:8). They were to make a daily practice of reading, thinking about, and talking about God’s Word. It was to inform their everyday living, giving the reason, substance, and guardrails for all they did. Just as they were commanded in Deuteronomy 6, they were to talk about God’s Word when they woke in the morning, when they lay down at night, when they were sitting in their house, and when they were walking by the way.

God’s reasoning for meditating on His Word was clear—”For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.” This was a reminder of His warning in Deuteronomy 6 that once they entered the promised land, they might be tempted to forget about God and how he sustained them through trials. But if they stayed grounded in His Word, they would be prosperous in more than just the bounty of the land. We, too, are reminded that if we are faithful to God’s Word in the hard seasons, it will be easier to remain faithful to Him in the abundant times.

They prepared for when their circumstances would change. There were physical preparations to be made—they had to get provisions and their possessions ready to cross over the Jordan River and enter their new homeland (Joshua 1:11). If they did not prepare, they would not be ready in a few days when God called them to move. No one wants to be a last-minute packer when you finally get to enter the land you’ve been waiting on for forty years!

There were also spiritual preparations to be made. God repeatedly commanded them to be strong and courageous—to continue to trust Him despite the surmounting circumstances and to have their hearts ready when He called them to go (Joshua 1:6–7a, 9). Similarly, we may not see the timeline for when God is going to bring us out of our dry circumstances and into a place of bounty and rest, but we want to be ready when He does, even if that time is not till He calls us to heaven. We want to be like the faithful five virgins who were ready and waiting with enough oil for their lamps instead of the five who were lacking in provisions (Matthew 25:1–13).

They wholly followed the Lord, through good and bad. From the time Caleb was forty years old and spied out the promised land of Canaan till the time he was eighty-five and had been wandering the desert all those years for the sin of his fellow Israelites, it is said he “wholly followed the Lord [his] God” (Joshua 14:8b, 9b). Other people’s sin did not cause him to sin, waver in his faith, or turn away from God. He remained true to God and firmly convinced of what he had always believed—that God is a good, faithful, and strong provider and that He is worthy to be followed through the good times and the bad. When all seemed to be lost, Caleb knew God had not lost him.

When we consider the difficult times of our life—times when it may be easier to complain, be bitter, or give up—we will be helped to remember the example of these two men in the wilderness. They continued to faithfully obey the Lord, made a daily habit of being in His Word, were prepared for when their circumstances might change, and wholly followed God through the rough and the smooth places. Even when they had to wait to see the fruit of their faithfulness. When people look at our lives and the hard places we are in or have come out of, may it also be said of us, “They wholly followed the Lord their God.”