Day 5: Take possession
Then Caleb silenced the people before Moses and said, “We should go up and take possession of the land, for we can certainly do it” (Numbers 13:30).
Heavenly Father, faithful Lord, You are trustworthy in all You promise and faithful in all You do (Psalm 145:13). The psalmist recounts Your trustworthiness:
He remembers His covenant forever, the promise He made, for a thousand generations, the covenant He made with Abraham, the oath He swore to Isaac. He confirmed it to Jacob as a decree, to Israel as an everlasting covenant: “To you I will give the land of Canaan as the portion you will inherit” (Psalm 105:8-11).
Yet, when it was time to take possession of what You had promised, the people doubted, and believed negative reports instead of Your unimpeachable covenant and Your unfailing word (Numbers 13:26-33). They grumbled, complained and rebelled against You (Numbers 14:1-4, 10).
Father, Your name, Your reputation, and Your word are part of Your righteous, irreproachable character, and in their deliberate unbelief, criticism, and rebellion they blatantly dishonored Your holy name. You pointed out the heinous disrespect to Moses:
The Lord said to Moses, “How long will these people treat Me with contempt? How long will they refuse to believe in Me, in spite of all the signs I have performed among them?" (Numbers 14:11).
O Father, search our own hearts as we read these accounts in Scripture! In the Lord Jesus' interactions with Thomas and the other disciples (John 20:27-29), we have seen that You are patient with our doubts, and that You credit even our mustard seed faith (Matthew 17:20).
But although You understand our doubts and our fears, You warn us against willfulness and disobedience. You are slow to anger, abounding in love and forgiving sin and rebellion, yet You do not leave the guilty unpunished (Numbers 14:18).
Teach us to be always mindful of Your holiness so we do not dishonor Your name, Your character, and Your reputation. Help us to silence—like Caleb—the voices of doubt and defiance, negativity and rebellion that would cause us to treat You with contempt.
Today, Lord, help us to march forward into all You have promised, resting in Your trustworthiness—believing that no word from God will ever fail (Luke 1:37). Give us the faith, the courage and the confidence we need to go all the way, lest we are stopped on the outskirts by doubt and defeat and meet our end in the wilderness (Numbers 14:35).
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