Take a few minutes to read the Bible verses listed and ask the Holy Spirit to lead you in how this verse applies to you this week.
25 After exploring the land of Canaan for 40 days, 26 the twelve men returned to Kadesh in the Paran Desert and told Moses, Aaron, and the people what they had seen. They showed them the fruit 27 and said: Look at this fruit! The land we explored is rich with milk and honey. 28 But the people who live there are strong, and their cities are large and walled. We even saw the three Anakim clans. 29 Besides that, the Amalekites live in the Southern Desert; the Hittites, Jebusites, and Amorites are in the hill country; and the Canaanites live along the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River. 30 Caleb calmed down the crowd and said, “Let's go and take the land. I know we can do it!” 31 But the other men replied, “Those people are much too strong for us.” 32 Then they started spreading rumors and saying, “We won't be able to grow anything in that soil. And the people are like giants. 33 In fact, we saw the Nephilim who are the ancestors of the Anakim. They were so big that we felt as small as grasshoppers.”
Numbers 13:25-33
Numbers 14:24
24 But my servant Caleb isn't like the others. So because he has faith in me, I will allow him to cross into Canaan, and his descendants will settle there.
Have you learned to ride a bike? If so, then you know about trust. When you first got on the bike, you couldn’t balance and needed someone to hold you steady. Once you learned to pedal, they had to run behind you, holding you up. You probably shouted, “Don’t let go!” But then—at just the right moment—they let go, and you were biking all by yourself! You had to trust, even though you were afraid.
Caleb had a solid trust in God. In Numbers 13, the Israelites reached Canaan's border, and Moses sent 12 spies to scout the land. Ten returned and cried, “We can’t do it!” But Caleb courageously replied that God had promised them this land and, with God, they would be successful! However, the Israelites were afraid and didn’t listen. Because of that, they never got to enter the promised land! But Caleb and Joshua were allowed to enter because they followed the Lord fully (Numbers 32:11-12).
How can you follow the Lord fully? Use Caleb as a model. He wasn’t “like the others” (Numbers 14:24). Caleb showed courage when he spoke against the other spies. He remembered God’s promises and trusted that if God were with them, they would not fail. He had a different spirit even when it was difficult to do so!
It can be hard to take a stand when most of the people around you think differently. You may need to tell your friends you shouldn’t be doing something and encourage them to stop. You may have to break up a gossipy conversation. You may need to ask to turn off a movie you know isn’t God-honoring, even if your friends enjoy it. Following God fully takes courage! Will others see you as one who isn’t “like the others”?