“But I” — Perspective: Spirit Of Faith or Spirit Of Fear

Joshua 14:6-9
6 Then the children of Judah came unto Joshua in Gilgal: and Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenezite said unto him, Thou knowest the thing that the Lord said unto Moses the man of God concerning me and thee in Kadeshbarnea.
7 Forty years old was I when Moses the servant of the Lord sent me from Kadeshbarnea to espy out the land; and I brought him word again as it was in mine heart.
8 Nevertheless my brethren that went up with me made the heart of the people melt: BUT I wholly followed the Lord my God.
9 And Moses sware on that day, saying, Surely the land whereon thy feet have trodden shall be thine inheritance, and thy children's for ever, because thou hast wholly followed the Lord my God.
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Numbers 13:30-33
30 And Caleb stilled the people before Moses, and said, Let us go up at once, and possess it; for we are well able to overcome it.
31 But the men that went up with him said, We be not able to go up against the people; for they are stronger than we.
32 And they brought up an evil report of the land which they had searched unto the children of Israel, saying, The land, through which we have gone to search it, is a land that eateth up the inhabitants thereof; and all the people that we saw in it are men of a great stature.
33 And there we saw the giants, the sons of Anak, which come of the giants: and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight.
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Numbers 14:22-24
22 Because 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;
23 Surely they shall not see the land which I sware unto their fathers, neither shall any of them that provoked me see it:
24 But 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.
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Numbers 32:11-12
11 Surely none of the men that came up out of Egypt, from twenty years old and upward, shall see the land which I sware unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob; because they have not wholly followed me:
12 Save Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenezite, and Joshua the son of Nun: for they have wholly followed the Lord.
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Deuteronomy 1:35-36
35 Surely there shall not one of these men of this evil generation see that good land, which I sware to give unto your fathers.
36 Save Caleb the son of Jephunneh; he shall see it, and to him will I give the land that he hath trodden upon, and to his children, because he hath wholly followed the Lord.
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I must admit, I love the narrative surrounding the life and actions of Caleb. He’s a superior role model and source of motivation to us all.

It’s of great encouragement to me that Caleb was willing to stand alone and apart from the majority report. I feel that probably took as much guts (or more) than it did to spy out the land. I’m not minimizing the fact that they all scouted out the unfamiliar land with unknown threats awaiting them. What they did and accomplished is commendable, indeed.

But …

Somewhere along the way they started to get a little disillusioned with the ultimate goal. They looked around at the encompassing circumstances and concluded it wasn’t worth the risk. And at that point, fear rather than faith started to dominate their perspective.

In their defense: I do think they were understandably justified in feeling like they were slightly out of their league concerning the massive task confronting them. It’s kind of like: “Lions and Tigers and Bears, Oh My!”

Wouldn’t it be nice if we never had any fears that overwhelmed us or paralyzed us? Perhaps some might be thinking: “I’ve never been overwhelmed or paralyzed by my fears, nor will I ever be.” But, if I may, please take a moment to rethink that line of thinking. Reality has a way of striking when we think we’re the strongest.

For example:

When’s the last time you kept your mouth shut when you knew you should have said something?

Or, how about when your child got deathly sick?

Or, how about when you got the news a friend or loved one had a terminal illness?

Or, when several people got let go at work and you’re wondering when you’ll be next?

Or, perhaps, when you are told that in order to enter a store to shop you’ll need to be vaccinated?

Fear is a very strong motivating reality that all of us face at one time or another. That, however, is normal. If it wasn’t I don’t think the Bible would be flooded with all the “fear not” statements like it is. But, it’s important that we overcome our fears rather than being overcome by them.

I have to believe Caleb had fears just like the rest of us. He, however, overcame his fears by maintaining a proper perspective regarding God’s directions and promises. He saw with the eyes of faith rather than the eyes of fear.

One of the things I noticed as I put all these passages together was the difference in perspective when it came to the ultimate decision of what course of action to take.

First there was the difference in heart perspective. After they returned from spying out the land, Caleb brought word as it was in his heart. Whereas, those that went with him transferred the fear that was in their hearts to their brethren causing their hearts to melt.

Also, Caleb said they were well able to overcome the obstacles before them while his brethren declared categorically that they were not able.

And in addition to all that, they determined they couldn’t possibly conquer the land because of how they compared themselves to the occupants of the land. They saw themselves to be no bigger than grasshoppers in the eyes of the giants (while also concluding that’s how they were viewed), and therefore quit before they even got started.

So …

When it comes to our daily lives, how do we balance out the walk of faith while dealing with the reality of our fears? That’s a question we really do need to give some thought to. Why? Because it’s super easy to say we would have been just like Caleb but … maybe we should not be so cavalier in throwing out such statements as fact.

God has given us these historical lessons because we need them to encourage us. We face our own “giants’ all the time. For me, it’s really easy to quote: “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.” (Philippians 4:13) But, truth be told, I have a whole lot of “things” strewn out behind me that defeated me in the moment.

As believers in Christ, WE WILL be coming up against challenging times ahead. There are new “giants” approaching on our horizon.

The decisions we’ll be faced with in the coming days will be the “giants” we’ll have to battle. Already we’re starting to feel the squeeze as we are trying to ferret out in our heads how we will respond.

We can talk a good talk right now, but I must warn us that we need to talk reality not fantasy. We need to be honest with ourselves. We can say we’ll stand strong, but we already know about the times we haven’t … in times of little or no pressure.

In Ephesians chapter six, Paul emphasized the need for God’s people to take a strong stand and to maintain it. The force and power in which he writes indicates it will not be easy to do what we should under the pressure of the moment. And what he is trying to convey to us is the perspective we’ll need to stay true to ourselves, to God, and to each other.

I’ll leave you with the words of Paul to reflect upon.

10 Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might.
11 Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.
12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.
13 Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.
14 Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness;
15 And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace;
16 Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.
17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God:
18 Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints.

Let’s be praying now that, when the time does come, we will have the perspective of enabling faith that will overcome our fears. If David through the eyes of faith could slay the giant Goliath, perhaps we can too.

“For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.” 1 John 5:4

It’s all a matter of: Perspective.