Sunny Side Sermon Vii: Bible Personalities Who Kept On The Sunny Side Series

BIBLE PERSONALITIES WHO KEPT ON THE SUNNY SIDE OF LIFE: CALEB

If you were a bit puzzled at the assertion made in our last study about the wilderness experience of Jesus, to wit, that: Jesus needed no plan for dealing with Satan’s three attempts to get Him to alter His mission - from other-centered to self-centered – think about it this way:

Spirit-filled-controlled-led believers need no plan per se for dealing with temptation because they (we) naturally, instinctively, never presumptively, act - in keeping with that spiritual nature imparted to us when Christ came into our hearts . . . (Recall Martin Luther’s reply when asked how he overcame the devil).

With Christ in our hearts and the Holy Spirit in control of our lives, it ought to be our second nature to choose Christ-centered living in a self-centered world!

How ought our second nature respond when we feel: overwhelmed by circumstances . . . victimized . . . driven in a direction not of our choosing? This Bible study series is intended to say: When you feel that way – overwhelmed, victimized, driven - let faith take over so that you choose to trust God, not circumstances.

The first of seven Bible personalities, who exemplified unwavering faith in God no matter what, is Caleb - whose positive testimony swayed a nation to trust God more than circumstances – Numbers 13:26-30 . . .

If you’ve ever wondered whether displacement of a population is the right thing to do, you’ll find no better argument in favor of it than this account of how God promised His people a “land flowing with milk and honey”, but warned them that they must displace inhabitants that persisted in rejecting the LORD their God as One God, thereby refusing to obey His commands.

As students of the WORD, we have become aware that the LORD is indeed the God not only of a second nature but also of a second chance. In many ways, He has revealed Himself to all people of the world so that all are without excuse.

“For God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world but that the world through Him might be saved”! Always was, is, and will be, the case . . .!

However, displacement is not for the “faint of heart” nor for the “weaker” (less mature) brothers and sisters of the Faith – a label which, at times, might have been applicable to any one of us.

As pointed out in the previous study, “A person has not shown true obedience until he or she has had a chance to disobey.” What a test of faith – to displace or to disobey! If given that choice - that chance - how would you respond?

Would you side with the majority who responded with a “nevertheless” – “yes, but . . .” (and they were not using hyperbole when they talked about all the obstacles to be encountered – Amalekites, Hittites, Jebusites, Amorites, Canaanites . . . mosquito bites!) So many “ites” – everywhere! In our day, so many “isms” – everywhere!

If any nation ever had an understandable excuse for disobeying the LORD, it would have been Israel, on this occasion of yet another moment of truth.

After all, the defiant, dishonorable ones were in the majority, as if to say, “If we stay united in our defiance – disobedience - we will constitute a mighty force to be reckoned with, and our objections will carry the day.”

Yet, the LORD God has spoken; the Spirit of God has led them thus far; the Word of God will not return unto Him void; surely there is one person of faith willing to stand up - alone if necessary - to speak for what is right! (Don’t you know? “The will of the majority is not always the will of God!”)

Who better to “speak up and speak out” than a member of the priestly tribe? “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.”

What would we have done through the years if there had not been a voice which we trusted to stand up and speak up on behalf of some of the great causes that have been championed during our lifetime – causes that turned out to be for the benefit of us all!

What was Caleb trying to get across to the people of God? Wouldn’t it be the same wise counsel we all would do well to heed? The promises of the LORD become reality to those who claim them by faith!

Well, like it is so many times in so many cases when God’s people are being put to the test, Caleb had to have help from his partner to stand by his side and to join him in the task of persuasion, even if it meant both of them would be risking their lives – Numbers 14:6-10 . . .