One of my favorite stories is about a scrawny kid from West Texas who attended a small high school. They didn't have a wrestling program, but he read a book on wrestling and asked one of the assistant football coaches if he would enter him in some of the wrestling matches in that region.
The coach agreed to help the kid. This little guy was neither strong nor skillful, but he had one enduring quality--he refused to give up. He won every single wrestling match because he tenaciously held on to his opponents and wore them down.
By the end of the season, he was undefeated and made it to the state finals for his weight classification. The kid's opponent was a two-time state champ and a bona fide college prospect. As the scrawny kid faced the state champion, the guy made a couple of quick moves, and soon had the West Texas kid on his back and about to get pinned.
The coach knew his athlete was about to lose, and he couldn't bear to watch it, so he turned his head away. Suddenly, the coach heard the roar of the crowd and when he turned around, his kid was on top of the state champ, pinning him. He had won the match!
The little guy bounced across the mat and hugged the coach and said, "Coach, I won! I won!"
The coach said, "Sure, son. But I missed it. I turned away just before you were about to lose. What happened?"
The kid said, "Coach, that guy was good. He had me twisted like a pretzel on that mat. But you know me, coach. I NEVER quit. I refused to give up! So I opened my eyes, and there in front of my face was a big toe. I don't even know if it's against the rules or not, but I bit into that big toe with all my strength...and coach, it's amazing what you can do when you bite your OWN toe!"
(From a sermon by Larry Semore, The Spirit of Expectancy - Part 3 - Caleb, 6/15/2011)
Today as we continue our trek through time we will look at a man who refused to give up even though an entire nation except for one stood against him.
Over 2700 years has passed since we began our journey in the Garden of Eden. We’ve witnessed the fall of man into sin and the destruction of the world by a flood. We traveled with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the land promised them by God. We have seen the draw of Egypt, which represents the world, on these spiritual leaders when their trust in God failed them. Last week we examined the life of Judah, who sold his brother into slavery. We discovered how God’s plan to save Judah’s family was carried out by that kidnapped brother, Joseph.
Last week we stopped with the Jacob’s family, the Israelites, still in Egypt although the famine had been broken for 68 years. About 300 years have passed now when the newest king becomes concerned.
Exodus 1:8-9 “Eventually, a new king came to power in Egypt who knew nothing about Joseph or what he had done. He said to his people, ‘“Look, the people of Israel now outnumber us and are stronger than we are.’”
So they became slaves to the Egyptians. There is a lesson to be learned here. If you stay in the world long enough you will become a slave to the world. In other words, live a life fulfilling your desires of the flesh and you will become a slave to those desires at the detriment to your spirit.
No matter how much the Israelites were oppressed they continued to multiply. So it was decided to kill all the male children at birth. The midwives feared the God of the Israelites and refused to do so. They told the king that the women were having their babies on their own. Because of this God blessed the midwives and their families.
One child that had escaped this untimely death was named Moses. Let’s step aside for a moment. Almost 40% of the book of Genesis deals with Joseph’s life. And the entire book of Exodus centers on Moses. Yet neither of these spiritual giants is in the lineage of Jesus. The majority of those who share in the honor of being included as a blood relative to Jesus were ordinary people. Many are only mentioned once in the entire Bible. This shows how God loves to do extraordinary things through ordinary people. And one of these people was a man born around the same time as Moses. His name was Caleb.
The Israelites had developed into 12 different tribes. Caleb was from the tribe of Judah because his father had descended from the linage of Jacob’s son Judah. Caleb was one of those being oppressed by slavery. He would have heard of Moses and the showdown with the Pharaoh. He would have witnessed the plagues that came upon the land of Egypt. He was among the thousands that left Egypt to return to the land promised to Jacob. He would have stood and watched the Red Sea part so they could pass through. He was miraculously fed manna from heaven and seen water flow from a rock. He heard the complaints of the Israelites against God in spite of all He had done for them.
As mentioned, Israel had been in Egypt for 400 hundred years. Many of those years they were cruelly mistreated. God promised to deliver them and did so through Moses. However it only took two months for them to complain to Moses about their living conditions. They longed to be back in Egypt where they “sat around pots of meat and ate all the food” they wanted. It took only two months for them to forget about the cruelty to which they were subjected. All they remembered were the good times.
So God provided them food from heaven. It was called manna. Next they demanded fresh water, so God provided them with fresh water from a rock.
After two years of eating manna the people once again remembered the good days in Egypt. They complained to Moses, “Oh, for some meat! We remember the fish we used to eat for free in Egypt. And we had all the cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions, and garlic we wanted.”
This is the pull of worldly desires upon each of us. When we accept Jesus as our Lord, we are expected to become new creations. We are expected to live differently, to love differently, and to forgive differently. We are expected to sacrifice our desires for his desires. We are expected to relinquish all that we have and embrace all that He has to give us.
The Israelites were tested. God provided and water. But they desired the food and water of Egypt even if it meant being oppressed. Often we place our desires for worldly things above his provision for us. It reflects in our trust, our willingness to give and serve, and our desire to straddle, the best we can, the fleshly things and the spiritual things. So in the midst of this turmoil we meet Caleb.
Caleb was the 8th generational grandson of Judah. We first meet Caleb by name the book of Numbers. The people have reached Kadesh Baranea, just across the Jordan River from the land promised to Abraham. What should have been an eleven day journey has taken two years. The pull of Egypt has kept them from advancing toward the promises of God. But they have arrived and now all that is needed is their obedience.
However, God had one test left. Numbers 13:1-2, 6 “The Lord now said to Moses, ‘Send out men to explore the land of Canaan, the land I am giving to the Israelites. Send one leader from each of the twelve ancestral tribes.’ (from the tribe of)Judah (send) Caleb son of Jephunneh”.
So twelve explores left to view the land promised to them by God. Forty days later they returned. The land they saw flowed with milk and honey, their way of saying it was prosperous. But the people who lived their were powerful. Their cities were fortified. Caleb, along with Joshua from the tribe of Ephraim, was ready to take possession of the land but the other ten were reluctant.
They began to spread a bad report about the land to frighten the people. They declared themselves to be grasshoppers before the giants of the land. Numbers 13:33 “We even saw giants there, the descendants of Anak. Next to them we felt like grasshoppers, and that’s what they thought, too!”
Caleb tried to contradict all the negative talk. He told the people, “The land we traveled through and explored is a wonderful land! And if the Lord is pleased with us, he will bring us safely into that land and give it to us. It is a rich land flowing with milk and honey. Do not rebel against the Lord, and don’t be afraid of the people of the land. They are only helpless prey to us! They have no protection, but the Lord is with us! Don’t be afraid of them!” The response was to begin plotting to stone Caleb to death.
God’s response was to tell Moses “As surely as I live, and as surely as the earth is filled with the Lord’s glory, not one of these people will ever enter that land. They have all seen my glorious presence and the miraculous signs I performed both in Egypt and in the wilderness, but again and again they have tested me by refusing to listen to my voice. They will never even see the land I swore to give their ancestors. None of those who have treated me with contempt will ever see it.”
Numbers 14:24 “But my servant Caleb has a different attitude than the others have. He has remained loyal to me, so I will bring him into the land he explored. His descendants will possess their full share of that land.”
For forty years they would wander on the brink of the land promised to Abraham until every man and woman who had left Egypt had died, except for Caleb and Joshua. Forty five years later Caleb and his tribe would settle in Hebron and the land would be at rest. Like so many others Caleb would not be chosen to be the leader after the death of Moses. That honor would go to Joshua. But Caleb had the honor of being an ancestor of Jesus.
There is a lot to be learned from Caleb’s life. God said of Caleb, “He has a different attitude than the others have.”
Like the others, Caleb had been born into slavery. He knew the prophecy of the 400 years of slavery and knew his generation could very well be the one that saw the deliverance. He was a witness to the miracles that God used to get the Pharaoh to release them. He saw the Red Sea part and he walked through it on dry land. He ate of the miraculous food and drank from the water provided by God. He did not grumble as others did. He kept his hopes focused on their arrival to the promised land. He was forced to participate in the forty years of wondering, yet bore with it based on the promise of God of his taking possession one day. He was a minority among people who had witnessed the same deliverance.
So, to have a different attitude, trust in God.
Psalm 118:8 “It is better to take refuge in the Lord
than to trust in people.”
We never see Caleb trusting in Moses for deliverance. He realized that all that was taking place was the hand of God at work. He was in the minority when it came to trusting God. And he wasn’t a silent minority. His insistence of following God and declaring the land as theirs was so vocal he was almost stoned.
Moses was their leader. He caved in to the pressure of the majority. Without their support battle would have been impossible.
How often have we trusted in people only to be disappointed? Our spouse will disappoint us. Our children will disappoint us. Our relatives, friends, neighbors, and co-workers will disappoint us. Our brothers and sisters in Christ will disappoint us. I will disappoint you at some time if I haven’t already.
God never disappoints. And if we feel He has, it’s because of out attitude. Caleb was in slavery. Caleb was hungry and thirsty in the dessert. Caleb saw the same giants that everyone else saw. Caleb would be 85 before he would lay claim to the promise of God. But through all that, his trust was in God’s promise because of his attitude.
To have a different attitude, don’t complain.
Philippians 2:14 “Do everything without complaining and arguing,”
I’m not talking about walking around in an ignorant bliss. There are times when you feel the need to go to God with your problems. But take it to God and not others.
If I say something or do something that you don’t like, what is accomplished by going to others and complaining? There is nothing they can do but listen, and probably join in. But if you come to me, perhaps I can explain the whys of the situation and the issue can be resolved.
Take your complaints to God, one on one, through prayer. Only He can give you answers and resolve the problems. Before you do, though, examine the root of your complaint. Is it because you are dissatisfied, like the children of Israel? God hasn’t given enough of what you want. God isn’t reacting quickly enough to your requests. Whatever the reason, take it to God.
Remember when you complain to others about certain life situations, you just maybe inadvertently grumbling to God.
To have a different attitude, stay focused
Colossians 3:2 “Think about the things of heaven, not the things of earth.”
When the people grumbled about manna and wished for the earthly foods of pots of meat, the fish, the cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions, and garlic, Caleb was thankful for God’s provision. When God filled the camp with quail that caused many to die, Caleb was content to eat God’s provision. As they wandered in the wilderness, Caleb was secure in God’s promises. When he was rejected by his own, Caleb was joyful in God’s acceptance.
Too often we become concern about the provision and comfort of our lives. All of our focus is placed upon doing all we can to live a prosperous life on this earth. We focus on acquiring the best the world has to offer. In doing so, we take our focus of the eternal plan of God.
We are all placed here for a purpose. That purpose is very simple. We are placed here to do the will of God. His will is outlined in his word. When that becomes our priority our attitude will be different.
This should be our goal. 2 Timothy 2:15 “Work hard so you can present yourself to God and receive his approval. Be a good worker, one who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly explains the word of truth.”
Next week we will discover an ancestor of Jesus that intertwined with the story of Caleb. Two things about this person make them very unique. Number one, this person was a woman. Number two, this person was not part of the lineage of Israel.
