Wait, What? Learning to Be Still, While You’re Waiting on God to MoveSample

Once the Israelites were in the wilderness, God told Moses to send out spies to the Promised Land, to prepare for the next part of their journey. When the spies returned, they reported back about what they saw. They said, “It certainly is flowing with milk and honey, and it does have great fruit…but”. And then they rambled off all the things that they didn’t want to face.  

The spies were talking out of their fear; they were talking out of their lack of faith. They were talking through what their eyes could see, instead of the promise that God had given them that they couldn’t see yet! 

The Israelites took their focus off God, and they listened to other peoples’ fear (the spies). And then those fears became their own. Not based on truth. Not based on what the Israelites saw or experienced themselves. Not based on the PROMISE OF GOD.  They grumbled and complained. They started romanticizing how their life was before – listen they were SLAVES, it’s not like it was an awesome life – but when we are faced with tough circumstances and the unknown of how things are going to be, it’s easy to think about how things were before the trials. The Israelites ignored the truth because all they wanted was to get out of where they were at.

If we aren’t careful – the who’s around us might determine our next steps, instead of us allowing God to determine our next steps.

And then Caleb speaks up. He saw the good; he remembered God’s promise. When we are in the waiting, we need a Joshua and Caleb around us.  We need people who are willing to speak up and give us a bigger perspective than our circumstances. A bigger perspective than the people around us who talk out of their own fear and doubt. A perspective that sees the GOOD in the midst of trouble; that sees the ABUNDANCE OF GOD, in the middle of the waiting. We need people who are going to continually be the voice of God and REMIND us that the Lord is with us in the waiting.

We don’t know what’s next. We don’t have the answers that our flesh long for, we don’t know what the future holds. But we can have a say in the who – who’s around us speaking truth and light. 

Who are your Calebs and Joshuas?