Gradually Then SuddenlySample

THE MOMENT OF TRUTH

According to Jewish tradition, when Caleb entered the Promised Land with the other spies, there was a moment when he broke off from the group. “They went up through the Negev,” it says in the third person plural. Then it switches to the third person singular, “And he came to Hebron” (see Numbers 13:22). Who is he? Caleb is him!

According to rabbinic teaching, Caleb swore on his ancestors’ graves that he would be back to stake claim to that promised land.For more than four decades, his conviction neither waxed nor waned.

I don’t need to be a prophet to know that there will come a moment—a moment of truth—when you will have to make a difficult decision, a defining decision. When and where, I have no idea! Either you will go with the flow and give in to groupthink or you will disassociate yourself from popular opinion, peer pressure, and political correctness.

Caleb dared to be different by disassociating from the ten spies who had lost faith. How did Caleb hold on to God’s promise? How did Caleb conquer the hill country called Hebron? Two ways—gradually then suddenly! The genesis was a grand gesture—kneeling on the graves of his ancestors. But the differentiating factor was a “different spirit.”

“Because My servant Caleb has a different spirit and has followed Me wholeheartedly,” God testified, “I will bring him into the land he has entered, and his descendants will inherit it” (Numbers 14:24 BSB).

This predates Pentecost by more than a millennia, but that “different spirit” was the Spirit of God. And remember, the same Spirit that raised Christ from the dead dwells in us (see Romans 8:11).

It’s not easy staying positive when everyone gets negative. It’s not easy living according to convictions that might get you canceled either. But who said long obedience in the same direction was going to be easy?

“Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful” (Hebrews 10:23). Long obedience is holding on to the promise God has given you for forty years! It’s holding out for the high ground called Hebron.

Holy Spirit, give me courage to stand firm when my faith is tested. Strengthen me to follow You wholeheartedly and hold on to Your promises no matter how long it takes.