A different spirit
Have you ever come out of a shop, in one of those large shopping centres and discovered that you are walking against the flow of people?
That has happened to me on a few occasions! The worst was one December amongst Christmas shoppers. I had to skilfully swerve the oncoming traffic of consumers with bags of shopping.
It was hard to go against the flow. In the Old Testament part of the Bible, there is a story about this. It happened when God’s people, Israel, arrived at the ‘Promised Land’.
God told Moses, their leader, to select twelve people to sneak into the area to check it out. This was done, and the chosen dozen explored the land undercover for 40 days.
On their return they reported back all that they had seen. The land was good, fertile for growing crops and keeping cattle. However, the majority of them were frightened by the people there, as they said they were powerful and could not be defeated.
Only two out of the twelve had a different view. One of them was Joshua, Moses’ assistant, and the other was a man called Caleb.
God was not pleased with the report from the ten which meant that generation would not enter into the land. However, God said something different about Caleb…
“But because my servant Caleb has a different spirit and follows me wholeheartedly, I will bring him into the land he went to, and his descendants will inherit it.”
Caleb had ‘a different spirit’ and someone who followed God ‘wholeheartedly’. I like that!
So, what was the different spirit? Caleb was someone who saw situations as God saw them. He did not see the people in the land as a problem, he knew that with God’s help, they could be overcome. Caleb was someone who was ‘all in’ with God.
The interesting thing is, all twelve had seen God do amazing things for them since leaving Egypt, on many occasions. But only Caleb and Joshua remembered that, and trusted God, which fuelled their faith in Him for the future.
I believe that God is after those who trust Him, see things from His perspective, and follow Him wholeheartedly. These people stand out from the crowd and go against the flow.
The story of Caleb reveals that living this way is something that God loves and honours. Let me encourage you to ask God to give you what Caleb had, ‘a different spirit’.
God bless you :)
Gary Bastin - Hope Community Church leader