A different spirit

because all these men who have seen My glory and the signs which I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and have put Me to the test now these ten times, and have not heeded My voice, they certainly shall not see the land of which I swore to their fathers, nor shall any of those who rejected Me see it. But My servant Caleb, because he has a different spirit in him and has followed Me fully, I will bring into the land where he went, and his descendants shall inherit it. – Numbers 14v22-24

‘All these men,’ God says, and catch that, all these men, ‘have seen my work and tested me. They did not listen to me. They will not see the land that I have promised.’

What an indicting statement. The whole nation had rejected all that God had done. Over and over and over they had refused to trust Him. Their mistrust resulted in a failure to enter into God’s rest in Canaan. Their children would get the chance, but they had rejected God for too long.

‘But Caleb.’ Right in the midst of the judgement on the nation we find one man who sticks out. It reminds me of Noah, the one man who found grace in the sight of the Lord. This passage is always special because it spurred on the name of our third son.

Caleb was an amazing man. He had a different spirit than the rest of the nation. He ‘wholly followed the Lord.’ Caleb was one of the men who said that the people should enter Canaan. He went against the flow. He, along with Joshua, trusted God more than his own flesh. Later on, as an old man he will not take the easy route, but insists – ‘I want that mountain!’

It was the words, ‘wholly followed the Lord’ that grabbed my attention when Mary was pregnant for the fourth time. That phrase still captivates me. Caleb had a different spirit, he wholly followed the Lord.

Whenever I read this my heart is smitten. The words, ‘ “The world has yet to see what God can do with a man fully consecrated to him. By God’s help, I aim to be that man.” are often attributed to D.L. Moody. (As a side note, it appears that Moody adapted this from British revivalist Henry Varley when they met in Dublin).

A man fully consecrated to God. Moody, or Varly possibly, had a right heart, but was mistaken here. Caleb was that man fully consecrated to God.

There is a whole lot to expound how here except to ask ourselves, ‘What could God do with me, in my place and time, if I had a different spirit, if I wholly followed God, if I were fully consecrated to Him? Will I, like Moody, strive to be that man that we know Caleb was?