Here are two attitudes towards the same enterprise, manifested in the face of the same facts. The enterprise was to enter the promised land; the facts are summed up in the words, “it does flow with milk and honey . . . But the people who live there are powerful” (Num. 13:27-28); the attitudes are revealed in Caleb’s declaration “We can certainly do it” and in the response of his companions, “We can’t attack those people; they are stronger than we are.”
In the attitude of the majority we can see unbelief and disobedience; in the attitude of the minority - Caleb supported by Joshua - we recognize the word of faith and the determination to obey the Lord. They, too, had seen the potential opposition but had not lost sight of God.
Almost inevitably these two attitudes emerge whenever the will of God is clearly recognized and obeying it promises a significant advance in his service and in the life of his servants. The thing we should do at such times is to stand with the minority who want to obey God. Fear holds back the majority and leads them into rebellion against the Lord. (Num. 14:9).
“Then Caleb quieted the people before Moses and said, “We should by all means go up and take possession of it, for we will surely overcome it.” But the men who had gone up with him said, “We are not able to go up against the people, for they are too strong for us.””
Numbers 13:30-31 NASB1995
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