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T H E K I N G ’ S B U S I N E S S
May the record of Caleb’s life act as a spiritual tonic to all such defeated», self-pitying Christians! Let us study the circumstances under which he liVed those forty years in the wilder ness. First, let us see what it meant to him physically. Th' ik of the exhaust ing weariness of body caused by those marches and counter-marches. There were days, months, years of futile, aimless wandering, always going and never getting anywhere. There was the still more wearying work of war. Then there were the physical de privations he was compelled to en dure. To his completely surrendered soul the daily manna was ever sweet and palatable, we may be sure. But it could not compare with the abound- « ing plenty of the promised land. Furthermore, to such a home-lover as Caleb was, what must the forty years of homelessness have meant? In Lausanne, Switzerland, not far from where I have lived, is the dear little home of a retired school teacher. It overlooks the lake of Geneva and the mountains beyond and nestles down into a little vegetable and flower garden in a most homelike manner. On the two gate posts, writ ten so every passerby may see, are the two words, “MY OWN.” In spiritual imagination Caleb had written these two charming words up on the gate posts of Hebron when he went to search out the land. Yet for forty years he was deprived of the PQace and plenty, the sweetness and
They had deliberately chosen their w ill as against God’s will. And what had they now to live for? Only death! Forty years of aimless wandering, waiting to die! No vision, no aspira tion, no incentive, no goal! How did Caleb ever- keep himself from being drawn by the eddies of this low moral standard into the whirlpool of sin that had engulfed the others? But think, too, of what terrific Inner tempations Caleb must have experi enced, the subtle tempation that must certainly have come sometimes, to re bellion against God, for causing him, for the sins of others, to wander forty years in that wilderness for a cause for which he was utterly blameless. How did Caleb refrain from yielding to perpetual self-pity, increasing as the years went on? Or, if he avoided this pitfall, how did he ever escape falling into the opposite one of self- righteousness, comparing h i s sur rendered life with their selfish lives? Think of the daily, nay hourly temptation to yield to the level of his environment and sink down into the conventional carnality of all those about him, vindicating himself for it on the ground of his circumstances. But did Caleb yield to these mani fold temptations? Did he succumb to circumstances, becoming a victim to them instead of a victor over them? Or did Caleb’s victory work in the grueling routine of the wilderness discipline as gloriously as in the moment of sudden crisis? Did Caleb remain an overcomer? Everything in the record would go to show that he did. The same “spirit” (Num. 14:24) that animated him at Kadesh-barnea seems to .have sus tained him for the.whole wilderness wandering. He himself testified to God’s wondrous keeping power. He rested upon the promises of God. “Caleb . . . said unto him [Joshua], Thou knowest the things that the Lord said unto Moses the man of God con cerning me and thee in Kadesh-bar nea. .. Now therefore give me this mountain, whereof the Lord spake in that day; for thou heardest in that day how the Anakim were there, and that the cities were great and fenced: if so be the Lord will be with me, then I shall be able to drive them out, as the Lord said" (Josh. 14:6, 12). “As the Lord said”—here is the secret spring of Caleb’s sustained overcoming. The promises of his God burned as a steady light in his soul. That light never went out, never burned low. His delight was in the spoken word of God and in it he meditated day and night. Therefore, Caleb was “ like a tree planted by the rivers ' of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper” (Psa. 1:3).
satisfaction of Hebron, his rightful home. ^'■'Perhaps hardest of all to bear was the useless waste of life .as it might legitimately have seemed to a wholly yielded person. Think of those rare years of middle life that might have been spent in the cultivation and use of his inheritance, sacrificed to what seemed to be mere existence. But the physical test was by far the easier. Can we appreciate what those forty years cost Caleb spiritually? Think what it must have meant of heartache to Caleb to have to listen to the ceaseless murmuring of the peo ple against God. How did he keep his own heart free from the taint of this fearful sin? How did he escape being drawn into the petty jealousies that broke out among the leaders? How very easy it would have been for Caleb to be a party to the jealous spite of Aaron and Miriam against Moses and to capitalize on it for his own advantage to gain a place of leadership! For did he not know from God’s own Word that Moses would not enter Canaan? Or how was Caleb kept from terrible depression? Think of the deaths he witnessed! The funerals he attended! The constant atmosphere of sadness that hung like a black cloud over that camp! Finally, think of the constantly eb bing tide in the moral life of the children of Israel from the moment they turned from Kadesh-barnea into the wilderness. Any departure from God inevitably leads to degeneration.
Four Freedoms in Christ
FROM CONDEMNATION—“There is .., now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus" (Rom. 8:1).
FROM THIS WORLD—“Who [Christ] gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil world" (Gal. 1:4).
FROM FEAR—“Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee" (Isa. 41:10).
FROM ANXIETY—“In nothing be anxious; but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God" (Phil. 4:6, R. V.).
RECEIVE CHRIST AS YOUR SAVIOUR, AND ENJOY THESE “FREEDOMS."
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