“And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Send thou men, that they may search the land of Canaan, which I give unto the children of Israel. Of every tribe of their fathers shall ye send a man, every one a ruler among them. And Moses by the commandment of the Lord sent them from the wilderness of Paran” (Numbers 13:1-3).
As the story of Caleb unfolds we find that the Lord has instructed Moses to appoint men to go in and scout out the land of Canaan. If Numbers 13 was all that we had to go on we might well think that it was really the Lord’s mind for them to send in these spies. However, a careful reading of Deuteronomy 1, shows that it was not the mind of the Lord. His initial instruction and desire for them was that they would go up immediately in faith and take possession of their inheritance. If they had done so they would never have had to lift a sword on the inhabitants of the land, for His promise was that He would go before and drive out their enemies. This was His directive will for His people, but because of their unbelief He allowed them to send in the spies in His permissive will. Listen to what Moses says in that chapter: “The Lord your God which goeth before you, He shall fight for you, according to all that He did for you in Egypt before your eyes; and in the wilderness, where thou hast seen how that the Lord thy God bare thee, as a man doth bear his son, in all the way that ye went, until ye came into this place. Yet in this thing ye did not believe the Lord your God” (Deut. 1:30-32).
Often in Scripture we see God allowing things in His permissive will that are not according to His directive will. This He does when there is a low moral or spiritual condition amongst His people. Remember though, when we do not follow His directive will there is always a loss in one way or another. A further example is the quails he sent when they begged Him for flesh. We read, “And He gave them their request; but sent leanness into their soul” (Psalm 106:15). Again, in His permissive will He allowed something that really was not for their good. This is why we never want to implore the Lord for something that may not be according to His mind, and that may not be for our blessing and benefit. He may allow it, but there will be some negative reaping. We always want to pray in the spirit of the Lord Jesus, as the dependent man, “Nevertheless not My will, but Thine, be done” (Luke 22:42).
Another example of God’s allowing something in His permissive will is in the matter of divorce. Notice what the Lord said in reply to the Pharisees’ question on this subject. “And they said, Moses allowed to write a bill of divorce, and to put away. And Jesus answering said to them, In view of your hard-heartedness he wrote this commandment for you; but from the beginning of the creation God made them male and female. For this cause a man shall leave his father and mother and shall be united to his wife, and the two shall be one flesh: so that they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate” (Mark 10:4-9, J.N.D. Translation). Divorce was never the mind of God under any circumstance, but He allowed it because of the condition of the hearts of the people at that time.
It is sad to see at this point in the story of Caleb, that the hearts of God’s people were filled with unbelief. When I was growing up we were often reminded by an older brother in Christ, that it was possible to be “unbelieving believers.” All through their wilderness history unbelief surfaced time and time again. “Yea, they despised the pleasant land, they believed not His word: but murmured in their tents, and hearkened not unto the voice of the Lord” (Psalm 106:24-25).
This really was the difficulty with the Apostle Thomas, after the Lord rose from the dead. We often speak of doubting Thomas, but it was much more than that. Thomas said, “Except I shall see...I will not believe” (John 20:25). Thomas was real, he was a true disciple! However, there was a time in this life, when he too was an “unbelieving believer.” The Lord had to say to him, “Be not faithless, but believing” (John 20:27).
Confidence and courage always go hand in hand. This is exemplified in the life of so many men and women in the Bible, such as, Abraham, Deborah, Gideon, Nehemiah, Esther, and of course Caleb. In sad contrast unbelief and cowardice always seem to exist and commiserate together.
So many times we are exhorted to “trust in the Lord.” He is so worthy of our confidence, and will never disappoint our faith. He is able for the big steps of faith as well as the small ones, and for the great challenges of life, as well as the everyday routine and daily grind. Let’s remember the words of Solomon: “Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding” (Proverbs 3:5). His father David had earlier written, “Commit thy way unto the Lord; trust also in Him; and He shall bring it to pass” (Psalm 37:5).
The story is told of two Christian women who were chatting together one afternoon over a cup of tea. One said to the other, “I have got a very comforting text which helps me much. It is, ‘What time I am afraid, I will trust in Thee’ (Psalm 56:3).” The other Christian replied, “I have got a better text than that: ‘I will trust, and not be afraid.’ (Isaiah 12:2).”
The conclusion of the matter as far as Israel’s history at this time, is summed up in the following verse: “So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief” (Hebrews 3:19). What a sad summation indeed!
Unbelief in a believer’s life,
Is a sad and sorry lot,
It clouds his vision of the goal,
And makes his soul distraught.
Unbelief in a believer’s life,
Causes his spirit to cower,
And makes him fret and worry so,
To frown, and sigh, and glower.
True belief in a believer’s life,
Makes the spirit glad indeed,
To do God’s will and please the Lord,
From self and fear all freed.
True belief in a believer’s life,
Is like the summer breezes;
Refreshing to the weary heart,
It every promise seizes.