Remaining Loyal In The Wandering

Numbers 32:12 | “…because [Caleb and Joshua] did remain loyal to the LORD.” (CSB)

Have you ever stopped to think about Caleb and Joshua as they wandered through the wilderness with the rest of the Israelites for forty years? They were two of the twelve spies who went throughout the Promised Land and saw all that the Lord was giving his people. But they were the only two who believed that God was ready to give the land to Israel, while the other ten discouraged the people from going in. Caleb even said, “Let’s go up now and take possession of the land because we can certainly conquer it!” (Numbers 13:30, CSB, emphasis added). And yet the people did not believe God, and Caleb was sent packing, along with Joshua and the rest of Israel, to wander for forty years.

Forty years!

Caleb and Joshua believed that God was going to give them the land, and yet they, too, had to wander. And that’s why Numbers 32:12 stands out to me. Instead of getting discouraged or angry with the Lord, they remained “loyal to the Lord.” The Hebrew word behind “loyal” carries such deep meaning that it paints a beautiful picture of Joshua and Caleb. It literally means “to be full, to fill, or be complete.” It’s a Hebrew idiom that conveys complete commitment. Caleb and Joshua never wavered in their commitment and devotion to God. After being denied entrance, for a time, into the Promised Land, they did not then lash out at God. Instead, they remained single-minded and committed to God. There was no hole in their faith. There was no questioning in their devotion to him. Instead, they were wholly devoted, even if that meant walking with him and the rest of the Israelites in the same desert for forty years.

Is my faith in the Lord dependent upon my circumstances being favorable, or does my faith stand above my circumstances, resulting in my faith impacting my circumstances and the way that I see them? Am I so wholly committed to God that instead of seeing my “forty years” as punishment, I see them as a great opportunity to walk with my God for a beautiful extended amount of time, convinced that he is doing his greatest work in me through those “wandering forty”?

How about you?

God – may my devotion to you be considered by you as “loyal.” Please show me where it is not. You are worthy of my loyalty. And I look forward to the rest of my years, however many you give me, to walk with you, even when the desert gets monotonous. You seem to bring out the beauty of the desert as I walk with you anyway. Please help me take notice of what you are doing in our “wandering.”