A Daring Faith (Numbers 13:30)

But Caleb quieted the people before Moses and said, “Let us go up at once and occupy it, for we are well able to overcome it.”
—Numbers 13:30

So, let’s make sure we’ve got the setting. Behind the scenes, God’s people are standing on the brink of the Promised Land—a land flowing with milk and honey, a prosperous land that God has guaranteed and promised to his people.

He has said, “It’s yours for the taking.”

The spies have gone out to scout the land, and they’ve come back saying, “It’s prosperous for sure. It’s awesome. It’s an amazing land.” But the majority of the spies are saying, “We can’t take it. The people are too big. There’s no way we can overcome them. We just need to turn around.”

That’s when Caleb steps up, quiets the people before Moses, and says, “Let’s go. We can take this land. We are well able,” he says, “to overcome it.”

Now, Caleb is not confident here in himself or in the army, for that matter. Look around—at this point, everybody is scared to death. He doesn’t have a lot of confidence in them. The point is that he has total confidence in God. God has promised this land if they will just trust him.

They are well able to overcome any obstacle before them if God is with them—and he is. He has promised it to them.

This is a picture of faith. Faith takes God at his word. Faith trusts God and his power. Faith is willing to obey God’s word, confident that he will show his power and his goodness on our behalf.

Oh, let’s be men and women of faith like that. Let’s believe God’s word above everything—our own thoughts, others’ thoughts, and all the obstacles that might stand in the way when we are considering doing something. Let’s look to God. If his word says to do it, if his Spirit leads us to do it, let’s do it and trust that, when we obey, God will show his power. We are well able to overcome any obstacle that comes our way.

I’ll never forget reading this chapter one day while wrestling with a decision I was about to make. I was thinking, There are so many obstacles, so many challenges that lie ahead.

Heather, my wife, and I were both reading this chapter that day. I was sharing and processing with her what I was thinking about this decision. She looked at me and said, “Did you not read your Bible today?”

I said, “Well, yes, I did.”

She looked at me and said, “Do you not think that if God is leading us to do this, we are well able to overcome any obstacle?”

Wow. It was a potent moment—one I’ll never forget. In that conversation, we decided, “Okay, all right, we’re going to trust God, and we’re going to go for it.”

I want to encourage all of us to live that way on a daily basis.

So, let’s pray:

God, help us. Help us to take you at your word and to do whatever you call us to do—and not to go where you are not calling us to go. Help us to do exactly what you are saying to do, with faith and with trust in you.

Not in ourselves, not in what we bring to the table, but in you—your word and your Spirit.

God, help us not to live in fear but to live by faith, knowing there is no obstacle greater than you and your power. There is no one and nothing that can resist you or stop your people when they are walking in obedience to you.

So, God, we pray that we would not live our lives shrinking back in fear but instead stepping forward in faith. We pray that you would show your power and your glory in greater ways than we could ever imagine as we walk by faith in you.

May that be the story of our lives.

God, as we think about the Great Commission you have entrusted to us—not a land flowing with milk and honey, but a mission—you have told us, “Go and make disciples of all nations.”

A Prayer for the Khatri People

So help us, with faith today, to go and make disciples of the nations—wherever we live today and wherever you may lead us in the days ahead—for the spread of your gospel and your glory to all the nations of the earth.

We pray for the Khatri people. O God, we intercede for them by faith. We know that you have purchased men and women from among them to know you and enjoy you. So please use our lives to reach the Khatri people and thousands of other people groups like them in India, we pray.

O God, help us to live and walk by faith today, tomorrow, and every day until, by your grace, we stand before you and hear you say, “Well done, good and faithful servant.”

May it be so.

In Jesus’s name we pray, amen.