JOSHUA 14
I am always quite saddened to hear Christians purport the idea of "blind faith." I was recently watching a television debate between a professed Christian and an avowed atheist, and it was the atheist who was making the argument for reason and study and evidence. Unfortunately, the Christian was making the atheist’s point for him—pitting the idea of faith against the idea of reason. And I just wanted to scream. True faith is founded upon reason. If you don’t have evidence that God is trustworthy, you have no business putting your faith (trust) in Him.
That’s why I was so pleased to see the return of Caleb in Joshua 14. Back when Moses sent the spies into Canaan, he and Joshua were the two who "held out" when the other ten decided that they couldn’t really trust God to give them victory over the giants. When all the others were advocating for retreat, it was Caleb who tried to rally them to God’s cause: "Then Caleb silenced the people before Moses and said, 'We should go up and take possession of the land, for we can certainly do it.'" (Num 13:30)
Forty-five years later, it’s clear that Caleb’s view about trusting God hasn’t changed: "Now then, just as the Lord promised, he has kept me alive for forty-five years since the time he said this to Moses, while Israel moved about in the wilderness. So here I am today, eighty-five years old! I am still as strong today as the day Moses sent me out; I’m just as vigorous to go out to battle now as I was then. Now give me this hill country that the Lord promised me that day. You yourself heard then that the Anakites were there and their cities were large and fortified, but, the Lord helping me, I will drive them out just as he said." (vs 10-12)
Think of all Caleb witnessed in those forty-five years. He watched as the entire first generation of the Israelites died off in the wilderness (as God had said they would)... all except for him and Joshua. They lived to see Canaan (as God said they would) because of their commitment to Him. And, after heading into the Promised Land, Caleb saw over and over again how God did the very thing he had tried to convince the Israelites of. God defeated the giants in the land, driving out the evil ahead of Israel.
How awesome it must have been for Caleb to inherit Hebron—even though he knew that, with the Lord’s help, the Anakites would still have to be driven out. Forty-five years before, he had relied upon his conviction to trust in the Lord, and not only was he rewarded for that, but God had provided ample evidence to confirm Caleb’s faith in Him. If he had been convinced that God would help them take the land way back at the beginning, how much more must he have trusted in God to help him settle Hebron after more than four decades of further evidence?!
God always does this, by the way. He never intended for faith to be something that’s done in the dark. Our faith, our trust in Him is not to be based on supposition or guessing; it’s to be based on evidence. And it’s God Himself who provides this evidence. So, the next time you hear a Christian promoting the idea that faith is blind, shout no! For God has paid a dear price all down through the ages in order to provide us with the evidence necessary to trust Him. Reason isn’t the triumph over religion; it should be its foundation.