Contemplative Bible Reading

Numbers 13 (New Living Translation)

30 But Caleb tried to quiet the people as they stood before Moses. “Let’s go at once to take the land,” he said. “We can certainly conquer it!”

This speech by Caleb comes after 12 men had explored the land the people were about to enter. Caleb was one of the two wise persons in the exploration party. Still, notice what Caleb says, “We can certainly conquer it!”

The subject of that sentence is “We.”

Roll back up the page to the first couple of verses of the chapter,

1 The Lord now said to Moses, 2 “Send out men to explore the land of Canaan, the land I am giving to the Israelites. Send one leader from each of the twelve ancestral tribes.”

God describes Canaan as, “the land I am giving to the Israelites.” The subject of the sentence is “I” or God. God gave them the land. Caleb said that the people could conquer the land.

Let me think on this one. I can choose to allow God to give me something or I can choose to do all the work myself and conquer something. (1) God gives it to me. (2) I work hard and conquer it.

It seems that I always choose (2), the path where I work hard. What is wrong with choice (1), the path were God gives something to me and I humbly accept it? Why is it that I want to work so hard and do it myself?