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We all face disappointments in life. We have times in which our expectations are not met, in which the timing of God does not seem to line up with the timing we had hoped for or even when the current outcome simply does not seem fair. If anyone in Scripture could have complained about fairness or been disappointed with a situation it would have been Caleb. He was one of the spies sent to search out the Promised Land. He came back with a good report and urged Israel to go at once to take the land and to trust God to conquer their enemies and provide all that He had promised. Sadly, Caleb was overruled, the Israelites feared their enemies and rejected God’s promise of help and provision and decided they wanted to go back to Egypt. Because of their rebellion that generation was disciplined with 40 years of wandering in the wilderness before the next generation was allowed to go in and possess the Promised Land. Caleb and Joshua were rewarded for their faith and obedience, they would not die in the wilderness like the rest of the generation, but they would have to wait 40 years before they would go in and possess the land they were waiting for.
What we find is that Caleb did not complain about fairness, He did not rail at God about what he deserved and he did not allow disappointment to make him bitter or ungrateful. After 40 years they went in and took possession of the Promised Land, five years after they first entered the land Caleb went to Joshua and declared that he was ready to receive the land God had promised Him. He told Joshua that at 85 years old he was as strong as he had been at 40, that he was ready to fight and that he was ready to receive all God had promised. Many times we face situations like this with a different attitude. We get disappointed that things did not work out the way we had hoped and we are tempted to give up, to become negative, bitter or afraid. Disappointment desires to defeat us, it is an emotional tool of the enemy that attempts to remove our trust in God’s goodness and our hope in His love. I believe that Caleb teaches us three important characteristics that give us the ability to overcome disappointment and to walk in victory: courage, faith and an overcoming spirit. I pray that as you study the life of Caleb that you will choose courage, that you will ask for faith and that you will believe that within you is the same Spirit that overcame death through Christ Jesus. We don’t have to be disappointed, we can live in confidence and surety. God is faithful and all that He promises is sure to come to pass!