Don't Die in the Wilderness

I have often wondered what kept Caleb from getting discouraged during his forty years of wandering in the wilderness. I mean, he had been faithful to God and here he was wandering anyway. And Joshua got the promotion! May I suggest three ideas? Caleb, I believe, was his father's oldest son. Consequently, one thing that I think kept Caleb from discouragement was that he could look back to his redemption by the Passover lamb. But for the lamb, Caleb would be dead in Egypt. He deserved no better, but the blood of the lamb had redeemed him from his slavery and provided him with an opportunity for victory and rest in God's chosen place. Are you discouraged? Look to the Lamb! As the song goes, "I could not see through the shadows ahead, so I looked at the cross of my Savior instead." "Turn your eyes upon Jesus." Celebrate your forgiveness. Celebrate what His love has freed you to be.
I think a second encouragement to Caleb was in the disguise of a warning. In his forty years of wandering, Caleb went to many a funeral of friends and relatives who died short of God's intended best because of doubting the promises of God, weeping in self-pity and discouragement, and fostering a rebellious heart. Each death, I'm sure, screamed in the heart of Caleb: "Don't die in the wilderness; trust God's promises."
A third factor of encouragement to Caleb was found on his feet. For forty years of wandering, the shoes of the children of Israel never wore out--a promise of God. Why? So that they would know that God kept His promises, that God would supply their needs day by day, that God was with them each step of the way--even in the wilderness experience. When they were faithless, He was faithful.
Discouraged? Look to the Lamb! Think what if would be like to not know Him.
Don't die in the wilderness. Rest in the promises of God.
Remember. God will supply all your need and be with you each step of the way. He can be relied on fully. Jesus never fails.