Have you ever played the part of Devil’s advocate? The guy who goes against the crowd and asks the hard questions. Caleb and Joshua are kind of those guys right now except I don’t really like calling them the Devil’s advocates. That seems weird, and rather than pointing out the negative (like normal Devil’s advocates), these two are highlighting the good aspects of Canaan and the fact that God is on their side. God’s advocates. Either way, Caleb and Joshua’s positions weren’t easy ones to maintain, and they were justly rewarded for their faithfulness. This chapter is a great reminder that the majority isn’t always right. Sometimes we gotta go with our gut – go with God.
My friend Carla used to say, “You just know when you know. You know?”
“Yep. I know,” I’d say back.
In the second section of the chapter we see Moses, yet again, talking God down from a fiery rage. He’s ready to destroy the whole whiny lot, but Moses gives God several rational reasons why he shouldn’t do that, and once again, God listens! I feel like God is learning just as much about us humans in theses chapters as we are learning about Him. We can see through conversations like these that we are made SO MUCH in God’s image that we can relate to His anger, His heartbreak and His growth in patience while trudging forth in a relationship that is full of disappointment, yes, but more so bound by an unexplainable love.
Writing prompt: God’s advocate
I didn’t like using the word Devil’s advocate. Plus, it didn’t describe the situation so accurately. Snort. So I changed it up! Have you ever had to play God’s advocate? Have you ever been the minority voice for what you believe is the ethical, safe, or right decision, the guy (or gal) who speaks up and says, “Hey guys, there’s another option,” or “How about we look at things this way?” Write about your experience and how it turned out.
jugglingfire.com 