Seder 112: Numbers 13-14---The Power of Providential Thinking

 In July 2022, the book ranked number 2 on the Publishers Weekly Religion Nonfiction bestseller list was Norman Vincent Peale's The Power of Positive Thinking, a book originally published in 1952.  I was a little surprised to read this, having not heard or thought about this title in years.    

Certainly, though, the importance of how we perceive things is illustrated in Num 13-14, where two groups of men saw the same things on their scouting mission to the land of Canaan but drew entirely different conclusions.  

Here it was a matter of recognizing reality rather than just opting to see things positively.  Joshua and Caleb kept sight of the fact that the King of the Universe was with them.  James Whitman has suggested to me that we see in Joshua and Caleb "the power of providential thinking."

In a sermon at Church of the Messiah on August 13, 2022, Kyle Kettering reflected on the example of Caleb, one of the most admired figures in the Bible.  The name Caleb means "dog," but the reference in this case is not derogatory.  In the Ancient Near East this name and its cognates were used to designate someone as a loyal servant of a deity.  

Kyle described Caleb as a bulldog who clung to a vision of settling in the Promised Land for 40 years and refused to let it go. 

Kyle noted that all twelve of the delegation on the fact-finding mission to Canaan had seen 

• slavery in Egypt.
• a miraculous Exodus.
• Yahweh on the mountain.
• Yahweh in the tabernacle.
• the goodness of the land.
• the people of the land.

In addition, Caleb saw 

• that he was a leader of Judah, a key tribe.
• the courage of friends fail.
• righteous men go weak.
• the need for immediate action (Num 13:30).
• the need to speak up for reality.
• the potential of the land.
• the power of God forgotten.
• thirty-eight years later, the promise fulfilled.

For us, Kyle concluded, the question is, "What do we see?"