Caleb, Balaam, and Phinehas!

While reading through the book of Numbers, I was not stuck so much by the events described as by the different characters within the events. As I was reading, there were several specific men that really caught my attention because of the choices that they made and the action they took. The three men that impacted me most throughout the book of Numbers were Caleb, Balaam, and Phinehas. Each of these men caught my attention for different reasons, but what they all have in common is that none of them were passive in their faith. They took action!
First was Caleb. Most people know the story of the spies that went into Canaan to spy out the land and how only Caleb and Joshua brought back a favorable report from among them. However, as I read this passage again, there was one particular verse concerning Caleb that caught my eye. In Numbers 14:24, the Lord said, “But My servant Caleb, because he has a different spirit in him and has followed Me fully, I will bring him into the land where he went, and his descendants shall inherit it.” In that verse God said three things about Caleb. First, Caleb was his servant; second, he had a different spirit; and third, Caleb followed God fully. I want the Lord to be able to say that of me! I want to be the Lord’s servant—not a servant of self or money, popularity or other people. I want to be the servant of God, and I want to have a different spirit—different from the rest of the world! I want a spirit that, as the third quality says, follows God fully!
Besides Caleb, I was also greatly challenged by Balaam. Although Balaam was by no means perfect as can be seen when the angel of the Lord appears to him on the way to Moab, there is still much to learn from him. Multiple times he made the statement: “If Balak were to give me his house full of silver and gold, I could not go beyond the word of the Lord, to do good or bad of my own will. What the Lord says, that I must speak.” He also stated, “All that the Lord speaks, that I must do.” It was statements like these ones that really caught my attention and further challenged me in my own personal walk. I want to be able to, like Balaam, say and do all that the Lord tells me. Regardless of punishment or reward, I want my only thought to be, “If the Lord says it, I will do it” or “If the Lord says it, I will speak it.”
The last character was Phinehas. Although I have heard of him before, I was not very familiar with this story and found it very fascinating. Phinehas especially caught my attention because there was nothing passive about him. When he saw wrong, he took care of, no questions asked! That is the kind Christian I want to be—a no-compromise, all-action Christ-follower! God described Phinehas in Numbers 25 as, “zealous with My zeal.” I want God to be able to say that of me. I want to be zealous with the zeal of the Lord so much that I can’t just be an all-talk, no-action Christian, but one who stands up and does what he knows to be right!
I want to be like these men!