Caleb & Joshua: Step Out From The Crowd

I remember a little exercise we did once in class when I was a kid. The teacher would send the most outspoken student in class out into the hallway. While they were gone the rest of the class was instructed to answer a question wrong, like saying the green chalkboard was black. Then the student was brought back in. As the class was questioned, almost without fail, the outspoken student would "correct their opinion" to that of the crowd. We came to know that as Peer Pressure.

Now, imagine that you were sent out with 11 others to investigate what was promised to become your homeland. After your clandestine exploration was complete, you were called on to give your report. Everyone agrees that this place provides all of the luxuries that you would want in a home. You are ready to go and stake your claim.

But all of a sudden, 10 other explorers surprise you when they weigh in the rest of their opinion. "We've got no chance. They are too big. We are too small." All at once one million voices join the chant, "Well, NO, we won't go!"

Taking that experiment from grade school, it would be really easy to just ease into the crowd ... to let your voice be swallowed up by theirs.

We've all be there ... when a racially charged joke was told, but we didn't say a word ... when malicious gossip was being spread and we let the misinformation continue ... when we witnessed a crime but didn't say anything ... when someone was mistreated and we didn't defend them ... on and on the story could go.

It is tough to stand up in the face of the crowd, but that is just was Joshua and Caleb did ... two versus two million, but still they did not back down. Maybe it was because they saw something that we fail to see when we confront the crowd ... the numbers against us can never match the numbers for us when we are on God's side.

So stand strong and step out from the crowd.