When Faith Faces Giants

If you missed our last two newsletters, we’re doing an A–Z Bible character series where we take one person at a time and pull out what their story teaches us about life today. You can catch up anytime: A is for Abigail (wisdom in chaos) and B is for Barnabas (the power of encouragement). Now we’re moving to C, and I picked someone who feels painfully relevant right now.

Caleb lived in a moment where fear spread faster than truth. Sound familiar? One negative report had the power to infect an entire community. People forgot what God had already done for them, and they started rehearsing everything that could go wrong.

Caleb was there too. He saw the same giants and heard the same panic. The difference is that he refused to let fear do the talking.

What makes Caleb so relatable is that he didn’t have an easy life. He spent years waiting in the wilderness because of other people’s unbelief. Years and years. Imagine carrying a promise from God, knowing it’s real, and still watching life stall because the crowd chooses fear over faith.

And yet Caleb didn’t become bitter. He didn’t stop believing. He didn’t let delay turn into doubt. He kept his heart steady, and he kept following God wholeheartedly.

Caleb teaches us how to live when everything around us is crazy, anxious, divided, and reactive. He shows us what it looks like to stay anchored when culture shifts by the hour.

Caleb’s story shows up powerfully in Numbers 13:30, Numbers 14:24, Numbers 26:65, and later on in Joshua 14:8–9

God’s people are right on the edge of the Promised Land. Moses sends twelve spies to scout it out. They all see the same land, the same people, the same challenges. Ten spies come back terrified. Their report is essentially: “We can’t do it. We’ll be crushed. They’re stronger. We’re not enough.”

The fear then becomes contagious. The people panic. They cry, they grumble, they talk about going back into slavery because at least slavery felt familiar. That’s what fear does. It makes bondage look safer than obedience.

But Caleb speaks up.

Caleb doesn’t deny the reality of the situation, and he doesn’t pretend the giants aren’t there. He simply refuses to put the giants above God. He tells the people they can take the land, not because they’re strong, but because God is with them.

The people don’t listen, and they allow their fear to win. And as a result, the entire generation is delayed in the wilderness.

Caleb waits through all of it.

The years pass, the seasons change, and people come and go. Promises feel far away. But Caleb stays steady.

Then, in Joshua 14, Caleb finally speaks again. He’s 85 years old. Eighty-five!! And he says something that should shake us all awake.

“I am still as strong today as the day Moses sent me out; I’m just as vigorous to go out to battle now as I was then. Now give me this hill country that the Lord promised me that day. You yourself heard then that the Anakites were there and their cities were large and fortified, but the Lord helping me, I will drive them out just as he said.”

After 45 years of delay…
After watching an entire generation miss the promise…
After holding onto faith through wilderness seasons, he didn’t cause…

Caleb doesn’t ask for retirement.
He doesn’t ask for something easier.
He doesn’t ask for the safe land.

He asks for the hill country — the hardest terrain, the place still occupied by giants.

Caleb’s faith wasn’t a moment. It was a lifetime.

Caleb teaches us:

Being fearful can be the popular way to react and still be wrong.
Just because everyone is panicking doesn’t mean God is absent.

Delay doesn’t mean denial.
Waiting seasons can feel like silence, but God is still faithful.

A “different spirit” is a choice.
Caleb didn’t let the crowd set the tone for his heart.

Wholehearted faith doesn’t require perfect circumstances.
It requires a steady decision: “I will trust God anyway.”

Caleb makes me ask some honest questions.

If you’re in a waiting season right now, Caleb is proof that waiting does not have to ruin your faith. It can refine it. A different spirit is not about being loud or intense. It’s about being steady.

If you want Caleb-type faith in a fear-filled world, here are a few practical ways to build it:

A few books to go deeper on faith, courage, and wholehearted trust:

(As always, if you use affiliate links, purchases support this ministry at no extra cost to you. Thank you.)

Heavenly Father,
Give me a different spirit in a fearful world. When anxiety rises, steady my heart. When the crowd pulls toward panic, help me stay anchored in You. Teach me to follow You wholeheartedly, not only when life is clear, but when it’s uncertain. Strengthen my faith in the waiting. Help me trust Your promises more than my feelings. Make my life a quiet testimony that You are faithful.
In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Caleb’s story is a reminder that God can do a lot with one steady heart. You don’t need to have zero fear. You just need to keep choosing God, even when fear is the easiest option in this world.

This year will bring things we can’t predict. That’s always true. But we can decide now what kind of spirit we will carry into it.

A different spirit.
A wholehearted faith.
A life that says, “God is still God, and I’m still following.”

See you here next Sunday~ God bless you!