Numbers 14:24  “But my servant Caleb has a different attitude than the others have. He has remained loyal to me, so I will bring him into the land he explored. His descendants will possess their full share of that land.” (NLT)

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Groundhog Day, the movie, continues teaching its lessons. The longer a person is a jerk, the more they have to start over. This is a classic Good News, Bad News scenario. 

The Good News is God gives us opportunities for repentance, reconciliation, and renewal. The Bad News is that we often have to go through these Do-Overs before we arrive at the place where we can proceed in the direction of God’s dreams for us. 

Numbers 14 tells us how Moses sent spies into the Promised Land to see what lay ahead. Ten of the twelve spies brought back a terrifying report of giants in the land. Two of the spies, Joshua and Caleb, brought back a report of God’s provision and provisions. 

The fruits and vegetables and rivers and streams were abundant. The whole land was filled with treasures. Giants in the land? Not to God. If he brought them to it, he would bring them through it, just like leaving Egypt, walking through the sea on dry ground, picking up breakfast, lunch, and dinner every morning, water from rocks, and the cloud by day and the fire by night. 

The people listened to the bad news and were terrified. This episode did not end well. The people who did not want to go forward with God into the land of his abundant provision would not have to. Instead, they would die in the wilderness, and their children would enter the Promised Land. 

God told them to turn around and go back in the direction of the Red Sea (verse 25). It was time for a Do-Over. They didn’t learn the lessons the first time, so God gave them an opportunity to begin again more intelligently. He even gave the people an example of the kind of person he was looking for in Caleb. He said about him, “my servant Caleb has a different attitude than the others have. He has remained loyal to me, so I will bring him into the land he explored.”

The Marines are looking for a few good men (and women). God is looking for people who live in deep and abiding relationship with him and who possess a good attitude and loyalty. Trusting God is a good start toward a better life. Remaining loyal to him in the face of significant opposition is always the winning side in the end. 

Caleb and Joshua learned the lesson the first time. They survived the wilderness experience. They led the way into the Promised Land forty years later. 

Failure to trust God and failure to remain loyal to him lead to unnecessary setbacks and losses. When God provides second chances (and third, fourth, fifth, and so on), life takes a turn toward significance when we learn to embrace trust and exude loyalty. 

If you need to go back to the starting line, do it. Learn the lessons that take you from there to where you should be by now. Begin again more intelligently. Learn the secret of a good attitude and limitless trust in the God who can do anything but fail. 

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I will live the lessons of trust and loyalty toward God.

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Our Father, thank you for Do-Overs. Thank you for the opportunity to begin again more intelligently. Thank you for patiently correcting and redirecting us. Thank you for leading us where you want us to go, which is always better than the temptations that divert us from your highest and best. Empower us today for limitless trust and lifelong loyalty. Amen.