— The Message of Deuteronomy
By Ouyang Wanting
(Continue from last week)
Halfway down the mountain, Caleb was waiting. “Joshua, I was starting to worry about you. I’m glad you’re back. Somehow, you look different—sadness mixed with peace, deep reflection with determination. My friend, don’t lose heart. God is faithful and He will be with you every step ahead. Will you sit with me for a while? I need someone to talk to.”
They sat on a rock and looked down at the camp. All the tents were neatly arranged around the tabernacle. It was supper time, but no one was cooking. A few people sat outside their tents and turned their faces toward the mountaintop.
“It’s been a long journey. We’ve all changed, haven’t we? We were once slaves, but now we’re free. What a wonderful feeling.” Joshua sighed. “Yet even with freedom, we still don’t have our land. Caleb, what did God promise our forefathers? Many descendants; a great nation; a land flowing with milk and honey, and to be a blessing to all nations. How can we be a great nation without land? How can we bless others without our land to farm? We must enter the land God promised to Abraham. May God strengthen my spirit and help me press forward. Will you stand with me?”
Caleb clasped his hands. “It’s not just me—all of us will stand with you, for you are now our leader. As we served Moses, we’ll serve you. Especially for me, because since leaving Egypt, we have acted with one accord. You and I witnessed all the awe-inspiring miracles in Egypt.”
Joshua squinted. “Whenever I recall those days in Egypt, the miracles still make me tremble. God is so great—those experiences changed my life.”
“My faith journey also began then. In Egypt, Moses turned water to blood, frogs covered the land, gnats tormented beasts and men. I still cannot erase those scenes from my mind. The miracles changed my understanding of God.” Caleb inclined his head. “He is a mighty God who protects His people and keeps His promises. When swarms of flies plagued all of Egypt, not one was found in our land. When disease swept through the Egyptians’ livestock, not a single loss touched our flocks. God spared us from the devastation of lice, hail, and locusts—calamities that Egypt could not escape.”
Joshua patted Caleb’s arm. “The last two plagues—darkness, and the death of the firstborn—had the greatest impact on me. Living in darkness was like living in hell; you couldn’t even see your hand, and every moment was filled with fear. But where we lived, there was light.”
Caleb lifted his face skyward. “When Moses and Aaron gave instructions for the final disaster, no one doubted. We followed Moses’s every detail, slaughtered the lamb, put blood on our doorposts and lintels. Some believing foreigners joined us and were also spared from the death of their firstborn.”
Joshua sighed again. “The crying that night was tragic. Every firstborn man and beast in Egypt was killed. Their wailing couldn’t erase our four hundred years of suffering—the murdered infants, forced labor, torture, and death, all the injustice. In a sense, God avenged us. Then we left Egypt hurriedly with gold, silver, and clothing. Just as God had promised, we gained our freedom. From that day, I was certain that the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob is the true God. There is no god as great, as mighty, or as faithful as He.”
(Please come back next week for Part 3)
About the author: Dr. Ouyang received his BSc from Texas A&M University and his PhD from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He worked in Japan, the US, and the People’s Republic of China as a corn researcher until his retirement in 2015. In 2020, he earned a Master of Arts in Biblical and Theological Studies from Dallas Theological Seminary. Since then, he has been serving as a Sunday school teacher at Twin Cities Chinese Christian Church in Minneapolis.
