February 21

Day 254: Second Chair

Back in Exodus, Moses sent 12 guys to go spy out the land that God had promised the people of Israel. They went. They came back, and filed their reports.

All twelve of the spies said the land was abundant and wonderful. But ten of the twelve also said that the people there were big, frightful, well-armed, living in fortified cities, and unconquerable.

But the remaining two, Joshua and Caleb, were not willing to allow the difficulties to minimize God. They made their unpopular, minority position case to the people. And lost.

The majority position won. And God rewarded that lack of faith with an extra 40 years spent in the desert. At the end of those forty years, the other ten spies had died, as had that entire generation.

Except Joshua and Caleb. They were each rewarded for their faithfulness to God. Joshua was given the command inherited from Moses. And part of the Bible named for him. And Caleb?

We don't hear much more about Caleb through the remainder of Exodus. We don't even hear a lot about him in the conquest (Book of Joshua.) But assumably he's still there, still faithful, still serving, still an influencer all that time.

Of course, we're not privy to the stories in between the stories. Did Caleb fret because he wasn't given the lead role assigned to Joshua? Was he bummed there would not a Bible book named after him? Was he okay with being Joshua's silent partner, perhaps his "Barnabas?"

A very wise man said to me, back in the early 80's, "The most difficult instrument to play in the orchestra is second violin." Not that I remember, but it may have been I was not readily accepting a secondary role of some kind, and he noticed.

None of us are immune from seasons where we are secondary, not as noticed, not as prominent, not the one applauded. Sometimes God calls us into support roles for the good of others. Even for our own good.

The older I get, the more often I now find myself in second chair roles. Intellectually I know a primary role is not more important than a secondary, supportive role. Both are necessary and needed.

But I wonder how young Moms feel, at home taking care of babies, while their college degree seems to be gathering dust. I wonder how the exhausted elder's wife feels supporting her husband's efforts, with seemingly no acknowledgment. I wonder how career associate pastors feel when it becomes clear they are aged out from any first chair opportunities.

But it may be in those times that our desire to be faithful is at play. Caleb seems not to have cared about his title or scope of authority. He seems to have been singularly motivated by and for God's glory.

So back to the conquest in Joshua. What about Caleb? What did he get? Land. His own land. In fact, every square inch of where the spies had spied out things 45 years earlier, God gave to Caleb and his descendants.

It may be we want expanded territory. It may be we want our sphere of influence to grow exponentially. It may even be we want a bigger stage on which to perform.

But we can take a page out of Caleb's book. Faithfulness to expanding God's glory. And we can all do that, irrespective of the chair to which we find ourselves assigned.

In humility before Jesus, we can learn to champion the efforts of others. There is even joy to be found in doing just that.

And while we may not find ourselves leading the conquest of foreign lands or ministry expansion, we can experience God's conquest of our own hearts.

Especially when we find ourselves sitting in the second chair.