What Does it Mean to Wholly Follow the Lord?

Does wholly following the Lord mean to sell everything you have, give up all your possessions and go wherever a whim perceived from God takes you? I’m sure there are some inspiring and convicting sermons out there that would conclude that. But two and only two someones in the Bible are said to have wholly followed the Lord. Let’s learn what it means from the single instance in their lives about which they are said to have wholly followed the Lord.

Surely none of the men that came up out of Egypt, from twenty years old and upward, shall see the land which I sware unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob; because they have not wholly followed me: Save Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenezite, and Joshua the son of Nun: for they have wholly followed the LORD. (Num 32:11-12) 

Now we know, it was Joshua and Caleb. Here’s another reference that Caleb made years later concerning his own life:  Forty years old was I when Moses the servant of the LORD sent me from Kadeshbarnea to espy out the land; and I brought him word again as it was in mine heart. Nevertheless my brethren that went up with me made the heart of the people melt: but I wholly followed the LORD my God. And Moses sware on that day, saying, Surely the land whereon thy feet have trodden shall be thine inheritance, and thy children’s for ever, because thou hast wholly followed the LORD my God.” (Josh 14:7-9 AV)

You may recall the events in Israel’s history. A leader from each of the 12 tribes was sent by God and Moses to spy out the Promised Land to get the answers to some important questions. They all saw the same thing, but 10 spies couldn’t get past how hard it looked. They were afraid, and they made the people fear.

“And Caleb stilled the people before Moses, and said, Let us go up at once, and possess it; for we are well able to overcome it.” (Num 13:30 AV)

Want to know how a person who wholly follows the Lord thinks?

“And Joshua the son of Nun, and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, which were of them that searched the land, rent their clothes: And they spake unto all the company of the children of Israel, saying, The land, which we passed through to search it, is an exceeding good land. If the LORD delight in us, then he will bring us into this land, and give it us; a land which floweth with milk and honey. Only rebel not ye against the LORD, neither fear ye the people of the land; for they are bread for us: their defence is departed from them, and the LORD is with us: fear them not.” (Num 14:6-9 AV)

We can conclude that wholly following the Lord means knowing God’s word and thus His desire and not being afraid to follow it and not rebelling at God’s command. It means trusting that God will make His promises work out. It means standing alone against the worldly tide sometimes. Once you know God’s will on a matter, you go for it and you don’t look back.

Those who wholly follow the Lord will be successful—perhaps the envy of others—because they’ve learned to live above the fray. They don’t live on skittish street. Notice Caleb and Joshua outlived every single person who left Egypt for the Promised Land. That’s because they wholly followed the Lord and were rewarded with the promise that they alone of their comrades would enter the Promised Land. Not even Moses was allowed in.

Wholly following the Lord can be boiled down to three words. Trust and obey. Others in the Bible did that, but only Joshua and Caleb are immortalized for it. They are the example to follow. Any of us can wholly follow the Lord. All of us should. In the book of Numbers, only two of 12 did.