Here I am!
Lately I've been contemplating Caleb from the old testament. I've learned a couple things about him. First, he was not affiliated with the tribes. He was of the line of Esau and therefore had no promised inheritance. Second, he was fully committed to God! We learn that he was one of the original four spies sent by Moses to see the promised land. Caleb along with Joshua were also the only two who believed that God would give them the promise land. Put yourself in his shoes. The man knew In his heart the power God was giving them to take the land, but every one else melted in fear. We know that he was forty when he spied out the land for Moses, and because of the peoples fear he had to wait forty years. For forty years he trusted God with nothing but the clothes on his back, and the word spoken to him through Moses. He watched all his elders die, until he was among the leadership. I cannot fathom that level of faith!! He knew that he knew God was for him. In Joshua 14 we see his trust in God on display. After going to war with Joshua on his conquest he approaches Joshua and says:
Joshua 14:6-15 Caleb's Request and Inheritance:
Then the people of Judah came to Joshua at Gilgal. And Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite said to him, “You know what the Lord said to Moses the man of God in Kadesh- barnea concerning you and me. I was forty years old when Moses the servant of the Lord sent me from Kadesh- barnea to spy out the land, and I brought him word again as it was in my heart. But my brothers who went up with me made the heart of the people melt; yet I wholly followed the Lord my God. And Moses swore on that day, saying, ‘Surely the land on which your foot has trodden shall be an inheritance for you and your children forever, because you have wholly followed the Lord my God. ’ And now, behold, the Lord has kept me alive, just as he said, these forty- five years since the time that the Lord spoke this word to Moses, while Israel walked in the wilderness. And now, behold, I am this day eighty- five years old. I am still as strong today as I was in the day that Moses sent me; my strength now is as my strength was then, for war and for going and coming. So now give me this hill country of which the Lord spoke on that day, for you heard on that day how the Anakim were there, with great fortified cities. It may be that the Lord will be with me, and I shall drive them out just as the Lord said.”
Then Joshua blessed him, and he gave Hebron to Caleb the son of Jephunneh for an inheritance. Therefore Hebron became the inheritance of Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite to this day, because he wholly followed the Lord, the God of Israel. Now the name of Hebron formerly was Kiriath- arba. (Arba was the greatest man among the Anakim.) And the land had rest from war.
I see the heart of a warrior, confessing his faith, ready to receive his inheritance, not letting his age or past inhibit him. It's my prayer that I would have that determination. Not only to weather the storms but to take back what's been taken from me. Jesus said he came that I would have life abundantly! I'll take nothing less! Don't settle for anything less. Remember if any situation is going to steal from your life, kill your joy, or destroy anything and I mean ANYTHING you love, it's not what God has for you. It's time we take ownership of our paid for mercy and grace and live on a level intended for a child of God!!
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