
September 19, 2023
Now the Lord has preserved me, as He promised. It is forty-five years since the Lord made this promise to Moses, when Israel was journeying through the wilderness; and here I am today, eighty-five years old. I am still as strong today as on the day that Moses sent me; my strength is the same now as it was then, for battle and for activity. So assign to me this hill country as the Lord promised on that day. Though you too heard that Anakites are there and great-fortified cities, if only the Lord is with me, I will dispossess them, as the Lord promised. Joshua 14:10-15
CALEB
Caleb was a man of great courage and of great faith—a deadly combination for the enemy. During the years of war Caleb had been in the heat of the battle and surrounded by the enemy many times—but he could not be touched. You see the Lord had made a promise to him and He would not fail. Caleb was to receive an inheritance.
After the war and all that had been accomplished there was still an enemy stronghold in the land that Caleb was to inherit. The Anakim were there—giants! The descendants of Anak were the very ones that had previously caused the spies to bring back a bad report about the land to Moses and the people of Israel.
As Caleb stood before Joshua that day he proclaimed, “…if only the Lord is with me, I will dispossess them, as the Lord promised.” There he stood, full of courage and faith, and not only that, but he was also still at full capacity in mind and body at the age of eighty-five. What a beautiful picture of one of God’s precious warriors! He was still ready to do battle, and he was on the offensive. There would be no tucking-tail and running, nor would he bunker down in hopes that he might ward off the enemy. He would take the land! One writer calls that an attitude of “holy audacity.”
The question is how do we get to that point—full of holy audacity? Pay no attention to your own inferior stature, or the ominous giants of the land, but instead proclaim God’s promises. Then in faith (if it only be a measure), and in the power of the Holy Spirit, step out and God will do the rest!-LG
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