“I followed the Lord my God completely.” (Joshua 14:8)
Let’s hear from an old man, Caleb, the story of his life, as Joshua recounted in chapter 14…
“I was born a slave in Egypt. I crossed the Red Sea, was present at the giving of the law at Mount Sinai, and then at the age of 40, I was sent as one of the twelve to spy out the Promised Land. Joshua and I were the only of the twelve that trusted God to give us the land. The other ten brought back reports of giants and difficulties. The people believed them and were unwilling to possess the land. Joshua and I were devastated; however, Moses promised to give me the land that we spied out to be my inheritance.”
“Then God sent all of us wandering for 40 years in the wilderness and everyone died, except for Joshua and me. Moses died too, and Joshua was appointed to replace him. Now we were ready to possess the Promised Land and we fought for five years to possess it. We didn’t conquer all of it, but enough that Joshua was ready to assign allotments to each of the tribes. As I was of the tribe of Judah, I asked Joshua to give me the hill country of Judah, which was still occupied by the Anakim and still had the same great fortified cities that were there 45 years ago. At 85 years old, I was still as strong as ever, a seasoned warrior, and still followed the Lord my God completely. I was confident that I could conquer the Anakim, which I did. Then we rested from war and received our inheritance. I enjoyed the wedding of my daughter, who married Othniel, a future judge of Israel.”
“Should you live to age 85, what will be your story? I know that there are giants in your life – not the Anakim that live in great fortified cities – yet giants that tempt you from following the Lord your God completely. Who do you follow – God? Your heart? The norms of your culture? Do you fight confidently, expecting God to be faithful to provide? Do you completely trust that God has an inheritance ready for you? My life was long and hard – slavery, wandering, wars – yet I completely followed the Lord my God, and I was victorious and received my inheritance. My story was recorded in Joshua 14, as an example for you to follow.”
~ Caleb