Then in Joshua 14, Caleb and Joshua fulfilled the opportunity to enter the Good Land. In Joshua 14:6-11 (NIV) it is written, “Now the men of Judah approached Joshua at Gilgal, and Caleb son of Jephunneh the Kennizzite said to him, “You know what the Lord said to Moses the man of God at Kadesh Barnea about you and me. I was forty years old when Moses the servant of the Lord sent me from Kadesh Barnea to explore the land. And I brought him back a report according to my convictions, but my brothers who went up with me made the hearts of the people melt with fear. I, however, followed the Lord my God wholeheartedly. So on that day Moses swore to me, ‘The land on which your feet have walked will be your inheritance and that of your children forever, because you have followed the Lord my God wholeheartedly. Now then, just as the Lord promised, he has kept me alive for forty-five years since the time he said this to Moses, while Israel moved about in the desert. So here I am today, eighty-five years old! I am still as strong today as the day Moses sent me out; I’m just as vigorous to go out to battle now as I was then.”
So how does this relate to perseverance? Since Caleb (and Joshua, I believe) ‘followed the Lord my God wholeheartedly’ he was able to persevere for 45 years in the desert. He and Joshua were the only ones alive who had been at the ‘entrance’ to the Good Land the first time. In fact, the Lord provided ‘perseverance’ for Caleb to the point that he could say ‘I am still as strong today as the day Moses sent me out; I’m just as vigorous . . ‘
May we all ‘follow the Lord wholeheartedly’ and be able to be strong and vigorous as we persevere for His Glory and His work. Amen.
And Caleb and Joshua did not have the Holy Spirit residing in them. Hmmm, interesting.
2 comments:
Dear Mike, I appreciate several things in those verses from Joshua 6 - but mainly all the things are one thing - God's Word. First, Caleb referred to the "word Jehovah spoke to Moses"; second, he said he "fully followed" Jehovah his God - meaning he fully followed Jehovah's Word. Third, Caleb said that Jehovah had kept him alive,"as He said". By God's speaking Caleb lived. He believed God's word, received God's word and lived by God's Word- both when spying out the land and when wandering in the wilderness. Caleb lived by the word of God. "Man lives by everything that proceeds out from the mouth of Jehovah" is an Old Testament word - Deut. 8:3. Amazing, isn't it! Jesus said in John 6:57 that he who eats Him would live by Him. Jesus is the Word of God. For Caleb to take the Word was for Caleb to take Jesus. Jesus said in v. 63 that His words "are spirit and are life". By taking God's Word, Caleb took in breath (spirit) and life. May we be those who don't believe in our condition, our situation, or our past, but those who believe, receive, and eat the Word and the Spirit out of the mouth of God!
I should have added - those who live by the life of God!
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