Joel M Bradshaw

10“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 wilderness. So here I am today, eighty-five years old! 11I 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. 12Now give me this hill country that the Lord promised me that day. You yourself heard then that the Anakites were there and their cities were large and fortified, but, the Lord helping me, I will drive them out just as he said.”–Joshua 14

Caleb is one of the greatest characters in all the Bible. Let’s go on a brief journey with him this morning (I added emphasis). We start with terrifying report of the spies who were sent out to investigate Canaan.

28But the people who live there are powerful, and the cities are fortified and very large. We even saw descendants of Anak there. The Amalekites live in the Negev; the Hittites, Jebusites and Amorites live in the hill country; and the Canaanites live near the sea and along the Jordan.” Then Caleb silenced the people before Moses and said, “We should go up and take possession of the land, for we can certainly do it.” (Numbers 13:27-30)

What a simple, profound faith! The journey was going to be rough, but God was with them. God expected them to be faithful, so Caleb expected them to obey God. Who cares if the big guys lived there!

The next book of the Bible, Judges, details the actual taking possession of the land. And well, Caleb (though in his 80s) indeed led the charge against those feared Anakites.

The Lord was with the men of Judah. They took possession of the hill country, but they were unable to drive the people from the plains, because they had chariots fitted with iron. As Moses had promised, Hebron was given to Caleb, who drove from it the three sons of Anak. (Judges 1:19-20)

Caleb was rewarded because of his faith. And his faith was one that started on his inside and then flowed to his outside. He is an example for us all. And the best part is that Caleb wasn’t even a native Israelite. The text links him with the Kenizzites. Genesis 15:19 lists the Kenizzites as one of the original inhabitants of the land that God promised in a covenant to Abram. So evidently, some Kenizzites had proselytized into the covenant community of Israel. It’s possible that Caleb was a full foreigner or was a partial Israelite and the same could be said for his father Jephunneh.

Unique amongst the faithful, Caleb wasn’t even a full Israelite. This places him with faithful foreigners like Rahab and Ruth. Like both of those women, Caleb displayed a simple but mighty faith that trusted God in the hardest of situations. The Anakites have been linked by some to the peoples of size like the famous Goliath. So this was no small task that Caleb took on!

No, Caleb was willing to take the hardest journey. He was a manly man who not only kept his word, but expected others to do so as well. He was the best kind of leader who took the hardest portions for himself. And though he was a foreigner, he was rewarded by God with land.

You no doubt have rough seasons in your life. You face difficulties that require diligence and faithfulness. They may even be as terrifying as those Anakites. But to have a faith like Caleb means you simply trust God and get to work. Some of us have been given seemingly harder journeys than others. But rather than grumble about it, welcome it. The most impossible situations give God the most possible glory! Show yourself faithful in the hardest journey, Lord!–JMB