Blogging Bible Study: Digging in the Desert -- Caleb's Confidence

Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

Skimming through Joshua, looking for references to containing the word 'desert'...the next stop is chapter 14, verse 10; in the midst of a passage that is relating the division of the land and the assignment of the inheritance.

'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!'

Of course, the speaker is the oldest living Israelite at that time...Caleb, the son of Jephunneh the Kennizite.  Joshua would be the only other person over the age of sixty-five in the entire camp.  They had shared quite a history together, being the only two of the twelve men sent to look round the Promised Land a generation ago who actually believed God would do what he said he would do and give them the land.  Joshua became Moses' successor, and Caleb had a promise from Moses:

'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." '  (v. 9)

Caleb remembered Moses' words.  When the plagues hit, when people died en masse, it did not come near him.  Everyone of his generation, save Joshua, had died in the desert. He no doubt helped bury the dead...over and over. But Caleb survived.  Furthermore, he flourished. He continued

'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.  Now 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.'   (vs. 11 - 12)

He had his promise, and as soon as it was feasible he stood up and claimed it.  He was ready to walk out the promise he had been given forty-five years earlier.

And he absolutely did it.

Then Joshua blessed Caleb son of Jephunneh and gave him Hebron as his inheritance.  So Hebron has belonged to Caleb son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite ever since, because he followed the LORD, the God of Israel, wholeheartedly. (vs. 13 - 14)
 
Do you think Caleb got discouraged during all those years in the desert?  Do you think he saw his friends dying and wondered if he really would survive?  Do you suppose he had moments when he wondered if God really would remember him?

Hey, the guy was a human, just like the rest of us.  I'm sure he had his moments.  But I also think when he had those down days, he went out and drew a map in the dirt of the territory he'd been promised...where the fortifications were, how he could get around the defenses, who in his household he could assign to do what in the battle...and where he would put his house when it was over.  And maybe he did some sword work and some exercising, just to keep his shape up and his battle skills honed. So when the day came, he could stand there and say, " I am just as vigorous to go out and do battle now as I was then."...and it was the truth.

So, now, I'm looking at myself and wondering...if my dream opened up tomorrow (well, maybe not tomorrow...but, you  know, when everything opens up again, lol)...would I be ready to throw myself into it and see it through?  Have I kept my edge, my enthusiasm and my confidence up by training with the Lord through the years when it feels like nothing is happening?   Am I ready?

Ouch...