Independently Dependent Upon Him…..

Caleb didn’t have a short memory. His memory was alive and well. It had been 45 years since Moses’ promise to give him land as a reward for his obedience to God in spying out the “Promised land”. He never lost his faith in God. God rewarded him with continued health, the ability to be strong and still fight like a warrior (at 85 mind you), and the reverence that still humbled him. Caleb knew that it was God Who blessed him. He knew only God could grant him the blessing of land. He knew that if God was with him (the key), he could still drive out his enemies from the land about to be given to him. How often do we have this attitude (of humility)? How often do we forget God and try to do it on our own? How often do we let our pride kick in and allow us to think, “it’s up to me”? Ask God to keep you humble. Ask Him to always make you independently dependent upon Him. Caleb is a great example of how strength and humility can walk side by side, blessing its recipients. This is something so foreign to those who do not put their faith and trust in God, and unfortunately, they miss out.

6 A delegation from the tribe of Judah, led by Caleb son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite, came to Joshua at Gilgal. Caleb said to Joshua, “Remember what the Lord said to Moses, the man of God, about you and me when we were at Kadesh-barnea. 7 I was forty years old when Moses, the servant of the Lord, sent me from Kadesh-barnea to explore the land of Canaan. I returned and gave an honest report, 8 but my brothers who went with me frightened the people from entering the Promised Land. For my part, I wholeheartedly followed the Lord my God. 9 So that day Moses solemnly promised me, ‘The land of Canaan on which you were just walking will be your grant of land and that of your descendants forever, because you wholeheartedly followed the Lord my God.’10 “Now, as you can see, the Lord has kept me alive and well as He promised for all these forty-five years since Moses made this promise–even while Israel wandered in the wilderness. Today I am eighty-five years old. 11 I am as strong now as I was when Moses sent me on that journey, and I can still travel and fight as well as I could then. 12 So give me the hill country that the Lord promised me. You will remember that as scouts we found the descendants of Anak living there in great, walled towns. But if the Lord is with me, I will drive them out of the land, just as the Lord said.”13 So Joshua blessed Caleb son of Jephunneh and gave Hebron to him as his portion of land. 14 Hebron still belongs to the descendants of Caleb son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite because he wholeheartedly followed the Lord, the God of Israel. 15 (Previously Hebron had been called Kiriath-arba. It had been named after Arba, a great hero of the descendants of Anak.)And the land had rest from war. Joshua 14:6-15