Caleb, a Man of Wholehearted Faith

6Then the children of Judah came near to Joshua in Gilgal. Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite said to him, “You know the thing that Yahweh spoke to Moses the man of God concerning me and concerning you in Kadesh Barnea. 7I was forty years old when Moses the servant of Yahweh sent me from Kadesh Barnea to spy out the land. I brought him word again as it was in my heart. 8Nevertheless, my brothers who went up with me made the heart of the people melt; but I wholly followed Yahweh my God. 9Moses swore on that day, saying, ‘Surely the land where you walked shall be an inheritance to you and to your children forever, because you have wholly followed Yahweh my God.’ 10“Now, behold, Yahweh has kept me alive, as he spoke, these forty-five years, from the time that Yahweh spoke this word to Moses, while Israel walked in the wilderness. Now, behold, I am eighty-five years old, today. 11As yet I am as strong today as I was in the day that Moses sent me. As my strength was then, even so is my strength now for war, to go out and to come in. 12Now therefore give me this hill country, of which Yahweh spoke in that day; for you heard in that day how the Anakim were there, and great and fortified cities. It may be that Yahweh will be with me, and I shall drive them out, as Yahweh said.” 13Joshua blessed him; and he gave Hebron to Caleb the son of Jephunneh for an inheritance. 14Therefore Hebron became the inheritance of Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite to this day, because he followed Yahweh, the God of Israel wholeheartedly. 15Now the name of Hebron before was Kiriath Arba, after the greatest man among the Anakim. Then the land had rest from war.

These days, with the climate in turmoil, some countries suffer drought and others floods. Here in Korea the temperature drops without warning and a biting wind blows, or heavy snow falls all at once and does great damage. God made the world so that people could live in comfort and safety, but people, putting development first, are recklessly destroying the forests, and, putting convenience first, are producing every kind of pollution and contaminant. Because people have damaged nature, nature is now creating conditions in which people cannot live.

Jungles that people have not entered still bear the shape of creation, and countless living things thrive there freely. But once people went into the forests that had protected the earth, the forests began to die. This earth, losing its trees, will be blanketed with enormous amounts of carbon dioxide, and every living plant and animal, humanity included, is under threat. The forests once gave off enough water vapor to protect the earth, forming clouds and blocking the heat of the sun. As they gradually disappear, global warming grows ever more severe. If this goes on, the earth, with no screen to shield it from the sun’s heat, will become a barren place where no one can live.

God created the world and said that it was good, but when humanity sinned and fell under the curse, the world was cursed along with it. Human beings have an evil nature that will do anything for their own gain, and so they damage even nature for their own benefit. We cannot live unless nature sustains us, yet nature, damaged by human hands, has become a monster that people can no longer restrain, and it is now killing them in turn. Only when nature keeps its place unchanged and fulfills God’s command can people live in safety. We must realize that if nature stops working, there will be nothing to eat and nothing to drink, and we must preserve nature as God created it.

Anything people add their own strength to ends up spoiled. If we preserve animals and plants alike, so that they live in the place God has given them, humanity will gain far more. Because Adam and Eve could not overcome the evil of human nature, but defied God’s command and chose the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, this earth too was cursed, and it cannot fully do what it was made to do.

Faith is no different. When people add their own righteousness to the word God has given, the word is no longer holy in itself, and a word that is not holy can no longer sustain life. When they add their own will to the will of God, God’s glory is hidden, and a heart God once loved becomes a dead heart and ends up as Satan’s co-worker. The serpent in the Garden of Eden tempted Adam precisely because it knew this about human nature. Although Adam had heard the word of God, he could not overcome the temptation, added his own thinking to God’s will, and did exactly what Satan wanted.

Those who receive God’s blessing share one mark: whatever their circumstances, when God speaks, they obey without excuse and without condition. For anyone going through testing and suffering, obeying God’s command just as it is given is by no means easy. Yet God helps those who strive to live by faith, so that they can live a life they need not be ashamed of. Joshua and Caleb were people of exactly this faith. God took a close interest in them and helped them, so that they could be filled with the Holy Spirit.

Genesis 36:11

11The sons of Eliphaz were Teman, Omar, Zepho, and Gatam, and Kenaz.

Caleb was the son of Jephunneh, a descendant of Kenaz the son of Eliphaz. The Kenizzites are also called Kenites. They were the descendants of the chief Kenaz, one of the offspring of Esau, who had lived around Palestine from early times. Esau and his descendants are called Edom, and it seems that some of the Kenizzites, an Edomite clan, joined Israel’s tribe of Judah and lived among them. Caleb, then, was not of pure Hebrew blood but a Gentile.

Caleb came to belong to the tribe of Judah. Because he loved and feared God more than anyone, Moses chose him to represent Judah when he sent out twelve spies from Kadesh Barnea. When the twelve came back from spying out Canaan, ten of them reported that the land could not be entered, because the Anakim, a race of giants, lived there. Joshua and Caleb, however, said that God had already given them the land, and if only they resolved to go, they could conquer it. All twelve had seen the same land of Canaan and the same Anakim, yet what they said and what they thought could not have been more different.

Why did their judgments differ so widely when they had all seen the same Anakim? Because Joshua and Caleb believed that God lives, they also believed he would certainly give them the land of Canaan. They knew that in leading Israel all the way from Egypt, God had never once broken his promise, and that whenever Israel had resolved in faith, they had never been defeated. The ten spies, on the other hand, granted that God had led them with many miracles, but they reasoned that the Anakim they had just seen were beyond their strength, which put the conquest of Canaan out of the question. They were gripped by the thought that their own situation was worse than that of the Anakim, and that thought convinced them they could not win even with God’s help.

However much God helps them, people always take their own circumstances and abilities as the measure. So whenever a problem arises, they conclude that this time even God cannot help, and they do not trust him without reserve. What can God do for such people? While he is helping them, they rejoice as if full of faith, but the moment the slightest uncertainty appears, they abandon God in an instant. Even if he helps them, they soon grumble and lose heart, so that even great grace would do them no good.

When people look at the same event and reach different decisions, it comes down in the end, I think, to the standard by which each has lived. Joshua and Caleb saw the war with Canaan not as a war they could win by their own efforts but as a test of how much faith they would show God. That is why, where ten men said it could not be done, Joshua and Caleb said that if God did it, the land could certainly be conquered.

So full of faith was Caleb that, though he was an old man of eighty-five, he pleaded with Joshua to give him the hill country where the Anakim lived. Caleb was convinced that if God went with him, he could take it. Long before, Moses had told Caleb that because he had wholly followed Yahweh, the land his foot had walked on would be an inheritance for him and his children forever, and Caleb believed that God had given that promise through Moses. Moses had lived by the word of God, and since Moses had said it could be done, Caleb could ask with confidence for that hill country. He boldly declared that he had no need to fear, because he had lived trusting God’s promise. This faith of Caleb’s came from having served God with all his heart.

It took Caleb forty-five years to reach the point of standing before Joshua and confidently asking for the hill country. Through those forty-five years his faith kept growing, without doubt and without discouragement, until God’s blessing became entirely his own.

Do you believe that God’s promises are truly answered? Then how long have you persevered in prayer for that promise to be fulfilled? Have you waited as Caleb did, without grumbling, without losing heart, without doubting, expectant to see how God would work? Or have you grumbled, lost heart, and doubted, asking why God does not answer more quickly?

At first people wait in expectation, believing that God will act. But as the time without an answer stretches on, they look at the problem that weighs on them and begin to doubt God, to complain, and to grow weary. People grow impatient because they feel that only a quick answer, whatever it is, means that God has blessed them and that their prayer has reached him. Beyond that, they cannot bear a delayed answer because they suspect the problem lies with God rather than with themselves.

We want everything quickly and in abundance. But even when God wants to pour out blessing, there is no vessel to hold it, and so he waits until the heart has been chipped away and shaped. He puts us through the fire all the more so that he can soon make us vessels large enough for his blessing, but many of his people, not understanding his heart, stumble. With their eyes fixed only on the blessing, they neither pray nor praise, and they complain that they have waited so earnestly and God has not given it to them. God can put nothing into such a heart. Even if he gave them what they wanted, it is all too clear that they would betray him, and that is why he cannot give it.

Yet the wonder is that when we are chipped away again and again by suffering, our faith grows. If, instead of complaining about our suffering, we ask ourselves how we can show God our faith in this season, we no longer feel unhappy at all, though nothing about our situation has changed. Grow further still, and you come to believe that God always walks with you even when he does not answer. Your heart grows bold toward the world, people no longer frighten you, greed falls away, and no suffering, whatever it may be, can shake you. You are no longer enduring while you wait for an answer. Out of a thankful heart you forget even the answer. This is the moment we are born again as mature children, and it is the time we receive the answer. If, to keep your faith, you first cast out of your heart what must be cast out and in this way shape yourself, God will pour out blessing in overflowing measure into the vessel that has grown.

Caleb believed that God would answer at the most fitting time. He believed that at just the right time God would give him the strength and courage to conquer that hill country and would arrange every circumstance. We can tell how much Caleb must have prayed for such a moment, because he knew better than anyone that without enough prayer he could not go up into the hill country even if the answer came.

Joshua 14:12

12Now therefore give me this hill country, of which Yahweh spoke in that day; for you heard in that day how the Anakim were there, and great and fortified cities. It may be that Yahweh will be with me, and I shall drive them out, as Yahweh said.”

Caleb was as strong as he had been forty-five years before, and he had fought many wars. This means that those who believe God’s promise and obey him wholly will not grow weak or die before they have fulfilled every task God has given them. Forty-five years had passed, but Caleb still had a sound body and the strength to fight for the hill country of Hebron. Everyone feared the Anakim of Hebron, and yet Caleb asked for it, saying he would conquer it himself. In body he was an old man, but in God he was a young one. If you have faith and a calling, God will protect your health, your abilities, and your possessions.

If Caleb took Hebron, he would gain land to settle on, and from that fertile ground he would reap an abundant harvest. Because of Caleb’s faith, his descendants would come into great wealth without toil of their own. Through the faith of a parent, the children would be richly blessed. When we live by faith, God gives along with it abundant wealth, health, and strength, and fills our lives so that our faith is never put to shame. We too must live by an honest faith, building up the calling God has given us. Only then will we be people who make God’s righteousness known, and God will keep safe those who live by faith.

Judges 1:10

10Judah went against the Canaanites who lived in Hebron. (The name of Hebron before that was Kiriath Arba.) They struck Sheshai, Ahiman, and Talmai.

Hebron, which Caleb conquered, appears in Genesis 13. After Lot, who had left Haran with Abraham, departed for Sodom and Gomorrah, a land like the garden of Eden, Abraham built an altar to Yahweh at Hebron. It is also where Abraham buried his wife Sarah when she died, in the cave of Machpelah, which he bought.

This land that Caleb took by faith is where Abraham, the father of many nations, built an altar, and where Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebekah, Jacob and Leah lie buried. Hebron, then, held deep meaning for Israel. It was also land Joshua had captured after entering Canaan, when he fought Adoni-Zedek king of Jerusalem, Hoham king of Hebron, Piram king of Jarmuth, Japhia king of Lachish, and Debir king of Eglon, and won a great victory, setting his feet on the necks of those kings. But the three sons of Anak, Sheshai, Ahiman, and Talmai, had retaken Hebron and were ruling it. So God used the full faith of Caleb to make Israel win it back.

The Anakim who lived in Hebron were giants, not people the Israelites could easily take on. But because Caleb believed God’s promise, he was not afraid of the Anakim, old man of eighty-five though he was, and he fearlessly asked for that hill country. Toward God he was spiritually young and full, but in the flesh he was an old man with neither strength nor power. Yet old as he was, when he believed like a child that God would help him, Caleb was able to do the work of a young man.

Age makes no difference before God. If you have faith like Caleb’s, you can find your own calling and set to work, and, like Joshua, you can lead a whole nation into the promised land. When God is with you, you can defeat the Canaanites. They may have chariots of iron and all the strength and power of the world, but it makes no difference, because before God all of it crumbles as easily as a sandcastle.

Now whether you believe, as Caleb did, that God’s promise will come to pass depends on your faith and your judgment. If, like Caleb, you believe that God will help you, Hebron will be yours, and if you pray for that hill country to be given to you, you will gain the hill country and an abundant harvest along with it.

I hope that you, too, will pray boldly, as Caleb did, for the hill country, and that you will conquer it together with God. May you cast off the narrow thinking that shuts you up inside your own ideas, the thinking that says this cannot work for this reason and that cannot work for that one. Instead, I pray that you will dare to believe that though this cannot be done by human strength, God will see your faith and act; and that though that seems utterly impossible, God will see your faith and your earnest longing and act.

Live long enough and you find that nothing goes as you planned. However sure your plans, if God does not answer them, they will never come to pass. Let us first set the word of God at the center, repent one by one of the wrong habits and sins of our past, and pray to be filled.

My hope is that you will ask God to keep you from betraying him, to keep you from pushing him out of your heart even a little, to help you overcome your habits of sin, to keep you from treating his grace as your own possession, and to keep you from bringing shame on him. Then God will answer that prayer. May you share, as Caleb did, the grace God pours out in overflowing measure, and boldly tell your children to live as you have lived. If you do, many souls will take you as their example and strive to live by faith, and every reward for it will be yours.

Because God is walking with you, however many giants like the Anakim there are in the world, they will never be able to touch your homes, your church, or this nation. Let us add thanksgiving to the faith we now hold. If to thanksgiving we add devotion, and to devotion humility, God will add wisdom and understanding, so that we may receive still greater rewards.

Since God is helping you with wisdom and understanding, as he helped Caleb, what is there to fear? There will be nothing but victory ahead of you. May you be free of fear and free of worry, and live by faith alone. I bless you in the name of Jesus Christ.