Joshua 14:12 (NLT) “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.”

Out of all the adults who were freed from slavery in Egypt by the hand of God, only two made it to the Promised Land. The two were Joshua and Caleb and the reason that they made it and the others didn't was simply because they believed what God had said. God had told the people that He was giving them the Promised Land, but when Moses sent out twelve men to spy out the land, ten of them came back with such a negative report that it made the people afraid of going. The ten unfaithful spies told everyone that giants lived there and that the people who inhabited the land were just too strong for them. The people chose to believe the bad report and determined not to go, and so began the forty-year journey around the wilderness. In that time, all the adults that had refused to go died off while their children remained, along with Joshua and Caleb. Joshua went on to succeed Moses as the new leader for the people while Caleb remained faithful, strong, and ready for action.

As a highly respected warrior and man of God, Caleb could have asked Joshua for any land he wanted, and I am sure that Joshua would have given it to him. As a matter of fact, God singled out Caleb to Moses, telling Moses that He would honor Caleb and give him the land that he had set foot upon (Deuteronomy 1:36, Numbers 14:24). So even though Caleb could have named his inheritance, he chose the very hill country that had frightened the ten unfaithful spies when they spied out the land. Why would Caleb do that? All the spies had been particularly impressed by Hebron, which is the hill country that Caleb asked for. It was beautiful and very fruitful. The only problem was the giants who lived there. But forty-five years before Caleb asked for this land, he had tried to convince his fellow Israelites that if God had said that He was giving them the land, then with God's help, it would be theirs. Now that he had an opportunity to request land, he wanted to claim the beautiful land of Hebron that he had seen all those years before. Were there still giants in that hill country? Yes. Did Caleb still believe what God had said? Yes, which is why he had no problem asking for it. Because he believed God, he and his descendants became property owners of one of the most beautiful and productive parcels of land in Israel.

God honors faith. Faith was what made Abraham stand out to God and hundreds of years later, that same kind of faith made Caleb stand out to Him. When God says something, He delivers on it and when someone believes what He said, they are the recipients of great blessings. God has made a lot of promises that pertain to us for today. Believe Him, even when there are obstacles to His promises (such as huge giants!), and you will experience the blessing and the glory of God's recompense for your faith.

Pastor Joey Vazquez