Give Me This Mountain

Give Me This Mountain

Now therefore give me this mountain, whereof the LORD spake in that day; for thou heardest in that day how the Anakims were there, and that the cities were great and fenced: if so be the LORD will be with me, then I shall be able to drive them out, as the LORD said.  Joshua 14:12

Caleb is asking Joshua for a particular mountain in the Promise Land.  Caleb was a faithful man who served the Lord with Joshua and Moses in both the good times and the mostly bad times in the wilderness.  Before the nation of Israel was forced to wander the wilderness because of rejecting God’s will to go take the land, he was one of two faithful men who said “God has given us this land, let’s go take it.”  In spite of seeing the walled cities and large giants, Caleb knew that God had given them the land if they would simply go there and claim it. 

It is interesting that Caleb is now asking Joshua to give him and his family the very land that those giants lived in.  He and Joshua were the only ones not afraid – for they knew the Lord was with them.  Now Caleb and his family will live in the cities and houses of the very people his nation were afraid of!  The name of the city that he was asking for was named after one of the giants.  The city is given a new name after Caleb claims it.  Verse fourteen of the same chapter tells us why the Lord had Joshua give Caleb his request for this parcel of land: “Hebron therefore became the inheritance of Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenezite unto this day, because that he wholly followed the LORD God of Israel.”

God gave Caleb a mountain that most others said they could never have because of the fierce enemy.  Caleb, however, followed the Lord with his entire being.  We should be encouraged to do the same.  Caleb was a man of faith.  He believed God, and God rewarded his faithfulness.  In a poetic ending, Caleb was given the very land in which the feared giants lived.

We too have enemies that we will struggle with, but by God’s grace, you and I can see victory!  Trust the Lord in the difficulties you face today.  The Lord will reward your faithfulness tomorrow!