Joshua 14:10-15
"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! 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."
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. (Hebron used to be called Kiriath Arba after Arba, who was the greatest man among the Anakites.)
Then the land had rest from war.
Perhaps amidst of all the land allotment story, Caleb is one that should cause to stop and think. His story began in Numbers 13, when he silenced and contradicted his fellow spies into the land of Canaan and told Moses that they should take the land despite the enemies occupying the land and the obstacles that they will be facing.
Caleb's story is one of faith. He waited 40++ years before he was given his reward for his faith. Even when he was 85, he offered to drive the people out of his land himself, believing that God was helping him. After waiting 45 years in the desert, this is certainly some tremendous faith, which should cause us to think. In fact, the entire bible is filled with stories of such people, such as Abraham, Noah, David, Paul, etc etc. Their stories of faith are excellent depictions of 2 Peter 3:9, showing that God is not slow in their promise.
Let me just share one story of myself with you all. 2 years ago, I met this particular freshman and I was sharing the gospel with him. That time, when we first meet, we hit it off immediately and our friendship grew. But he was not opened to Christianity and Jesus then. Yet we continued to maintain our friendship over the years and we went out to hunt food and he joins our activities quite regularly also. We were still praying for him then. But recently this year, we begin to see a breakthrough in his mentality and receptivity towards God and Christianity. Although I think it will still take some time, some thoughts and beliefs that he held a few years back he has abandoned. 2 years, and I thought he was almost a lost cause. The episode makes me realised something, that seeds that we sow today, we may not see fruit immediately.
God is not slow, but He has his own timing.
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. (Hebron used to be called Kiriath Arba after Arba, who was the greatest man among the Anakites.)
Then the land had rest from war.
Perhaps amidst of all the land allotment story, Caleb is one that should cause to stop and think. His story began in Numbers 13, when he silenced and contradicted his fellow spies into the land of Canaan and told Moses that they should take the land despite the enemies occupying the land and the obstacles that they will be facing.
Caleb's story is one of faith. He waited 40++ years before he was given his reward for his faith. Even when he was 85, he offered to drive the people out of his land himself, believing that God was helping him. After waiting 45 years in the desert, this is certainly some tremendous faith, which should cause us to think. In fact, the entire bible is filled with stories of such people, such as Abraham, Noah, David, Paul, etc etc. Their stories of faith are excellent depictions of 2 Peter 3:9, showing that God is not slow in their promise.
Let me just share one story of myself with you all. 2 years ago, I met this particular freshman and I was sharing the gospel with him. That time, when we first meet, we hit it off immediately and our friendship grew. But he was not opened to Christianity and Jesus then. Yet we continued to maintain our friendship over the years and we went out to hunt food and he joins our activities quite regularly also. We were still praying for him then. But recently this year, we begin to see a breakthrough in his mentality and receptivity towards God and Christianity. Although I think it will still take some time, some thoughts and beliefs that he held a few years back he has abandoned. 2 years, and I thought he was almost a lost cause. The episode makes me realised something, that seeds that we sow today, we may not see fruit immediately.
God is not slow, but He has his own timing.
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