July 10, 2021 GIVE ME THIS HILL COUNTRY
Joshua 14:10-13 “And now, behold, the Lord has kept me alive, just as He said, these forty-five years since the time that the Lord spoke this word to Moses, while Israel walked in the wilderness. And now, behold, I am this day eight-five years old. I am still as strong today as I was in the day that Moses sent me; my strength now is as my strength was then, for war and for going and coming. So now give me this hill country of which the Lord spoke on that day, for you heard on that day how the Anakim were there, with great fortified cities. It may be that the Lord will be with me, and I shall drive them out just as the Lord said. Then Joshua blessed him, and he gave Hebron to Caleb the son of Jephunneh for an inheritance.”
If there is one thing we need today, it is courage. All too often, believers are on the defensive in life, simply trying to survive. Caleb was one of the ten spies that was sent to spy out the promise land, and only he and Joshua believed that they could take the land. Because Israel believed the report of the other eight spies and was fearful, they did not enter the promise land, but wondered in the wilderness for forty years. The story of Caleb in the Old Covenant is loaded with truths that apply to believers living under the New Covenant. The Old Covenant is primarily about how God dealt with Israel in natural ways that are pictures or types of how God deals with believers spiritually under the New Covenant. Caleb was about driving out the Anakim from the hill country; we are to be about driving out the enemies that keep us from entering the promises that God has given us as believers. Our ‘promise land’ is the life that God has made available to us in Christ. We must drive out any beliefs, conceptions, and any pre-conceived ideas that are contrary to the gospel. When we enter our promise land, we discover that we have a new identity as sons and daughters of God; that Jesus has fulfilled the law; that we have been made right with God; that the Holy Spirit lives in us; that God has given us new heart, a new nature, and a new mind; that the power of sin has been broken; that we can be holy as He is holy; that we can live with a deep abiding sense of joy and peace; and that we can walk according to the Spirt and not fulfill the desire of the flesh. It is critical that we read the scriptures with an open mind and be willing to change what we believe when we find that what we have always believed is not consistent with what the scriptures teach. No matter our age or our physical health, let us be strong and courageous in spirit and let us have the attitude of driving out the enemies that would prevent us from enjoying all that God has made available to us.
Daniel 11:32b “but the people that do know their God shall be strong and do exploits.”
Joshua 14:14 “So Hebron has belonged to Caleb son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite ever since, because he followed the Lord, the God of Israel, wholeheartedly.”
Ephesians 6:10 “Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might.”
Blessings,
Buddy
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