Give Me My Mountain
10 “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 wilderness. So here I am today, eighty-five years old!
11 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.
12 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.”
13 Then Joshua blessed Caleb son of Jephunneh and gave him Hebron as his inheritance.
14 So Hebron has belonged to Caleb son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite ever since, because he followed the Lord, the God of Israel, wholeheartedly.
Before I get into what I would like to point out from this passage of scripture, let me give you a background of what is taking place here.
I will do that by reading Joshua 14: 6 – 9
6 Now the people of Judah approached Joshua at Gilgal, and Caleb son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite said to him, “You know what the Lord said to Moses the man of God at Kadesh Barnea about you and me.
7 I was forty years old when Moses the servant of the Lord sent me from Kadesh Barnea to explore the land. And I brought him back a report according to my convictions,
8 but my fellow Israelites who went up with me made the hearts of the people melt in fear. I, however, followed the Lord my God wholeheartedly.
9 So on that day Moses swore to me, ‘The land on which your feet have walked will be your inheritance and that of your children forever, because you have followed the Lord my God wholeheartedly.
What is happening in this portion of scripture is that Caleb is reminding Joshua about promise that God had given him through Moses.
That promise came about when Moses sent out 12 spies to go and spy out the land that God was giving to His people.
Numbers 13:1
1- The Lord said to Moses,
2 – “Send some men to explore the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the Israelites. From each ancestral tribe send one of its leaders.
3 – “So at the Lord’s command Moses sent them out from the Desert of Paran. All of them were leaders of the Israelites.
Now when the 12 spies who were leaders came back, they all gave a report to Moses about the land they went to spy out.
10 of the spies, who were leaders, told Moses that the land looks good, but I do not think we can claim it because there are giants in the land.
2 of the spies, who were leaders, had another report. They told Moses yes, the land has giants in it, but with God on our side we are well able to go in and take possession of the land.
So 10 of the spies had a negative report about the land and 2 of the spies had a positive report. Not only that but the people talked about stoning Caleb and Joshua only because they had a positive report.
So, what had happened was God told Moses because the people did not believe that they could take the land, they are not going to possess it. The only ones who will go into the land I promised will be the 2 spies who had the positive report and that was Joshua and Caleb.
So, all the children of Israel wondered in the desert for forty years, not being able to claim the promise that God had for them. The only ones who were going to get the promise was Joshua and Caleb.
Now the forty years are up, and the Israelites have moved in to take possession of the land that the Lord had promised them.
They were battling for the land in Joshua chapters 10, 11, 12 and 13.
In Joshua chapter 11 we see the Bible says –
Joshua 11:23 – So Joshua took the whole land, according to all that the LORD said unto Moses; and Joshua gave it for an inheritance unto Israel according to their divisions by their tribes.
Now in Joshua chapter 14 they have conquered the land and it is time for everyone to get their inheritance.
That is when we come to the portion of scripture that I read at the beginning.
Joshua 14:10-14 NIV
10 “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 wilderness. So here I am today, eighty-five years old!
11 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.
12 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.”
13 Then Joshua blessed Caleb son of Jephunneh and gave him Hebron as his inheritance.
14 So Hebron has belonged to Caleb son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite ever since, because he followed the Lord, the God of Israel, wholeheartedly.
Now here Caleb is telling Joshua that he wants the land that the Lord has promised him back in the day.
He is telling Joshua remember that promise God gave to Moses in the book of Numbers about us possessing our part in the promised land.
It went like this – Numbers 14:30 – NIV
30 Not one of you will enter the land I swore with uplifted hand to make your home, except Caleb son of Jephunneh and Joshua son of Nun.
Well I want my inheritance.
How did Caleb keep his passion and his fire for a promise that God had given him so many years ago?
1 – Caleb got better in the desert.
One of the things that I believe Caleb did was to get better in the desert.
He developed in the desert. Even though he didn’t see the promise, he kept on giving God his all while he was doing what God had him doing during that time of being in the desert.
He used these 45 years to develop his skills, build his prayer life, learn how to depend on God, and exercise his leadership skills.
He stayed in good spiritual shape during the desert.
Even though he was getting older, he kept on getting better.
To get better in the desert, we have to have the attitude of I am doing it for the people. Not a title, not for recognition but for the people.
If Caleb would have been doing what he did for a title or position, he could have lost his fire, but he did what he did for the people.
Remember people is ministry and ministry is people.
When he came to Joshua to talk about his inheritance, he did not come alone, but he came with the people of whom he was working with in the desert.
The tribe of Judah.
Joshua 14:6 – Then the children of Judah came to Joshua in Gilgal. And Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite said to him: “You know the word which the Lord said to Moses the man of God concerning you and me in Kadesh Barnea
2 – He followed God wholeheartedly –
Not only did Joshua and Caleb follow God out of Egypt but they followed God to what He had for their lives.
That can be a good challenge for many of us today. Yes, we follow God to bring us out of Egypt, but we should also be willing to follow God wholeheartedly for the plan and purpose that He has for our lives.
God did not save us just to bring us out of Egypt but He saved us so we can go after all that God has for us.
The Bible says in Exodus 3:8
Exodus 3:8
And I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land unto a good land and a large, unto a land flowing with milk and honey; unto the place of the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites.
Let me put it like this:
God didn’t deliver us out of Egypt ( such as the club, the pelopos, the darkness, or the things of the word) to settle but He brought us out to go into a place of – Missionaries, Pastors, Doctors, Lawyers, Businessmen, Matriculants, World Shakers, History Makers, Mountain Movers, Trail Blazers, Leaders, Evangelists, Teachers, and so forth and so on.
3 – He did not let the people’s decisions put his passion out.
Even though he should have been on his way to the promise land, he was still in the desert. Not because of what he did, but because of the people’s lack of faith.
He could have gotten bitter with the people, but he got better.
How many times have we seen someone start out on fire, but during the course or the process, one begins to lose the fire?
Most of the time this can happen when we begin to focus on people rather than on what God has called us to do.
Sometimes people can cause us to lose our passion for ministry or even our desire for serving God. How can this happen:
- Maybe we had a disagreement with someone
- Maybe someone talked about us
- Maybe we think this person is not all they claim to be
- Maybe we got hurt with this leader or that leader
Caleb could have had this attitude, but he chose to focus on God.
It was not his fault that he and the children of Israel had to wonder in the desert before Caleb got his promise.
I do not know about you, but I might have been a little upset.
He could have blamed the children of Israel for a lack of fire in his heart.
He could have blamed the children of Israel for not wanting his promise anymore.
He could have lost his zeal and said if they would have believed I would have my promise by now.
He could have said “You guys didn’t want to believe and know we are stuck here in the desert for forty years.” I do not want my promise anymore.
Caleb did not let what other people did affect him from believing what God had for him.
Illustration: Keep you flame burning. A race where the winner has to finish with his candle burning.
4 – He was willing to put in work for what God had for him.
He kept a pioneering spirt.
Just because God had promised the land to the Israelites did not mean that they did not have to fight for it.
As a matter of fact, you can see in the book of Joshua Chapters 10, 11, 12, and 13 how the children of Israel had to fight for the land.
What that tells me is that Caleb had to put in some work because he was with them. He had to put in some work to be able to claim his land. He didn’t get comfortable and say let the young ones keep building and battling.
I will get my promise when they take the land.
No Caleb was willing to keep building and battling for the promise that God had given him.
He was willing to put in some work for the land that the Lord had promised him
As we see in these previous chapters of Joshua, he was putting in work because they had to defeat some people before they went into the promised land.
Not only that he was willing to do some more fighting to go in and claim his promised mountain.
10 “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 wilderness. So here I am today, eighty-five years old!
11 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.
12 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.”
If you and I are going to reach the plan and purpose that God has for us, it is going to take us having a pioneering spirit.
Caleb kept a pioneering spirit.
We should not get comfortable in our past accomplishments, but we should strive to be all that God has called us to be.
Even though Caleb was up in age, he kept the passion to claim what God had for him.
Age didn’t matter to Caleb nor did it matter to:
Henry Ford who was 45 when he created the revolutionary Model T car in 1908.
Ray Kroc who spent his career as a milkshake-device salesman before buying McDonald's at age 52 in 1954. He grew it into the world's biggest fast-food franchise.
Harland Sanders, who is better known as Colonel Sanders, who was 62 when he franchised Kentucky Fried Chicken in 1952.
Nelson Mandela, who emerged after 27 years in jail and became his country’s president at 76.
Is there anybody here that wants to go after all that God has for you?
The call that God has for our lives goes beyond where you and I are right now.
Do we still have that passion we had the day that God gave us the promise?
The day that God called us.
Our we willing to pioneer all over again.
We have so many people to reach
I guess my question is, what has God promised us, and do we still have the same fire in our hearts to claim that promise as we did when we first got the promise?
