Reflection: Caleb is an outstanding young man amongst the Israelites who refused to trust God in his deliverance. Fast forward 45 years, and as we can see in this last chapter of Joshua, God’s promise to Caleb has come true and now as an old man, Caleb is as focused on God as ever. He is ready to go to war for God.
In the RSV translation, there is a very clear word picture in these verses: ‘yet I wholly followed the Lord my God. And Moses swore on that day, saying, ‘Surely the land on which your foot has trodden…’. When I read this, I imagine God’s deep footprints embedded in the snow, and Caleb is treading behind, each of his steps literally in the footprints made by God, for Caleb ‘wholly’ followed his Creator. There is nothing casual or complacent about Caleb’s actions.
What might it look like to be as faithful as Caleb?
Caleb really knew God. There are only two ways anyone can know God: through reading his Word and through a disciplined prayer life. Tomorrow we will examine how we benefit through a personal culture of prayer.
Prayer: Heavenly Father, help me to have the kind of faith that wholly follows you. Caleb’s passion for his Holy Father had not dimmed in the passing years. Help me to be a prayer warrior. Forgive me my complacence, for I am loved by the Creator of the universe. Amen.