Caleb's Claim

Now then, give me this hill country about which the LORD spoke on that day, for you heard on that day that Anakim were there, with great fortified cities; perhaps the LORD will be with me, and I will drive them out as the LORD has spoken. (Joshua 14:12)

As you assess your life today, and take inventory of all the dreams that have been realized and all the ones that have vanished like a vapor, how are you doing? Have you ever longed for something for so long that it drives you, consumes you, sustains you? Or have you realized some of those dreams only to discover that the dreams were really nightmares. And you never seem to wake up.
Trials of life often condition us for life in the future. Our scripture today is about a man who dreamed his dream and lived to see it come true. For many long years Caleb clung tenaciously to his future. You see, he had been promised an inheritance. And he wasn’t about to waste away without claiming it! Caleb and Joshua were the only two of their generation to remain alive after the Exodus from Egypt. Forty years of wandering and wondering must have been their experience. But if Caleb ever doubted that his wandering days would someday come to an end, we don’t get that sense from this passage of scripture.

I. CALEB'S CLAIM WAS THE MOUNTAIN THAT THE LORD SPOKE ABOUT.
Caleb would not have desired the mountain unless the Lord had spoken. The Bible says that God will give you the desires of your heart. I think these desires, the wholesome ones, are the ones God Himself places there. It pleases God to give us desires that originate with Him.

II. CALEB'S CLAIM WAS THE MOUNTAIN THE LORD PROMISED TO GIVE.
Caleb did not want the mountain out of a sense of entitlement...he wanted the gracious gift of God. He knew the trustworthiness of God’s promises. He had seen the miraculous and mighty hand of God at work to sustain His people. And He had heard the promise of God come from the mouth of Moses. For Caleb, God’s word was true. Always.

III. CALEB'S CLAIM WAS THE MOUNTAIN THE LORD WOULD HELP HIM POSSESS.
Even with God's gifts, they must be developed and nurtured. There is a striking similarity to our salvation here. God gives us salvation. And the Bible tells us to work it out. I believe that means to exercise those gifts that God gave when we were saved. Caleb was willing to work at the opportunity that God allowed. He’d waited forty years for this. Caleb did not want the lush fertile plain. That was for lesser men. He wanted a mountain that the Lord would help Him climb. He was accustomed to utter dependence on God’s blessing in a hostile environment.

IV. CALEB'S CLAIM WAS THE MOUNTAIN HE WAS STILL YOUNG ENOUGH TO CLIMB.
Caleb still had the desires of his heart before him. It was enough to keep him young. He was old enough to know the value of what God had given him. He was young enough to still enjoy it and want all that it entailed.

What a lesson we can learn from Caleb. He never gave up on the promise of God. And God honored that. God sustained Caleb so that He would be used to testify as to the credibility of God’s word. God can do that for you. If you have received a promise from His word, never, never, never give up or give in to settling for a lesser dream. Stay the course, endure the hardship, and become seasoned by His grace. Then go tell somebody!

Those that God will use, He purifies so they can testify.