Joshua 14:6-11
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.’ 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. (Joshua 14:6-11)
The name “Caleb” means “dog.” And it seems that Caleb largely lived up to his name. He was faithful, consistent, and strong. Dogs, though they are despised and rejected (in Semitic culture dogs were considered unclean), still have a number of virtues:
A Dog Wholeheartedly Follows Its Master
Five times (Numbers 14:24; Deuteronomy 1:35-36; Joshua 14:8, 9, 14) the Scriptures say of Caleb that he “followed the Lord wholeheartedly.”
We call ourselves disciples of Christ. To be a disciple means to be a follower — to follow someone. The very essence of Christianity is to follow Jesus. We do not follow doctrines; we follow the Lord. In 2 Timothy 1:12 the apostle Paul says:
“Yet this is no cause for shame, because I know whom I have believed.” (2 Timothy 1:12)
A dog wants to be near its master. The moment he sets off somewhere, the dog immediately gets to its feet and wants to go with him. It is as if it says, “I’m coming with you. Wherever you go, there I go too.” It makes no difference to the dog where its master is going, what he will do, or how long he will be. It simply wants to be with him. This ought to be our desire as Christians too — to be always with the Lord, to follow Him, even along the road to Golgotha.
A Dog Walks by Scent, Not by Sight
For us, translated into spiritual language, this means to live a life of faith. In 2 Corinthians 5:7 it says:
“For we live by faith, not by sight.” (2 Corinthians 5:7)
Caleb walked by faith. To walk by faith means, first, to know God’s Word to us, and second, to expect its fulfillment and to lay claim to it. In Joshua 14:6-9 we see that Caleb knew what God had spoken about him:
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.’ (Joshua 14:6-9)
Caleb knew what God had spoken about him. He had caught a scent and was following it. But do we know what God has spoken about us? Have we picked up the trail He wants us to pursue? Do we know the “scent” of our Lord?
A Dog Is a Pursuer
In verse 10 it says that from the time God gave His promise to Caleb until the moment of its fulfillment, forty-five years had passed:
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! (Joshua 14:10)
Caleb pursued the vision, the promise that God had given him. He never stopped! There is, however, one thing that is harder for a dog than pursuing, and that is waiting. Suppose, for example, its master takes it along to the market, goes into the shop, and orders it to stay outside and wait. The dog does not know what is happening inside the shop, but it stands out front and waits simply because its master has told it to. If it is well trained, it will neither leave nor go into the shop to look for its master and embarrass him.
In the spiritual life things are similar. The true test of faith is not the pursuit but the waiting. You wait because your Lord has told you to wait. And because you are certain that even if you do not know what is happening in the invisible world or why He is delaying, God will surely appear.
In Habakkuk 2:1-3 the prophet shares his experience:
1 I will stand at my watch and station myself on the ramparts; I will look to see what he will say to me, and what answer I am to give to this complaint. 2 Then the Lord replied: “Write down the revelation and make it plain on tablets so that a herald may run with it. 3 For the revelation awaits an appointed time; it speaks of the end and will not prove false. Though it linger, wait for it; it will certainly come and will not delay. (Habakkuk 2:1-3)
God does not always fulfill His promises at the speed we would like Him to. There are moments when He expects us to trust in Him for a long time before He fulfills His words to us. Caleb waited forty-five years for God to fulfill His Word, and it seems he was not the least bit discouraged by that fact.
Let us also not be discouraged. If God has promised something, He will surely fulfill it!
A Dog Is Persistent
When it clamps down hard on something, it will not let go. If a pit bull bites into a rag, you can lift it off the ground and swing it wherever you please, but the pit bull moves right along with the rag and will not release it.
In this we can see an example of persistence and diligence. Look at Caleb. Even after forty-five years he still wanted what God had promised him. For forty-five years he had kept it in his heart, and now the moment had come for him to receive it (Joshua 14:12-14):
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.” (Joshua 14:12)
13 Then Joshua blessed Caleb son of Jephunneh and gave him Hebron as his inheritance. (Joshua 14:13)
14 So Hebron has belonged to Caleb son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite ever since, because he followed the Lord, the God of Israel, wholeheartedly. (Joshua 14:14)
Caleb said to Joshua, “Give me this hill country that the Lord promised me that day!” He wanted what belonged to him. He had set foot on that land forty-five years earlier, and God had promised it to him. With all of this Caleb shows us that we must not be spiritually lazy. We must not be satisfied with anything less than God’s best. In Hebrews 6:11-12 it says:
11 We want each of you to show this same diligence to the very end, so that what you hope for may be fully realized. 12 We do not want you to become lazy, but to imitate those who through faith and patience inherit what has been promised. (Hebrews 6:11-12)
Do not let the devil steal the vision that God has placed in your heart! Hold on to it, no matter what happens!
The Worst Thing That Can Happen to a Dog Is to Lose Contact with Its Master
Then it loses the meaning of its life. It sniffs at everyone it meets… But when it realizes that this is not its master, it grows even more disappointed. This is how Christians feel too when they have lost contact with Jesus. They wander around “sniffing” and asking themselves, “Is this what I am looking for?” But no other master will satisfy them. In Zechariah 1:3 the Lord commands the prophet:
3 Therefore tell the people: This is what the Lord Almighty says: ‘Return to me,’ declares the Lord Almighty, ‘and I will return to you,’ says the Lord Almighty. (Zechariah 1:3)
If you have drifted away from God, then return to Him. He is waiting for you. He wants to be with you. And be certain that nowhere else and in nothing else could you ever find the meaning of your life!
In conclusion, I would like us to ask ourselves the following questions:
- Who is our master?
- What is our vision?
- Do we see ourselves in heaven?
- Do we see our family saved?
- What is our vision for our life?
- Have we understood God’s purpose for our life?
- What are we doing to fulfill the vision that God has given us?
- Are we pursuing it, rejecting it, or perhaps have we forgotten it?
- Are we walking by faith or by sight?
If we want to enter our promised land, we must be people like Caleb — pursuing our vision until we reach it! Amen!