You’d Better Not Forget
He was 85 years old, but he had not forgotten. He’d seen these mountains 40 years before. He’d walked this very ground. When he first saw this mountain he knew he wanted it. He knew this was what God wanted for him.
His travelling companions saw this same mountain, but they only thought of the occupants- those massive terrifying giants! Even with God’s promises of victory, they were scared to death. But not this man Caleb. He was ready to conquer this mountain 40 years before, and he was still ready 45 years later. He’d heard from God!
Imagine how Caleb felt when 10 of his companions overruled his faith, and Joshua’s faith, and said it couldn’t be done. Now they were not going into the promised land after all! So while he waited the 40 years for the doubters to be removed, Caleb fought many battles, buried a lot of friends, and lived a long life…but he never forgot.
Sometimes we get so involved in this life we forget where we’ve come from. We forget God’s promises from the past. We forget what we once lived for. We remember being a person long ago that was ready, always ready, to conquer- our cry was, “If God says it I can, I can do it.”
Every Hebrew name has a meaning. The root meaning of Caleb is “dog.” Dogs are faithful animals, man’s best friend. They bond with someone and they stick to that person forever. The name Caleb implies faithfulness, and he lived up to his name.
Caleb stuck with the promises of God, and at 85 he was expecting and believing for God to give him the mountain he had claimed in the Promised Land. Caleb was like the scores of faithful men and women found in Hebrews 11, many of whom continued in faith even though they did not receive their promises. Some died believing for God’s promises. Better to die believing than to live retreating!
It’s never easy to face giants. Caleb’s mountain came with a price tag – to defeat the giants! The giants were still in those mountains. Big boys, real physical giants- nothing symbolic about them. Our problems may seem gigantic, and don’t usually go away. They have to be processed and dealt with. They must be faced.
In Caleb’s heart, it was HIS promised land. I’m sure he had seen easier places, smooth flat land ready for plowing and planting, a land without giants. But that was not what he wanted. He had a vision from long ago and he was not willing to settle for anything less. And so he climbed that mountain, drove out the giants, and settled there with his family. He had won!
You’ll never receive the promises without problems. You know what is said, “No problems, no progress.” No giants, no mountains. Don’t settle for less than God’s best for you – even if it takes years to get there. Fighting for what what is right, for what God has promised you, for what is in your heart- that’s the spirit of Caleb.
Are you 30 or 40 or 60 and still no promise fulfilled? You’d better not forget how you got here and what God has shown you in the past. The one thing that is often missed in obtaining the promises is a very simple truth. You don’t sit and wait. You engage the world, your reality and you do so with vision. “Someday i’m going to get that mountain, but in the mean time I’ll help someone else drive out some Anakites, Jebusites, and whatever other “Ites” there may be, because my time is coming and that mountain will be mine.”
Oh God, give us the spirit of Caleb. Oh God, give us the memory of the man of God. Oh God, restore vision to many who have lost it, given up on it, or gone another direction. Lord, help us not to forget the mountain you promised us.
We will fight for and we will possess our mountain!
