August 14 -- "The Blessing of Wholehearted Faith"

 Today’s Reading: Joshua 14

"The Blessing of Wholehearted Faith"

Caleb the son of Jephunneh was one of the twelve Israelite spies that Moses had sent into Canaan to investigate the land and gather intelligence about their potential enemies.  When the spies returned, only two of the twelve came back with a faith-filled glowing report about victory.  The other ten brought back fear and dread.  One of the two men of faith was Caleb. 

After receiving his positive intelligence report, Moses - led by God - made a promise to Caleb, "Look Caleb, when we take the land, you can have that territory that you spied out. That's yours."  Because of his faith and because he wholly followed the Lord, he was given a special promise from God. 

It is now forty-plus years later and Caleb remembers this promise. So Caleb came to Joshua, and he said, "Hey Josh, remember when you and I spied out the land, when we came back and gave our report to Moses, and Moses promised me that I could have for my family, the territory that we spied out? Now look I'm eighty-five years old, but I'm just as strong as the day that we spied out the land.  I want your permission now to go down and take that land that was promised to me.”

I love the grit of this old fellow. Eighty-five years old, he says, "Man, I'm ready to go to battle. I'm ready to take that land that God had promised to me, that Moses promised that I could have. I want your permission now to go down and take it." So Joshua gave Caleb the permission to go down the area of Hebron, and those areas around Hebron, the areas that were promised to him. So Caleb went down and conquered that area around Hebron.  Afterwards, Joshua blessed Caleb by granting him title to the land he was promised.

Verse 14 tells us the reason that Caleb received this special allotment of land: because he wholly followed the LORD, the God of Israel.  Caleb was tenacious in his faith and his obedience to the Lord.  He was never half-hearted or lukewarm in his faith.  He “wholly” followed his God.  And the reward for his wholehearted faith was that God kept the promise he had made years earlier.

How’s your faith today?  Is it half-hearted or lukewarm?  Are you bringing back reports of fear and dread?  If so, it’s never too late to turn back to the Lord and to begin following Him with your whole heart.  God promises a special blessing to those who wholly follow Him.