This Promise

Reading: Joshua 12-14; 1 Corinthians 7 10 “Now, as you can see, the Lord has kept me alive and well as he promised for all these forty-five years since Moses made this promise—even while Israel wandered in the wilderness. Today I am eighty-five years old. 11 I am as strong now as I was when Moses sent me on that journey, and I can still travel and fight as well as I could then. 12 So give me the hill country that the Lord promised me. You will remember that as scouts we found the descendants of Anak living there in great, walled towns. But if the Lord is with me, I will drive them out of the land, just as the Lord said.” (Joshua 14:10-12 NLT) The Israelites entered the Promised Land following their 40-year wilderness vacation, and had (mostly) faithfully fought the battles to possess their inheritance. Now, after a few years of battles, Joshua and the priests were allocating the land to the tribes. However, pockets of resistance still remained, there were still walled cities to be conquered, and in places, giants remained to be driven out by the people to whom the land was allotted. Eighty-five-year-old Caleb approached Joshua and reminded him that forty-five years earlier they had first walked this land together in faith, that they had been the only two spies to give a good report, and that Moses had promised Caleb the land he had explored. Caleb said, “I heard Moses’ promise to me as God’s promise. Now I’m claiming what was promised me by the Lord. Give me the hill country where the giants live. If the Lord is with me, I’ll drive them out. I believe God’s promise!” This speaks directly to me as I approach my 78th birthday soon. Caleb said:
• I’m basing my claim on what God said to me a long time ago.
• I’ve lived my life for the past fifty-plus years believing what God said.
• I’m still strong in faith, I can still travel, I can still fight the fight of faith.
• Give me what God promised. If God is with me, I’ll take the hill country!

What about you, friends? Is there something God promised you years ago that yet remains unfulfilled? Are you ready to stand and lay claim to God’s promise, and believe that he is able and that he is with you? I offer this prayer for us all…

Prayer: Father, This morning I offer Caleb’s request to Joshua as my prayer for me and my friends. We can feel our age, but we believe your promise that you will abundantly provide, and that the best and most productive years are ahead. So please give us the promised hill country! We stand in faith to lay claim to your good promises. Amen.