I’m going into the new year like #humility. Yes, humility is something that prepares us for more. Read my book, “The Wholeness Action Plan” where I discuss how humbling circumstances prepare us for more. The Bible says the below about humility:
Before destruction, the heart of a man is haughty, And before honor is humility. – Proverbs 18:12
Life, itself, will cause us to walk in humility, but please know that God doesn’t waste any of the things we’ve gone through that has caused greater humility in our lives. God uses it to promote us and give us more. I have to remind myself of this and I was reminded in my quiet time reading and meditating on God’s word.
Caleb, in Joshua 14, recalls the story of himself being a bold young man of the age of 40 with convictions that the Lord would be faithful to his promise of giving Israel the land of Canaan and all the land He’d promised. Because of Caleb’s conviction, he was outnumbered in his belief. He did not judge his belief based on how things appeared but on God’s character.
Caleb had to live with this conviction 45 more years before he had seen it come to pass. Can you imagine being in the minority of believing God in spite of what things look like and for four and a half decades appearing like a fool before others who did not see God’s promise come to pass?
Finally, at the correct time, after the previous generation had died off, as God prophesied in Deuteronomy 1:35-36 saying
“No one from this evil generation shall see the good land I swore to give your ancestors, except Caleb son of Jephunneh. He will see it, and I will give him and his descendants the land he set his feet on because he followed the Lord wholeheartedly. – Deuteronomy 1:35-36
Not even Moses was allowed to enter into the promised land. Caleb and Joshua both had ample opportunity to give up on believing God through 45 years of not yet seeing the promise, losing relatives and mentors, and believing God without physical proof of his promise. However, Caleb and Joshua continued to believe. Caleb has been spoken of on more than one occasion of following God wholeheartedly. Trusting God throughout all of those years and experiencing various losses only humbled Caleb more causing him to realize even more that his one true hope would and could not be anything but the Lord.
Because of his trust in God; it was as if Caleb had lost no time. He shared that his strength at age 85 was just as it was at the age of 40 years old when his faith was first shown in such a public way. God promises in his Word to renew our youth like eagles by satisfying our desires with good things.
Who satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle. – Psalms 103:5
Don’t forget that it’s God’s will to work in us both to will and do of his good pleasure. That includes causing us to desire what He desires for us and trusting him to fulfill it. So, at 85 years old, Caleb was blessed by Joshua and given the land of Hebron, which was formerly called Kadesh-Barnea. The story closes out again sharing how Caleb inherited the land along with his descendants every since because he followed the Lord wholeheartedly. It takes humility to follow the Lord wholeheartedly especially in a culture with those who do not believe and mock at others for their belief. Through it all, Caleb was full of the goodness of God not concerning himself with unbelief. His decision not only caused him to have an inheritance, but his whole family line—through his act of faith, belief, humility, and obedience to following the Lord. What have you been believing God for with strong conviction to bless not only yourself but your whole family line? Are you willing to humble yourself in staying in faith no matter what things look like?
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