Give Me The Hill CountryНамуна

We meet the enigmatic figure Caleb, the son of Jephunneh, in Numbers 13 where he is chosen as one of the twelve spies of Israel to go and report on the land of Canaan for Moses, who has only recently led the Hebrew slaves out of Egypt. It was a job for trustworthy, brave men. You don’t send scouts into enemy territory to bring back a strategic report if they are cowards. But out of all twelve men, only Caleb and Joshua, the future successor to Moses, brought back reports that not only accurately described the challenge of what they were facing but reassured the people that in the power of their God they would be triumphant.

It takes a bold spirit to say unpopular things. This crowd wanted to hear that it was going to be easy to walk into their inheritance after generations of slavery in Egypt. Entitled is the word we would use today. Who can blame them? We’d feel like we wanted a break from being crushed under a yoke of labor as well.

And yet sometimes the Lord wants us to keep pushing just a little longer. Sometimes we have to fight, fight some more, and fight some more after that, because it is a proven truth that we come to know God as our provider and defender in a special way after having to rely on Him to deliver us. A warrior’s heart beats faster when he hears from God, “There is your promised land. Now go and fight for it, for I will deliver it to you for the sake of my glory.”

In those hours that the enemy seems fiercest, be even more fiercely dependent on the power of the Lord, who “brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand and outstretched arm, with great terror and with signs and wonders” (Deuteronomy 26:8).