Bible Pathways - Mar. 18, 2009
March 18
Highlights In Today's Reading:
Caleb gets his mountain (14:6-12). Note his age! As the tribes receive their inheritance notice how precise the boundries are laid out. Can you believe the enemies of God are still determined to force them out of their promised land?
Because of Caleb's faithfulness, God granted him his request for the city and suburbs of Hebron. Although he had to wait 45 years (14:10) before he could inherit his promised territory (Num. 14:24), we find no record that he found fault with God or the people.
At the age of 85 (Josh. 14:10), in childlike faith, Caleb said: Give me this mountain, whereof the Lord spake in that day . . . if so be the Lord will be with me, then I shall be able to drive them out, as the Lord said (14:12).
Hebron therefore became the inheritance of Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenezite unto this day, because that he wholly followed the Lord God of Israel (14:14). How obvious was the secret of his greatness!
About 38 years before this, the children of Israel were at the border of Canaan two years after their miraculous deliverance from Egypt. At that time Moses sent 12 men to spy out the land where they all saw giants. Ten of the spies compared the giants to their own weakness, saying: We saw the giants . . . and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers. . . . And all the children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron: and the whole congregation said unto them, Would God that we had died in the land of Egypt! or would God we had died in this wilderness (Num. 13:33; 14:2). But Caleb and Joshua compared the giants to the power of God: And they spake unto all the company of the children of Israel, saying. . . . He will bring us into this land, And give it to us; a land which floweth with milk and honey. Only rebel not ye against the Lord, neither fear ye the people of the land . . . their defence is departed from them, and the Lord is with us: fear them not (14:7-9).
Great men of God seldom possess great talents but, in faith in God and His Word, they do all they can. Some today, like the unbelieving spies, complain and give up when their circumstances look difficult. But God always honors the faith of those who believe in Him and His all-sufficient power.
God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work (II Cor. 9:8).
Thought for Today:
A person is successful when he learns to rely on the Word of God and not on his own abilities.
Christ Portrayed:
By Caleb, who wholly followed the Lord (Josh. 14:8,14). Our Savior said: Lo, I come . . . to do Thy will, O God (Heb. 10:7,9).
Word Studies:
14:4 save =except; suburbs =pasture lands; 14:7 espy out =make a search; 14:8 wholly followed =obeyed wholeheartedly; 14:9 sware =promised under oath; 14:12 fenced =fortified; 14:15 rest =enjoyed peace; 15:6 stone =boundary marker; 15:10 compassed =curved; 15:19 nether =lower; 16:1 fell =went; 16:3 goings out thereof =borders reach to; 16:10 under tribute =as forced laborers.
Prayer Needs:
Pray for Radio Sri Lanka Shortwave Broadcasts to Afghanistan sponsored by Karen J. Staege • Staff: Gina Lesnefsky • Government Official: Rep. Howard Coble (NC) • Country: Dominica (65,000) in the British West Indies • Major languages: English and French patois • Religious freedom • 75% Roman Catholic; 12% Protestant • Prayer Suggestion: Ask that God's will be done in your life (Luke 22:42).
Optional Reading: John 9
Memory Verse for the Week: Matthew 5:16
