Joshua 14:14 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.
The Way to End Well
I recently met a gray-bearded farmer who had a sharp mind and rough hands. I couldn’t help but wonder how many people half his age could do half of his work. Sometimes we talk about the modern generation, whatever that generation may be, and we fret that they are not up to the tasks ahead. You do not need to be defined by your generation. Caleb was not, and you needn’t be.
When you get to Joshua 14, you read of two elderly men, Joshua and Caleb, who were the last of their generation. The other people of that generation were gone because of their rebellion. Three times in Joshua 14 the Bible says that Caleb “wholly followed” the Lord his God, and God fully supplied Caleb.
Verses 10-11 say, “And now, behold, the LORD hath kept me alive, as he said, these forty and five years, even since the LORD spake this word unto Moses.…As yet I am as strong this day as I was in the day that Moses sent me [to spy out Canaan].” Verse 12 continues, “Now therefore give me this mountain…if so the LORD will be with me, then I shall be able to drive them out, as the LORD said.” Caleb fully followed God, and God fully supplied Caleb. That’s the way it works.
There are three ways that Caleb wholly followed God. The first way Caleb followed God is by action. Caleb acted decades earlier when he went into Canaan to spy it out with eleven other men. Did all twelve obey God’s command? Yes. God gave the command to spy out the land, and that is exactly what they did. Action is a place to start, but it wasn’t the only thing that set Caleb apart.
The second thing is faith. You are not fully following God just because you are taking action any more than the ten spies were fully following God when they spied out the land but came back with a report void of faith in God. Caleb’s report was good because it demonstrated faith. He was depending upon God for what God had said He would do.
The third thing that indicates that Caleb was fully following God is duration. Caleb was a man over 80 year of age who was still doing what God wanted him to do. It is one thing to start well; it is another to finish well.
The point is that the way to end well is to live well every day. Someone has said, “Each day is fresh start to a wise person.” The city that was once a city of giants became the city of Hebron because, with his whole life and heart, Caleb followed God; and you can too.