Pathway of love - Caleb confidence and care

GOD ALLOWS A MOSES GENERATION TO SPY OUT THE LAND

Numbers 13:28 The only thing is that the people who live there are fierce, their cities are huge and well fortified (Hebron). Worse yet, we even saw descendants of the Nephilim giants (the Anakim giants come from the Nephilim). Alongside them we felt like grasshoppers. And they looked down on us as if we were grasshoppers … Caleb interrupted, called for silence before Moses and said, "Let's go up and take the land-- now. We can do it.

GOD ADDRESSES THE MOSES GENERATION

Numbers 14:30 Except for Caleb the son of Jephunneh and Joshua the son of Nun, you shall by no means enter the land, which I swore I would make you dwell in. But your children, whom you said would be victims, I will bring in, and they shall know the land that you have despised.

GOD SENDS THE JOSHUA GENERATION INTO THE LAND

Joshua 14:6 The people of Judah came to Joshua at Gilgal. Caleb son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite spoke: "You'll remember what God said to Moses the man of God concerning you and me back at Kadesh Barnea. I was forty years old when Moses the servant of God sent me from Kadesh Barnea to spy out the land. And I brought back an honest and accurate report. My companions who went with me discouraged the people, but I stuck to my guns, totally with God, my God. That was the day that Moses solemnly promised, 'The land on which your feet have walked will be your inheritance, you and your children's, forever. Yes, you have lived totally for God.' Now look at me: God has kept me alive, as he promised. It is now forty- five years since God spoke this word to Moses, years in which Israel wandered in the wilderness. And here I am today, eighty- five years old! I'm as strong as I was the day Moses sent me out. I'm as strong as ever in battle, whether coming or going. So give me this mountain that God promised me. You yourself heard the report, that the Anakim giants were there with their great fortress cities. If God goes with me, I will drive them out, just as God said."Joshua blessed him. He gave Hebron to Caleb son of Jephunneh as an inheritance. Hebron belongs to Caleb son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite still today, because he gave himself totally to God, the God of Israel. The name of Hebron used to be Kiriath Arba, named after Arba, the greatest man among the Anakim giants.

And the land had rest from war.

Hebron was the city in the valley of Eschol where Joshua and Caleb brought back the huge branch full of grapes so big that it needed the two of them to carry it. The word ‘Hebron’ means to include and join together. Hebron was the home of Abraham where the three angels appeared to he and Sarah. It was where Sarah was buried, and the wives of Isaac and Jacob. It was the royal residence of David where he was anointed king.

There was a move of God’s Spirit forty years ago and there is a move of God’s Spirit touching another generation today, a Joshua generation. These are people in their forties down to people in the twenties and below, the so called X generation and Y generation, along with millennials. Here is the same Spirit of God but with a different expression from the one forty years ago with a previous generation – Less about denominational differences and fine points of doctrinal debate. It is more about faith that works by love and grace. It is more devotional, more diverse, more inclusive, and less judgmental. Walls of partition and separation are vanishing globally… 

The Caleb generation has seen the fruit. They have tasted it and had faith to defeat giants. They still want that mountain. They are not just about survival. The Caleb generation can go back in and recover a fruitful Hebron – the place of inclusion and joining together with a fresh generation that has suffered through a world of chaos and confusion. The Caleb generation can pray and encourage them through. They have different challenges, different giants. We can do it together.The Caleb generation can take on spiritual giants over our cities and regions with confidence and courage and without fuss – like David took on Goliath, also a Nephilim giant, but he knew God was with him and for him.