The Fortitude of God’s People

Caleb, whose name means “forcible, fortitude,” was the type of Christian who goes all the way. He was inseparable from Joshua who represented a believer who continually walks with the Lord.

Caleb had been over the Jordan with the spies Moses sent into the land. While there, he was drawn by the Holy Spirit to Hebron, “the place of death.” No doubt with awe, he climbed that hallowed mountain. Abraham and Sarah were buried here, as were Isaac and Jacob. Years later, David’s kingdom would begin there. Caleb prized that consecrated place! From that time on, he wanted Hebron for his possession.

God said, “My servant Caleb, because he has a different spirit in him and has followed me fully, I will bring into the land where he went, and his descendants shall inherit it” (Numbers 14:24, NKJV). Caleb never wavered to the very end. At 85 years of age, Caleb could testify, “As yet I am as strong this day as on the day that Moses sent me; just as my strength was then, so now is my strength for war, both for going out and for coming in” (Joshua 14:11).

At an advanced age, Caleb waged his greatest battle! “ Now therefore, give me this mountain of which the Lord spoke in that day; for you heard in that day how the Anakim were there, and that the cities were great and fortified. It may be that the Lord will be with me, and I shall be able to drive them out as the Lord said” (Joshua 14:12). “Hebron therefore became the inheritance of Caleb…because he wholly followed the Lord” (Joshua 14:14).

We need to grow in the Lord to the end. Keep your spiritual power and strength; do not waver, and “wholly follow the Lord” even in old age! We should have an ever-increasing faith. It was on Hebron that Abraham, the father of faith, had built an altar to sacrifice his son; and it was there that Caleb and his family would live. They would be constantly associated with that altar of living sacrifice.

Caleb’s wholeheartedness for the Lord produced a holy fire for God in his children, and his family grew strong in the Lord!