Conquer it! Wendesday, March 16, 2011

Conquer It!
 
Reading:Joshua 14:10-14, 10 "Now then, just as the LORD promised, he has kept me alive for forty-five years since the time he said this to Moses, while Israel moved about in the desert. So here I am today, eighty-five years old! 11 I am still as strong today as the day Moses sent me out; I'm just as vigorous to go out to battle now as I was then. 12 Now give me this hill country that the LORD promised me that day. You yourself heard then that the Anakites were there and their cities were large and fortified, but, the LORD helping me, I will drive them out just as he said." 13 Then Joshua blessed Caleb son of Jephunneh and gave him Hebron as his inheritance. 14 So Hebron has belonged to Caleb son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite ever since, because he followed the LORD, the God of Israel, wholeheartedly.
 
I can just imagine a white haired Caleb, marching up to Joshua, declaring that he’s been waiting for 45 years to possess the land that God said that He would. And, you talk about valiant. Here’s an 85 year old man who tells Joshua that he’s as young and spry as he was at 40 years old. Notice, he doesn’t tell Joshua that he’d been fighting this long… and he’s going to have someone else go up there and fight those people… because he deserves it… he’s put in his time. Greater still… he could have just settled for a valley or some flat ground to take over. No, sir… he wanted the hill country. If you know a little something about war and battles, hills and mountains are a little harder to take. The key, though, to Caleb acting so valiantly is stated in verse 7, when he told Joshua why he told Moses in the first place that they could defeat the enemy, “I brought him back a report according to my convictions”. He didn’t say, “according to my strength… or wisdom… or experience. At the core of his valor were his convictions. And, because of that conviction in God, he knew he could and would conquer that hill country at 85 years old.
 
Men, what “hill” does God want you to conquer? Is it reclaiming your home for God… is it finally offering forgiveness to someone who doesn’t deserve it.. what is it, men?
 
 
Challenge:Whatever that “hill” is today, conquer it with conviction!
 
REVIEW
 
How did you conquer your “hill” today?
 
 
How did you experience victory and how did it affect you?