A recent devotional from our CG talked about facing your giants. Despite having experienced God's deliverance from Egypt and crossing the Red Sea, the Israelites still turned their backs on God. They saw themselves as grasshoppers and the giants as intimidating. But what they didn't know was the giants were afraid of them because they had heard what the Lord had done for them. Only Caleb and Joshua saw the giants as 'bread for us to eat'. As a result they entered the promised land.
When we are faced with giants in our lives, do we retreat into defeat? Pastor Prince challenged us to see our giants as bread that will make us stronger. Instead of running away in fear, we must face our giants head-on. Indeed only the Word of God can drive out all fear and timidity and give me the same spirit of faith as Joshua. It changed the way I see myself, not as a tiny grasshopper (which I saw myself before) but a giant-killer. It was only recently I realised that I am much stronger than my giant and there is no reason to be scared or retreat. After God caused me to overcome this last giant, I realised that it has become bread for me to eat and made me even stronger!
Last May, God said I had dwelt on the mountain for too long and I had to move on. Yet it was only last June that I started seeing evidences of the transition. It was then that the Lord impressed upon me crossing the Red Sea and Jordan, facing my giants. It was time to possess my promised land. So since last July I have began my conquest of the promised land like Joshua. But it was only recently that I was impressed upon claiming Hebron, like Caleb.
The reason why the account of Caleb taking Hebron is given later is because it relates to Caleb's claim on the hill country around Hebron, rather than to the conquest of the land. We know in our own personal spiritual battles, that sometimes ground that we conquered early in our Christian lives is lost because we failed to occupy it fully, and must be re-won. The battle is not over until we have fully occupied the ground. The promise has already been given years ago so the conquest was much earlier but the manifestation has yet to come to pass. So now is the time for us to occupy this ground, to possess this inheritance fully. Spiritual victory came years ago but now is the time for physical victory to manifest.
Why Hebron? Caleb wanted Hebron because there were the Anakite giants that had so terrified his fellow scouts 40 years ago. "We looked like grasshoppers in their eyes," they whimpered. "Bring them on," says Caleb. "They're no match for the LORD!" Forty-five years before he had counseled, "Their protection is gone, but the LORD is with us" (Numbers 14:9). Now he had a chance to prove it as leader of "the men of Judah" (Judges 1:10). The giants represent the enemies of Conquest, and Caleb is ready for them.
It just occurred to me that Giloh, one of the cities of Judah, was possibly located in the Central Hebron hills, the inheritance of Caleb who belonged to the tribe of Judah. The Hebrew's concordance for our new car plate number, was Giloh. And it said 'he who rejoices, he who overcomes'. At that time I still wasn't quite sure why God would want to draw my attention to this city. Except maybe to tell me to praise Him because this city was in Judah. Now on hindsight, I recognised that He has indeed caused me to overcome the last giant, the Anakites who lodged in Hebron. That was symbolic because it was the very giant that caused me to run away from crossing my Jordan in July 2012. Oh how it all makes sense to me now!
Certainly Caleb cherished a forty-five-year-old ambition to defeat the Anakite giants. He had something to prove. He had a score to settle with them. Was this ambition of God? I believe so. Caleb, too, had developed a bold faith, but when he is bragging, he is bragging on God, and exalting God, not himself. He is so identified with God's cause that his ego is subsumed in God's. Of course, we need to examine our hearts to detect any self-exaltation we see there. But our boldness can and should be in the LORD. Jeremiah 9:24 was impressed upon me before in 2012. Let him who boasts boast in the Lord, that he understands and knows Me. Recently I just realised that I have been talking about boasting in the Lord's blessing than before.
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