Wholly Follow the Lord

When we think about what it means to be a Christian, what do we think about? Do we think about praying before meals? Do we think about reading our Bible? Do we think about not saying certain words, or eating certain foods, or drinking certain drinks, or all the things that we aren’t supposed to do? Do we think about all of the things we are supposed to do?

In many ways, we as people like to segregate our time, our money, our relationships into neat little boxes. These are my, basketball friends, these are my co-workers, this is my family. However, there is one part of life that we have to be careful not to separate from the rest of our lives, and that is how we follow God. We are to be wholly His. But what does it mean to wholly follow God? That is what we will be looking at today. So if you want to open your Bibles up, we will be looking at Joshua 14:6-14, but before we do that, I would just like to pray for our study.

Joshua 14:6–15

Caleb’s Request and Inheritance

[6] Then the people of Judah came to Joshua at Gilgal. And Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite said to him, “You know what the LORD said to Moses the man of God in Kadesh-barnea concerning you and me. [7] I was forty years old when Moses the servant of the LORD sent me from Kadesh-barnea to spy out the land, and I brought him word again as it was in my heart. [8] But my brothers who went up with me made the heart of the people melt; yet I wholly followed the LORD my God. [9] And Moses swore on that day, saying, ‘Surely the land on which your foot has trodden shall be an inheritance for you and your children forever, because you have wholly followed the LORD my God.’ [10] And now, behold, the LORD has kept me alive, just as he said, these forty-five years since the time that the LORD spoke this word to Moses, while Israel walked in the wilderness. And now, behold, I am this day eighty-five years old. [11] I am still as strong today as I was in the day that Moses sent me; my strength now is as my strength was then, for war and for going and coming. [12] So now give me this hill country of which the LORD spoke on that day, for you heard on that day how the Anakim were there, with great fortified cities. It may be that the LORD will be with me, and I shall drive them out just as the LORD said.”

[13] Then Joshua blessed him, and he gave Hebron to Caleb the son of Jephunneh for an inheritance. [14] Therefore Hebron became the inheritance of Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite to this day, because he wholly followed the LORD, the God of Israel. [15] Now the name of Hebron formerly was Kiriath-arba. (Arba was the greatest man among the Anakim.) And the land had rest from war. (ESV)

Wholly Follow the Lord, Even When Others Do Not

The first thing that I think that we can see and learn from these verses is that we need to wholly follow the Lord, even when others do not. In verse 8 of chapter 14 we are reminded of the story of the 12 men who went to spy on Canaan. I don’t know how many of you know that song “12 men went to spy on Canaan, 10 were bad and 2 were good”. That one is a favorite for my boys. But, if you remember the story, 12 men are selected to spy on Caanan. Something we should probably take note of is that these are men. We know that Caleb was 40 years old at this point. These are not boys, children, teenagers, they are not people that should be naive or easily fooled. They are also people who have grown and spent time in the presence of God. They have seen His miracles getting them out of Egypt and sustaining them in their journey. These are not just any adults either. These are specially selected men from each tribe of Israel. They are not just specially selected from those tribes as good people to select, but these men are the leaders of their clans. These 12 men are the leaders of the clans for the nation of Israel. And yet, 10 of them said, “No, there are huge people in that land, they are too scary, we can’t do it, we can’t take the land.” But there were two leaders that objected to this claim. Those two men were Joshua and Caleb. Joshua is now the leader of the Israelites, but Caleb is speaking for the clan of Judah, the same clan that he had been leading when he went to spy out the land 45 years previous. If we go back to Numbers 14 we see that the other leaders of their tribes were killed by a “plague before the Lord” because they stirred up the people of Israel against God. Here and Caleb reminds Joshua that he was there and he also wholly followed the “Lord his(my) God” in this instance, even though all others around him “melted”. I like that word “melted” it really makes you think of how weak they were, they just melted away. However, it was because Caleb “wholly followed the Lord” that this land was actually promised to him by Moses (If we read in Numbers 14 we see that the Lord actually makes this promise about Caleb).

Have you ever been alone in following God? It isn’t always easy.

If we follow God, we will face adversity. We might do it alone. The world around us is “melting” before the objections of “tolerance” and “political correctness” and “you can be, say, do, anything and everything that you want”. We will come into opposition with people because of our beliefs and we need to be like Caleb who wholly followed the Lord, even when others did not.

When I look at the world around me, I think of Jeremiah. Jeremiah had to be a prophet to a time in Irael’s history when they did not listen to anything the Lord told them. They were wicked and idolatrous and they were so evil that they were about to be taken captive as punishment for their wicked ways. Jeremiah knew what it was like to be alone in following the Lord.

Jeremiah 26:1–8

Jeremiah Threatened with Death

[1] In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, this word came from the LORD: [2] “Thus says the LORD: Stand in the court of the LORD’s house, and speak to all the cities of Judah that come to worship in the house of the LORD all the words that I command you to speak to them; do not hold back a word. [3] It may be they will listen, and every one turn from his evil way, that I may relent of the disaster that I intend to do to them because of their evil deeds. [4] You shall say to them, ‘Thus says the LORD: If you will not listen to me, to walk in my law that I have set before you, [5] and to listen to the words of my servants the prophets whom I send to you urgently, though you have not listened, [6] then I will make this house like Shiloh, and I will make this city a curse for all the nations of the earth.’”

[7] The priests and the prophets and all the people heard Jeremiah speaking these words in the house of the LORD. [8] And when Jeremiah had finished speaking all that the LORD had commanded him to speak to all the people, then the priests and the prophets and all the people laid hold of him, saying, “You shall die! (ESV)

Now, I have had people fall asleep or dislike things that I have said, but no one has ever laid hands on me and told me that they were going to kill me. That is following God even when others really do not.

Wholly Follow the Lord, He Will Give You Strength

When we wholly follow the Lord, sometimes we will have to do it alone. However, He will with us and give us strength.

Joshua 14:10-11

[10] And now, behold, the LORD has kept me alive, just as he said, these forty-five years since the time that the LORD spoke this word to Moses, while Israel walked in the wilderness. And now, behold, I am this day eighty-five years old. [11] I am still as strong today as I was in the day that Moses sent me; my strength now is as my strength was then, for war and for going and coming.

Forty-five years. That is a long time to wait to realise a promise. Sometimes I tell Cody that I will do something later in the same day and he will find it hard to wait that long. Here we see that Caleb waits 45 years to realise the promise of God. We see many people in the Bible who wait a long time to realise the promises of God. We see the example of Abraham and how long he waited for the promised birth of Isaac. We see Israel waiting on the Messiah for hundreds of years. We personally probably know people who have waited their entire lives to see the Lord’s second coming and who have died waiting. I don’t think any of us have that much patience built into us. That in itself, must be divine. However, I think that it is amazing to see that after 45 years that Caleb can say:

“I am this day eighty-five years old. [11] I am still as strong today as I was in the day that Moses sent me; my strength now is as my strength was then,” Joshua 14:10b-11a

At 85 he says that he is still as strong as at 45! While this may be some bluster, I believe that Caleb surely was a fit and healthy man to be, “ready for war”, as he said. This was an 85 year old man who was ready to carry out the will of God to take over this country. This was land that was still inhabited. There would me more than a little bit of opposition to the conquering of this land, but God gave Caleb the strength that was needed.

Caleb trusted that God would give him strength. Let’s look at verse 12.

_Joshua 14:12__

[12] So now give me this hill country of which the LORD spoke on that day, for you heard on that day how the Anakim were there, with great fortified cities. It may be that the LORD will be with me, and I shall drive them out just as the LORD said.”

Caleb not only knows that he has strength and that God has preserved him, but he expects that the Lord’s will is going to be accomplished, and possibly through the Lord working through him. The wording here is not demanding. I love Caleb’s heart here. He doesn’t claim the promise that God gave, but he humbly states that it may be that the Lord will be with him. And if that is the Lord’s will, I think Caleb will be ready for it.

Are you strong? We see that Caleb is strong in these verses, but it would be foolish of us to see this as strength emanating from within Caleb himself. This strength comes from God. Our personal strength is not enough. We are, compared to God, exceptionally weak. It is through our personal weakness that God is seen to be strong. When we look at what Caleb encountered when he was sent out as a spy, the other men said:

Numbers 13:30–33

[30] But Caleb quieted the people before Moses and said, “Let us go up at once and occupy it, for we are well able to overcome it.” [31] Then the men who had gone up with him said, “We are not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we are.” [32] So they brought to the people of Israel a bad report of the land that they had spied out, saying, “The land, through which we have gone to spy it out, is a land that devours its inhabitants, and all the people that we saw in it are of great height. [33] And there we saw the Nephilim (the sons of Anak, who come from the Nephilim), and we seemed to ourselves like grasshoppers, and so we seemed to them.” (ESV)

Caleb understood that even though the odds were stacked against them, even though they were weak comparatively, even though they were small compared to the occupying force that they were “well able to overcome it” because he knew that his strength didn’t come through the strength of the army, but the power of the Lord that was behind them.

Weakness is the Way by J. I. Packer from Crossway on Vimeo.

I love the quote used in that video from:

2 Corinthians 12:9–10

[9] But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. [10] For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong. (ESV)

The power of Christ rests on him! Wow! The power of Christ. How can we not go up against giants, or any other thing that would oppose us. When we are weak, then we are strong.

Wholly Follow the Lord, and You Will Inherit

If we wholly follow the Lord, He will give us strength and through that working of God, we will inherit His promises.

Joshua 14:14

[14] Therefore Hebron became the inheritance of Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite to this day, because he wholly followed the LORD, the God of Israel.

Because Caleb wholly followed the Lord, the God of Israel he was able to stand in direct opposition of those who stood against God. Because he wholly followed the Lord, he was given strength to complete his tasks. Because Caleb wholly followed the Lord, he inherited the promised blessing.

Do we wholly follow the Lord? We know His will, he has put it here in His book. Do we stand when others oppose us? Do we rely on and depend on the strength that God has given us? Do we come prepared to have God use us for something hard? Caleb was ready at 85 years old to go to war. Are we ready for war? The spiritual war we are fighting is no less deadly, no less painful, no less important – in fact it is even more important! If we wholly follow the Lord not only will we inherit His promise, but anyone we can bring along the way will inherit His promise. So my challenge for myself and for all of you is this.

Wholly follow the Lord, the God if Israel.