“Now, therefore, give me this mountain . . .”

— Joshua 14:12

How would you define the word “hero”? Do you know anyone who fulfills that definition, anyone whom you hold in such high esteem?

Have you ever made an outrageous request of God then stood back in amazement as He granted it? Caleb made such a request in Joshua 14: “Give me this mountain.” At the age of eighty-five, Caleb requested a mountain, hill country filled with pagans. Why would he ask for a hillside full of hostile heathens? Even if he received the land, Caleb would have to face the sons of Anak, a whole family, generation, and tribe of giants who inhabited the hill.

How could Caleb possibly fight the Anakim and win this land? Though he was as strong as he was on the day forty years earlier when Moses sent him and the other spies to scope out the Promised Land, he surely didn’t have the strength to overcome a family of giants twice his size. Caleb’s strength doesn’t fully explain his request. We have to read a bit further in the book of Joshua to find the secret. In Joshua 14:12-13, Caleb says, “Give me this mountain of which the Lord spoke in that day . . . the Lord will be with me, and I shall be able to drive them out as the Lord said”(emphasis mine). Caleb based his life upon his faith and trust in the Lord. He followed the Lord wholeheartedly, and therein lies the great lesson. Out of Caleb’s trust in the Lord came the strength and courage that made this man a hero for God.

Do you have a big request to make of God today? Then follow Caleb’s example. Ask for God to give you what you need according to His will. Never mind the obstacles, but trust in Him to overcome them. Our Lord delights in rewarding those who trust Him.

“Prayer is not overcoming God’s reluctance;
it is laying hold of His highest willingness.”
Richard Chenevix Trench