Whole not half Joshua 11-14

Focusing on Joshua 14:6-15
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No matter what your mom tells you, you know the truth, sharing is not always fun. Which would you rather have? A whole toothbrush, or half of one? Your own car or one you share when your brother is not driving it? A whole steak or half? You get the point, whole is better than half. When it comes to following the Lord our God, it is whole or nothing, God does not go in halfsies with anyone. To give half your heart to a another is to give it the whole thing away, your heart cannot follow two loves that are headed in two different directions at the same time. What would happen? It would tear your heart in two. Which is what happens when we attempt to follow the Lord and the our own desires, our hearts are broken by our own attempts to have the Lord and the world at the same time, it will not work. What will work fantastically though is to follow the Lord your God with your whole heart! (Joshua 14:8,9,14).
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Caleb shows us what this whole hearted obedience looks like. He first appears in Scripture as the spy representative of the tribe of Judah when Moses surveys Canaan. He and Joshua are the only two who return with a good report, the rest of the spies are afraid and, “cause the hearts of their brothers to melt,” (You can read this account here, Numbers 13-14). That was 45 years ago and Caleb tells Joshua that he is still in the best shape of his life at 85 years old. He is still ready to take on the next challenge and go after the land where the giant Anakim had their cities built. Caleb does not retire from serving the Lord, at 85, he feels like he is just getting started! I know at 41, I already find myself hesitating before doing things that in my early 30’s I would not have even questioned. Now, before I even jump up in the back of a pickup to grab something, for example, my mind says, “you know you will have to jump back down right?” Not Caleb, he is ready climb that mountain (Joshua 14:12) and he is not even worried about the climb back down. He is laser like focused on his mission and nothing will turn him to the right or the left. This is what wholly following the Lord looks like.
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The path that led Caleb to the Lord might have something to do with His whole hearted obedience. While he is counted with the tribe of Judah, Caleb is called a Kenizzite both here and other places, Kenaz was not a son of Israel but of Esau (Genesis 36:40-43). At some point Caleb’s family was brought into the tribe of Judah, we are not told when or where this happened only that Caleb could trace his genetic ancestry to Esau but his spiritual heritage is from Judah, the line of kings. I wonder how much this distinction kept Caleb focused on the privilege it is to call oneself a child of God. Where others took their heritage for granted, Caleb never forgot that he was added into Israel. Why else would Joshua point out Caleb’s family except, to draw attention to the fact, that he was different than others who were born into Israel from the start. It feels to me that God is reminding all of us that our obedience is fueled by our awareness of the supreme privilege of being added into the family of God.
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Whole hearted faithfulness to the Lord allowed Caleb and Joshua both to leave a lasting legacy for the generations that came after him. Think of King Saul from the tribe of Benjamin, the same tribe as Joshua and then of course, King David who is the promised king that arouse from Judah. Caleb’s was a strong heritage of passion and bravery in serving the Lord and his children seem to have passed this on. Do you want to leave such a legacy? Listen to Caleb’s testimony, “my brothers made the hearts of the people melt; yet I wholly followed the Lord my God” (Joshua 14:8). He never left the Lord’s service or slowed down, he kept pressing on until his last breath was taken. The same path is open to you, follow it not just for yourself but for your children as well.
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One final note about Caleb’s faith in the Lord. His was a humble faith. Joshua 14:12 records his openness to the Lord fulfilling the promise as He saw fit, “It may be that the Lord will be with me, and I shall drive them out just the Lord said.” Caleb understood that all things come in God’s timing according to His will not ours. This is the same idea at work in James 4:15, when we are told how we ought to approach goals that we believe the Lord wants us to pursue, we are to say, “If the Lord will, we will live and do this or that.” Rather than arrogantly announcing our plans and expecting the Lord to make it so.
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Caleb’s heart was so wholly the Lord’s, that he trusted the Lord’s wisdom in what God gave or did not give. The wholly following heart, is a heart that says, “Lord your will is best, and I will serve you where you lead because you God, know the way home!”
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Let’s follow the Lord all way home today give Him your all not your half.