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.” ~ Joshua 14:10-12
Manasseh, Reuben, and Gad had received their inheritance, and now Judah was ready to receive theirs. Caleb, as their spokesman, came to Joshua and reminded him that he didn’t lose faith the first time they scouted the land. And because of this Moses promised him and his people this inheritance.
See, Caleb never forgot his promise. He kept it in his heart for 45 years, waiting for the time to see it come to pass, and surely, it had come. And Joshua blessed him.
So, Caleb, at 85 years old, goes out to into the land God promised him and drives out the Anakim. The three sons of Anak from the land of Hebron. He saw his promise fulfilled because he had enough faith to hold on to it.
He didn’t allow the failure of the past keep him from claiming what God had promised him, because if he had not stood strong and kept his faith in God, God would have raised up another person to take the land of Hebron for the people of Judah, just as he raised up Aaron to fulfill Moses’ call that he refused to do.
Don’t let your past failures keep you from the future God has for you. We all have a past, but that past doesn’t have to dictate who we are or what we can accomplish. Our present, right now, is what matters.
Peace. Love. Go Forth and Shake Off The Past.