Hebron.

"Now give me this hill country that the Lord promised me that day."

Those words, like fire and oil in the mouth of all who read them. 

This man, this Caleb son of Jephunneh. 

Imagine your name meaning "wholeheartedly." And when the Lord describes you, He uses that word three times to demonstrate your faithfulness to Him. 

Uncompromising until his last breath, Hebron was personal for him.

Beyond it being what Moses had promised him, Hebron on its own is such a formidable place. It was the very first land purchase that Abraham ever made in Canaan. He bought the cave of Machpela to bury Sarah in. A place of pain, grief and death is marked, generations later, as a covenant promise fulfilled. Now Caleb, the grandson of their faith, was standing on this ground proclaiming that those sons of Anak were nothing more than bread for him. 

And while Joshua has always been the hero of the promise, Caleb has always captivated me. 

I am a firm believer that God always marks the spots of His love story, with Bethlehem being one of them. 

It's an interesting place, Bethlehem. Most know it firstly as the birthplace of the Messiah, but why this city? Why this place? It was foretold by Micah and it was the place of David's ancestral home; but our Jesus, simply put, He is a romantic and I just knew there had to be more hidden roses here.

As one digs a bit deeper into the land records, we discover that Bethlehem was the name of one of Caleb's sons. And in those days, cities were named after their conquerors. And when Caleb took his Hebronian inheritance, the city that son settled in was renamed to Bethlehem. 

Jesus was born in the very territory of the one who famously believed in Him wholeheartedly. 

Marking that very spot of unwavering belief. Jesus was prophesying through place, before He even uttered a word, that all who would believe in Him would be saved.

Oh, Bethlehem-Ephrathah. 

I think so many of us don't understand the courage that it took for Caleb to keep believing. Decades of his life summed up in a few short chapters - this exorbitant faith, this long-suffering, this forty year old victory-in-the-making synopsized in a couple of pages.

And yet in the quiet stillness between each word, the silence between each line, Caleb had miles of desert.

Could I do it? Could you? 

I want so much to believe that I could trace the steps of his faith. But as I put these sandals on and attempt to lace them up, suddenly I am not so sure. 

And when I look around at all that is happening, how creation is undoubtedly crying out for the sons and daughters of God to be revealed...I can't help but think we have been here before. 

I focus my sights on the horizon, that coming dawn, and through these battle-weary eyes all I can make out is, "That looks an awful lot like Hebron."

Staring down the very thing we know God has given us and yet the giants have multiplied in these last forty years. They seem bigger, stronger and if possible, even more fortified. 

And yet, God's instruction hasn't changed. 

Go. Possess. Occupy and don't forget.

Maybe that's why He had to tell Joshua three times to not be afraid. 

It's not that God is disregarding our frailty, our humanness. It's precisely those places we can't that He declares, I can and I AM. But there is this element of savage wholeheartedness that one needs if they are going to be used of the Lord. You don't take giants and hill countries with weapons forged upon indifference. 

I wonder what Caleb would say to us? 

In my own imaginings there are a thousand words I want him to say, but these are the ones I know that he did…

"Now give me this hill country that the Lord promised me that day."

And I suspect, God is patiently waiting on the other side of that with this extravagant promise, 

"As I was with Moses, so too shall I be with you."

And maybe right now, beloved….maybe that’s enough.