A mountain is lovely to see, and it’s fun to climb. It can be enjoyable to live on one too, if it’s not so high that it’s above the timberline where trees and other green things will not grow. A very high mountain is also not very good for older people who grow tired of climbing or people who have difficulty breathing the high mountain air that has less oxygen.
It was a man named Caleb who said, “Give me this mountain” (Joshua 14:12). He was 85 years old, but he was as strong as he was 45 years earlier when he was not afraid of anything.
Not afraid of anything? Yes, and do you know why? Because he trusted God. If God said, “Go,” he went! Nothing can stop God’s plans, and if Caleb followed what God told him to do, he knew victory was ahead!
This is still true. There’s a song with words that say, “My sins were as high as a mountain.” If Jesus really wants you and me with Him in heaven, nothing can stop Him, not even the mountain of my sins or your sins that can never be allowed in heaven. This is what Jesus did for me: He took my awful load of sins on Himself and paid the penalty for them when He suffered on the cross. And this is what He told me: “[Your] sins and [your] iniquities will I remember no more” (Hebrews 8:12). They are gone forever! He won that victory for me, and He invites me to follow Him. Did He pay the penalty for your sins too? Yes, He did, if you confess to Him that you are a sinner and are sorry for your sins and want to be washed clean from every hell-deserving sin. Will you do that?
Even when Caleb was an old man, his muscles and his eyesight were like he was still a young man. I wonder if you know that this can be true of you too, if the Lord Jesus is the One you are following. You can see Him by faith, even without glasses or without any eyesight at all. And you can be strong in faith, giving glory to God, even if you are unable to walk.
“Give me this mountain,” said Caleb. He knew giants were living on that mountain—big, strong men who would not give up that mountain without a fight. But a whole army of giants can’t stand in the way of someone who is following God. God had given that mountain to Caleb, and he drove the giants out by the strength of God. Nothing can stop God’s promises.
Neither can many, many, many past sins stand in the way of Jesus’ promises to save you. “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners” (1 Timothy 1:15). If you are trusting God’s Word, not all the devil’s clever lies can turn God’s promises into nothing.
Yes, Caleb got his mountain, and he lived there and all his family. And if his children trusted the same God as their father did, they were on the winning side too. Are you?
Caleb had been through a long, weary, desert journey before he got his mountain. For 40 years, all he could see was desert sand and desert storms. But God gave all the children of Israel a daily supply of food and water when they needed it, including sturdy, wear-ever clothes. But Caleb was not a complainer. He knew God had something better ahead for him.
We Christians do too. We are on the way home to heaven where Jesus lives. Are you coming too?
You may read this story for yourself in Joshua 14:6-14.
MEMORY VERSE: “Their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more.” Hebrews 8:12
ML-11/16/2014