“And Caleb said, ‘You know the word which the Lord said to Moses the man of God concerning you and me in Kadesh Barnea.’”   Josh 14:6

Caleb understood a hugely important principle in fulfilling God’s purpose for his life:  cherish the word of the Lord to you and hang on to it through thick and thin.
How much should we cherish the word of God to us?  How about waiting 45 years for its fulfillment?  You might not even be 45 years old!  The fact that he had to wait all those years had not diminished the promise of God in Caleb’s mind.  If God promised it, He would do it.  If He had spoken it, the Word would come to pass.
Beloved, we cannot look with wonder upon those who seem to live according to a greater purpose and passion, as though they just got a better deal. They just lived by the right principles and frankly, they seized the opportunities and challenges before them.  They were tenacious, refusing to forget, be sidetracked, or distracted.
And it is not just that he would not let go of this promise either.  It was planted SO DEEP that even age, the fact that he was 85 at the time, did not slow him down or deter him from seeing the word of the the Lord come to pass. The word quickened him, emboldened him, and with it came the anointing to accomplish it.   The enemy who stood in the way or Caleb receiving his promise was formidable, and had been entrenched in those strongholds for hundreds of years.
But Caleb would not be denied. In the end, Caleb took the mountain that became the inheritance of his family for generations. In doing so he claimed Hebron, the site of the burial of some of the patriarchs.  He changed the name from Kirjath Arba, named after the greatest giant to have lived, greater even than Goliath, to Hebron, which means to unite or to join.  His obedience opened the doors of blessing and opportunity for many. Indeed, the naming of Hebron proved prophetic. Nearly 400 years later, Hebron was the very site where all the scattered tribes of Israel were united under one ruler, David, declaring “we are your bone and your flesh” (2 Sam 5:1).
Our text ends with the words, “Then the land had rest from war”  v. 14:15  Caleb’s persistence and patience paid off. As such, he becomes an example and inspiration to us all, to cherish and hold on to your promise! God will be faithful to release it to you, at just the right time.