Forty-five years had passed since Caleb and Joshua had stood alone on the promise of God against the entire Hebrew nation, and watched as everyone they knew turned their backs on them and on the promise.  Now, only Caleb and Joshua remained of their generation, and now lived among a nation of those who were only children on that day. In Joshua 14, Caleb approached Joshua and once again showed us, more than 3,000 years later, what a real man is.  Caleb began by recounting to Joshua how they had received the promise from God through Moses that they would live to inherit the land.  Then, beginning in verse 10, he said:  "And now behold, the Lord has let me live, just as he spoke, these forty-five years, from the time that the Lord spoke this word to Moses, when Israel walked in the wilderness; and now behold, I am eighty-five years old today.  I am still as strong today as I was in the day Moses sent me; as my strength was then, so my strength is now, for war and for going out and coming in.  Now then, give me this hill country about which the Lord spoke on that day."

Caleb went on to mention that the Anakim lived in the hill country.  The Anakim were giants, and caused those who did not trust the Lord to fear (see Deuteronomy 2:15 and 9:2).  But, Caleb was not among those who did not trust the Lord, and neither should we be.  Eighty-five year-old Caleb received his blessing from the other man who had stood with him forty-five years before, and then went out and took the hill country from the Anakites.

Now, Caleb wasn't boasting about his strength, but instead he was acknowledging God's faithfulness.  As we face dark days and persecution, we have to acknowledge God's faithfulness.  The Lord has given us promises, as well.  "To him who overcomes, I will grant to eat of the tree of life, which is in the Paradise of God."  (Revelation 2:7).  "He who overcomes shall not be hurt by the second death."  (Revelation 2:11).  "To him who overcomes, to him I will give some of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone, and an new name written on the stone which no one knows but he who receives it."  (Revelation 2:17).  "He who overcomes, and he who keeps My deeds until the end, to him I will give authority over the nations; and he shall rule them with a rod of iron, as the vessels of the potter are broken to pieces, as I also have received authority from My Father; and I will give him the morning star."  (Revelation 2:26-28).  "He who overcomes shall thus be clothed in white garments; and I will not erase his name from the book of life, and I will confess his name before My Father, and before His angels."  (Revelation 3:5).  "He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God, and he will not go out from it anymore; and I will write upon him the name of My God, and the name of the city of My God, the new Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from My God, and My new name."  (Revelation 3:12).  "He who overcomes, I will grant to him to sit down with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne."  (Revelation 3:21).