«　WEEK 11　DAY 5　»

　　Josh. 14:8 However my brothers who went up with me made the people's heart melt, but I fully followed Jehovah my God.

　　14 Therefore Hebron has become the inheritance of Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite to this day because he fully followed Jehovah the God of Israel.

　　We must be resolute and determined in our will to stand with the Lord, just as Caleb and Joshua fully followed God (Num. 14:6-9, 24; Deut. 1:36; Josh. 14:14). Caleb fully followed God because he knew that God wanted the children of Israel to enter into the good land. He also knew that no matter how strong their enemies were, God would fight for them. Since God wanted them to enter the good land, He would accomplish everything for them. Caleb seemed to say, "If we know that we are weak, God knows that we are weak. If we know that the seven Canaanite tribes are strong, God also knows that they are strong. Since God knows these things, He would not ask us to enter the land of Canaan unless He intends to fight on our behalf and destroy our enemies." (The Sufficiency, Pursuit, and Learning of the Lord's Serving Ones, p. 102)

　　The inhabitants of the land were admittedly "men of great size," but in Caleb's eyes, they were food for God's people. He not only honored God's promises; he despised all the difficulties. Everyone who has genuine faith honors God and lightly esteems all difficulties. But this leaves no room for pride, for only those who humble themselves before God will be able to stand upon His victory.

　　Every time you meet a difficulty, every time you find yourself in an impossible situation, ask yourself this question: Am I going to starve here, or am I going to eat? If you are relying on the Lord for victory and allow His overcoming life to be manifested in you, you will find fresh nourishment and increased vitality, and you will be fed once again. Bear in mind that people who do not eat well cannot grow into maturity. Our bread is not only the word of God; our meat is not only to do His will; our bread is also the Anakim—the difficulties that are in our way. Many people take the word of God as their bread and the doing of His will as their meat, but they have not eaten the Anakim. Many eat too little of the Anakim. The more we eat the Anakim, the stronger we will become. Caleb is a grand illustration of this. Because he accepted the Anakim as "bread," he was still full of vitality at the age of eighty-five. His strength was the same at eighty-five as it was at forty. So many Anakim had been assimilated by him over the years that he had developed a constitution which showed no trace of age. This is also true in the spiritual realm. Some brothers and sisters have met few difficulties, but it is obvious that there are many weaknesses in their lives. They are weak before the Lord because they have not consumed enough Anakim. However, there are those who have met and overcome difficulty after difficulty, temptation after temptation; they are full of vigor because they have fed well on Anakim. We have to eat our difficulties and our temptation. Every difficulty and every temptation Satan puts in our way is food for us. This is a God-appointed means of spiritual progress. The sight of any trouble strikes terror into the heart of those who do not have faith, but those who trust Him say, "Here comes my food!" Praise and thank the Lord, all our trials, without exception, are bread for us. Every trial brings in growth after we have eaten of it. As we accept one trial after another, we are more and more richly nourished. (CWWN, vol. 37, "God's Keeping Power," pp. 15-16)

　　If we do not engage in the battle, we will be hungry. Daily manna is not good enough; we must take and swallow up the enemy. The enemy will be our food, and to swallow him will be our satisfaction. Brothers and sisters, you and I must have living faith to go on, to take up the battle, and to swallow the enemy....The defeated enemy is the best bread, the most tasteful bread. (The All-inclusive Christ, p. 157)

　　Further Reading: CWWN, vol. 37, ch. 3; CWWL, 1989, vol. 3, "The Experience and Growth in Life," ch. 6