An old man's plans

So Moses swore on that day, saying, 'Surely the land where your foot has trodden shall be your inheritance and your children's forever, because you have wholly followed the LORD my God.' And now, behold, the LORD has kept me alive, as He said, these forty-five years, ever since the LORD spoke this word to Moses while Israel wandered in the wilderness; and now, here I am this day, eighty-five years old. As yet I am as strong this day as on the day that Moses sent me; just as my strength was then, so now is my strength for war, both for going out and for coming in. Now therefore, give me this mountain of which the LORD spoke in that day; for you heard in that day how the Anakim were there, and that the cities were great and fortified. It may be that the LORD will be with me, and I shall be able to drive them out as the LORD said." – Joshua 14.9-12

We are not quite done with Caleb yet. The land was being divided up for settlement. Finally we get to Caleb’s family.

He was no longer the young fella who took part in the survey of Canaan. A certain land caught his eye. It was not the nice smooth plain with no opposition. He liked the mountain where the ‘giants’ lived. I am not sure about the story of the giants, but we do know they were a mighty force to be reckoned with. The mountain was not the easy way out.

So here we have Caleb, an 85 year old man, who says he is just as strong as he was 40+ years ago when they started the wilderness journey. He is not willing to take the easy way out. He wants that mountain and he is willing to deal with the giants in the land.

Caleb is a great example for those of us who are starting to get a little long in the tooth. I am still 25 years from 85 but there are times when I have to admit when the easy way out is looking pretty good. There are times when ‘I want that easy chair’ is a lot more appealing than ‘I want that mountain. If God is with my I can handle all the difficulties. Nothing can stop me.

Caleb is a great challenge. As the years go by we need to remember that our time for service in getting shorter and shorter. We don’t have time to loll about in the pasture – we need to go after those mountains.