This morning it was such a sweet joy to be in Joshua 14 and to read the story of 85-year old Caleb. He said to Joshua, "I am as strong now as I was when Moses sent us on that journey, and I can still travel and fight as well as I could then." Oh to be able to say that at 85! Then Caleb added, in Hebrew:
GIVE ME THIS MOUNTAIN!!
His audacity met with this immediate response from Joshua:
"So Joshua blessed him and gave him Hebron as a permanent inheritance because he had followed the Lord God of Israel."
What a magnificent story! Caleb was given some of the most prized territory in the Promised Land -- the hill country of Judea, including the great city of Hebron. The lesson for this 73-year old?
Age gracefully and confidently.
Note well:
- Caleb was not content with settling for anything less than God's best for him.
- He was ready and willing to serve God in his advanced age.
- He faced down formidable giants without fearing them.
- Most importantly, he desired this challenge as a testimony to his faith in his God.
God sometimes grants his servants their greatest success in their final chapter of life. Caleb had retained possession of his mental and physical capacity to old age. And what did he expect of the Lord? A cozy retirement? A pension? An easy chair? No. Caleb sought great things of God because God had promised them to him.
Gladys Burrell ran a marathon at the age of 92.
Teiichi Igarashi climbed Mount Fuji at 100.
Diana Nyard swam from Cuba to Florida at 64.
John Glenn went to space at 77.
Colonel Sanders started KFC at 65.
Peter Roget invented the thesaurus at 73.
Nelson Mandela became president of South Africa at 75.
Christopher Plummer won his Oscar at 82.
My aging friend, we do not honor our God when we ask him for molehills when he is offering us mountains.