Give Me this Mountain (Caleb's Song) ~ Graham Kendrick
But my servant Caleb… He has a different spirit; he
follows me passionately... ~ Numbers 14:24 MSG
Getting older has never bothered me. But this year, I am
suddenly feeling like time is running out, that I'm too old to make my dreams
come true. Wow! That's obviously a deterrent from the enemy who tells us
that beauty and strength are found only among the youthful generations.
While I fully believe in investing in future generations,
I also know that life doesn't end at 40, or even 60, unless we believe it. My
favorite example of strength is Caleb. When Caleb was 85 years old, he
approached Joshua and asked him for the land Moses had promised would be his
inheritance:
"I was forty years old
when Moses…sent me…to explore the land. And I brought him back a report
according to my convictions, but my fellow Israelites who went up with
me made the hearts of the people melt in fear… So on that day Moses swore to
me, ‘The land on which your feet have walked will be your inheritance and that
of your children forever, because you have followed the LORD my God wholeheartedly.’ … So here I am today, eighty-five
years old! … I’m just as vigorous to go out to battle now as I was then.
Now give me this hill country that the LORD promised me that day.
You yourself heard then that the Anakites were there and their cities were
large and fortified, but, the LORD helping me, I will
drive them out just as he said.” Then Joshua blessed Caleb…and gave him
Hebron as his inheritance, (Joshua 14:6-14 NIV).
Did you catch that? Caleb was 40 when Moses sent him to
be one of the spies to check out the Promised Land. At 85, he feels he's as
able to charge into battle as when he was younger. I don't know many
85-year-olds who make those statements, but why not? Why must we approach 40,
60, or even 80 with such dread? Why not live life to the fullest, believing God
will give us the strength to do all that He's called us to, until He plucks us
from the earth and takes us to heaven?
Maybe my later years will be even better than my former
years. Afterall, the enemy wouldn't work so hard to make me afraid of them,
unless he was afraid of what I might to for God.
©Heather Potts 2020
