“I am still as strong today as the day Moses sent me out; I’m just as vigorous to go out to battle now as I was then.” Josh 14:11 (NIV)
STRENGTH SERIES – PART 2
Caleb was 85 years old when he made this statement. It had been 45 years since he, Joshua and ten others were sent into Canaan as spies in order to bring back a report on how to invade it. Out of the 12 sent, Caleb and Joshua were the only two who believed they could possess the land. The other 10 were overcome by fear due to the obstacles they came across. So the children of Israel wandered the wilderness for forty years, and through all that time Joshua and Caleb held within their hearts the hope that their promise would one day be fulfilled. “The land on which your feet have walked will be your inheritance and that of your children forever…” (Josh 14:9).
For over 45 years Caleb kept hope alive. He exercised it, dreamt about it, fought for it in his mind and heart in the seasons of lack and the brief moments of plenty. He didn’t lie in a defeated heap, but kept on pursuing the promise. He kept his strength up.
In Joshua 14:10 Caleb says to Joshua “Now then, just as the Lord promised, he has kept me alive for forty-five years since the time he said this to Moses.”
Caleb focused the strength that he had in his arms, mind and heart onto God. He did exactly what the command in Deut 6:5 said “Love God with all your heart, mind and strength.” It wasn’t a case of ‘weak defenceless Caleb who was kept alive and strong only by the very grace of God.’
No. Caleb was a man of courage and tenacity. He gave all that he was and all that he had built within himself to God. Caleb’s strength mixed with Gods power kept him on track, even unbelievably so, to receive the promise.
What are you hoping for? Any promises yet to be fulfilled? Keep your strength up. Feed it hope. Feed it dreams and visions of tomorrow. And more than anything, let the strength of God undergird and empower your own capacity to keep on going. Hold onto hope with a strong and determined grip so that when the day comes when your promise is fulfilled you can say “I am strong enough to take my mountain.”