“Now then, just as the Lord promised, he has kept me alive for forty-five years since the time he said this to Moses, while Israel moved about in the wilderness. So here I am today, eighty-five years old! 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. 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.”
Joshua 14:10-12 NIV
The older I get, the more inspiring I find this story of Caleb. At an age that many of us would consider well past retirement age, Caleb was looking to go beat up on giants. Rather than ask for a plush retirement villa in the Caribbean, Caleb asked Joshua to give him the hill country surrounding Hebron. Hebron was a major fortified city, inhabited, at least in part, by giants. Not an easy task for a man one-third of his age. But Caleb was not daunted. The Lord had promised it to him, and he was confident the Lord would deliver it to him.
I realize that along with increased age comes reduced physical abilities. And sometimes that hinders us from functioning as we once did. Not all of us at 85 years old will be physically capable of battling giants. But I don’t believe that either length of service, or declining physical abilities, should be used as an excuse for moving to the sidelines and getting out of the battle. So long as the Lord sees fit to leave us here, he has a purpose for us and wants to use us in the advancement of his kingdom.
What hill country has the Lord placed you in? Always be ready to engage the giants who are there, working to drive them from their strongholds.
