How old is too old?
At 65, most people are planning retirement. At 75, they’re working on their golf game. At 85, they’re happy to find their reading glasses.
At 85, Caleb asked for a mountain.
Caleb’s story starts 45 years earlier. Moses sent twelve spies to scout out the Promised Land. Ten of them came back terrified: “The people are giants! We looked like grasshoppers!”
Only two spies disagreed: Joshua and Caleb. “We should go up and take possession of the land, for we can certainly do it.”
But the people listened to the ten. And because of their unbelief, that entire generation wandered in the wilderness for 40 years, until all of them had died. All except Joshua and Caleb.
God said of him, “My servant Caleb has a different spirit and follows me wholeheartedly.”
Forty-five years later, the Israelites were finally in the Promised Land, and it was time to divide it up. Caleb walked up to Joshua and said, “So here I am today, eighty-five years old! I am still as strong today as the day Moses sent me out… Now give me this hill country.”
And which hill country did he want? The one where the giants lived.
Caleb didn’t ask for the easy property. At 85, he asked for the hardest assignment on the map.
That’s endurance. Endurance isn’t just surviving the wilderness. It’s coming out the other side still believing, still strong, and still ready for a fight.
Caleb took the mountain.
Prayer:
Dear Heavenly Father, thank-you for renewing my strength, day after day and year after year. Thank-you for giving me the endurance of Caleb, so that I will follow You wholeheartedly all the days of my life. Thank-you for the mountains You still have for me. In the name of Jesus, Amen.
Wikipedia: Caleb, Twelve spies, Hebron
Look-It Up:
The story of the twelve spies is told in Numbers 13–14.
But because my servant Caleb has a different spirit and follows me wholeheartedly, I will bring him into the land he went to, and his descendants will inherit it.
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.
but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.
Free Bonus:
The hill country Caleb asked for included the city of Hebron, and he received it as his inheritance (Joshua 14:13-14).
The King James Version renders Caleb’s request as, “Now therefore give me this mountain.” It has inspired many sermons and songs.
Caleb’s partner in the good report was Joshua (see Pray 4 Strength & Courage).