Joshua 14:11
"I am still as strong today as I was in the day that Moses sent me; my strength now is as my strength was then"
One of my favorite characters in all of Scripture is a man named Caleb. When he was forty years old, Moses sent him along with eleven others to check out the Promised Land. While ten of the spies convinced Israel that the land was unconquerable, Caleb, along with Joshua, said, “We should go up and take possession of the land, for we can certainly do it” (Numbers 13:30). The fearful, faithless generation died in the desert. Only Joshua and Caleb stepped foot on Canaan soil four decades later, and this now 85 year old man was as strong and vigorous and visionary as ever. But Caleb’s strong body is not what impresses me; it’s his heart.
The word Scripture uses to describe this choice servant is “wholehearted” (Joshua 14:8, 9, 14). He was a man whose heart was ignited with a passion to follow hard after God…until God called him home. He was sold out to the Lord!
We are in desperate need of more wholehearted servants like Caleb today. We need men and women (and young people!) who are not sliding for home, but rather are using all their gifts and resources to serve God until he calls them home. We need to not tire of doing what God has called us to, or feel like we have done enough or done our share and so we can now stop and take a break. Caleb was 85 years old and wanted to keep doing all he could to serve God.
Father God, give us physical strength in order to serve you. Never let us retire from your service, but rather help us to have the strength and stamina to do all that you call us to. May we be described like Caleb, as wholehearted servants of the living God. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
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