Joshua 14:6-15: a reflection

6Then the children of Judah came near to Joshua in Gilgal. Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite said to him, “You know the thing that the LORD spoke to Moses the man of God concerning me and concerning you in Kadesh Barnea. 7I was forty years old when Moses the servant of the LORD sent me from Kadesh Barnea to spy out the land. I brought him word again as it was in my heart. 8Nevertheless, my brothers who went up with me made the heart of the people melt; but I wholly followed the LORD my God. 9Moses swore on that day, saying, ‘Surely the land where you walked shall be an inheritance to you and to your children forever, because you have wholly followed the LORD my God.’ 10“Now, behold, the LORD has kept me alive, as he spoke, these forty-five years, from the time that the LORD spoke this word to Moses, while Israel walked in the wilderness. Now, behold, I am eighty-five years old, today. 11As yet I am as strong today as I was in the day that Moses sent me. As my strength was then, even so is my strength now for war, to go out and to come in. 12Now therefore give me this hill country, of which the LORD spoke in that day; for you heard in that day how the Anakim were there, and great and fortified cities. It may be that the LORD will be with me, and I shall drive them out, as the LORD said.” 13Joshua blessed him; and he gave Hebron to Caleb the son of Jephunneh for an inheritance. 14Therefore Hebron became the inheritance of Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite to this day, because he followed the LORD, the God of Israel wholeheartedly. 15Now the name of Hebron before was Kiriath Arba, after the greatest man among the Anakim. Then the land had rest from war.

Caleb, now eighty-five years old, comes to Joshua to claim the inheritance promised him decades before. He recalls how, when the other spies made the people's hearts melt with fear, he wholly followed the LORD; and for that faithfulness, God had promised him the land. But notice what he asks for. He does not ask for an easy, settled place to spend his old age; he asks for the hill country still held by the fearsome Anakim, the giants, saying, It may be that the LORD will be with me, and I shall drive them out. Give me this mountain.

Notice Caleb's spirit at eighty-five. He is still strong, still trusting God, and still ready to take on a hard thing, the mountain of the giants, rather than coast into ease. His lifelong faithfulness, wholly following the LORD, had not dimmed into a desire for comfortable retirement; he still wanted a challenge to take on for God, still trusted that the LORD would be with him. Give me this mountain, he says, not give me my rest.

That is a striking picture of a faith that does not retire. As the years pass, it is tempting to think our time of taking on hard things for God is behind us, to settle into ease and leave the mountains to the young. But Caleb, at eighty-five, still asked for the mountain, still trusted God for hard things. Whatever your age or stage, do not assume your days of usefulness and challenge are over. Keep following the LORD wholly, as Caleb did his whole life long; and keep asking God for mountains, for hard things to take on in his strength, rather than coasting into ease. A faith that still says give me this mountain, at whatever age, is a faith worth having.

Lord, at eighty-five, Caleb, who had wholly followed you all his life, did not ask for an easy place to spend his old age, but for the hill country of the giants, saying, give me this mountain, trusting that you would be with him. Give me that spirit. As the years pass, it is tempting to think my time of taking on hard things for you is behind me, to settle into ease and leave the mountains to the young. But Caleb, at eighty-five, still asked for the mountain, still trusted you for hard things. Whatever my age or stage, keep me from assuming my days of usefulness and challenge are over. Help me keep following you wholly, as Caleb did his whole life long, and keep asking you for mountains, for hard things to take on in your strength, rather than coasting into ease. Let my faith still say, give me this mountain, at whatever age, trusting that you will be with me.