As My Strength Was Then So Is My Strenth Now.
Joshua 14:11 [Caleb said to Joshua]
“…I am as strong this day as I was in the day that Moses sent me: as my strength was then so is my strength now, for war, both to go out, and to come in.”
Psalm 29:11 NCV: The Lord gives strength to his people; the Lord blesses his people with peace.
Did you know how old Caleb was when he quoted this line? Let’s began with a story of how he came to say this. Caleb and Joshua were two of the 12 spies that went in to investigate the land of Canaan and to find out the strength of the cities before they began to make plans for the war. When they returned 12 spies gave report to Moses. Ten spies gave negative report while Joshua and Caleb gave positive report believing that God will help conquer the land for them. Caleb was only 40 years old that time. Because of 10 bad reports had influenced the Israelites into disbelief and faithless generation that God became angry and declared that all who were 20 years old and up will die. The young generation of 20 years and below would enter the land of promise. So the wilderness wanderings lasted 40 years. Joshua and Caleb entered the Promised Land to wage war against cities for few years.
Joshua 14:10-13 NVC: Caleb said: "Now then, the Lord has kept his promise. He has kept me alive for forty-five years from the time he said this to Moses during the time we all wandered in the desert. Now here I am, eighty-five years old. I am still as strong today as I was the day Moses sent me out, and I am just as ready to fight now as I was then. So give me the mountain country the Lord promised me that day long ago. Back then you heard that the Anakite people lived there and the cities were large and well protected. But now with the Lord helping me, I will force them out, just as the Lord said.”
Joshua blessed Caleb son of Jephunneth and gave him [Caleb] the city of Hebron as his own. Hebron still belongs to the family of Caleb, son of Jephunneth the Kenizzite because he had faith and obeyed the Lord, the God of Israel.
Dorothy:
Now you know that Caleb was 85 years old when God gave him the same strength as he was when he was 40 years old. Caleb put word: God kept me alive for 45 years and now I am 85 years and still going strong. And he was ready to fight to capture Hebron. There were mountains surrounded the Hebron. It was actually a very high place to climb up to. But Caleb and his men went up and captured the city and it became theirs.
What does that applies to us?
We could learn something about Caleb and the way he thinks and how he talks. Do we think and talk the same way as Caleb? Can we quote “God gave me the same strength as I was 40 years old and now I am 60 or 70 or 80 years old?”
Prayer: Dear Lord, thank You for showing me how Caleb received his strength from You. Help me to believe that You would give me the same strength as You have given to Caleb. Renew my faith in You through this story of Caleb. I rejoiced in new truth in Jesus’ name, amen.
