Jill Briscoe offers a very interesting look at the way things have changed, especially with people my age or older.
In the dim and distant past
When life's tempo wasn't fast,
Grandma used to rock and knit,
Crochet, tat, and baby-sit.
When the kids were in a jam,
They could always count on Gram.
In an age of gracious living,
Grandma was the gal for giving.
Grandma now is at the gym
Exercising to keep slim.
She's off touring with a bunch,
Taking clients out to lunch.
Driving north to ski or curl,
All her days are in a whirl.
Nothing seems to stop or block her,
Now that Grandma's off her rocker.
(Jill Briscoe, “Loving God with All Your Heart,” Preaching Today, Tape No. 84)
Grandma is a lot busier than she used to be, but is her life fuller? She’s doing lots of things, but is she satisfied?
How about you at whatever age you are? You may be busy, but are you fully satisfied with your life? You may be doing lots of things, but are you fulfilling God’s rich purpose for you? Do you want to know how you can? Then I invite you to turn with me to Joshua 14, Joshua 14, where you can learn from a man in his 80’s still living life to the full and accomplishing all that God has for him.
At this point in the story, Joshua has conquered the Promised Land. Now, he is distributing various plots of land to the different tribes and families of Israel. And as they approach Joshua for their allotment, an old man has an unusual request.
Joshua 14:6-8 Then the people of Judah came to Joshua at Gilgal. And Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite said to him, “You know what the LORD said to Moses the man of God in Kadesh-barnea concerning you and me. I was forty years old when Moses the servant of the LORD sent me from Kadesh-barnea to spy out the land, and I brought him word again as it was in my heart. But my brothers who went up with me made the heart of the people melt; yet I wholly followed the LORD my God. (ESV)
Caleb recalls the time when 40 years previously, Moses sent him, Joshua, and ten other men into the Promised Land to spy it out. They all returned with glowing reports about how rich the land was, but 10 of the spies advised against going into the land as God had commanded. That’s because they saw giants and big walled cities there. And they were convinced that the land was impenetrable, that they would all die if they tried to take it. So they told the people to disregard God’s command and stay out.
Joshua and Caleb, on the other hand, urged the people to trust the Lord and obey His directive to enter the land and take it. God is bigger than any giant and stronger than any walled city; and with Him on their side, they can prevail. Well, the people believed the majority report, disobeyed God, and turned away.
As a result, they wandered in the wilderness for 40 years where that whole generation died off. When their children grew up, Joshua led them into the promised land; and as God promised, they conquered it. Now, Joshua and Caleb are the only ones left of their generation. They alone were able to enter the Promised Land with their children, because they alone followed the Lord. Caleb reminds Joshua of that day. Then he reminds Joshua of the promise Moses made to him.
Joshua 14:9-12 And Moses swore on that day, saying, ‘Surely the land on which your foot has trodden shall be an inheritance for you and your children forever, because you have wholly followed the LORD my God.’ And now, behold, the LORD has kept me alive, just as he said, these forty-five years since the time that the LORD spoke this word to Moses, while Israel walked in the wilderness. And now, behold, I am this day eighty-five years old. 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, for war and for going and coming. So now give me this hill country of which the LORD spoke on that day, for you heard on that day how the Anakim were there, with great fortified cities. It may be that the LORD will be with me, and I shall drive them out just as the LORD said.” (ESV)
Caleb asks Joshua for the toughest part of the land, the part where the Anakim dwell. The Anakim were the giants, which scared the previous generation away. They lived in the hills in heavily fortified cities, but that didn’t scare Caleb away. Calab asks for THEIR land, a bold request for an 85-year-old man to make! How does Joshua respond?
Joshua 14:13-15 Then Joshua blessed him, and he gave Hebron to Caleb the son of Jephunneh for an inheritance. Therefore Hebron became the inheritance of Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite to this day, because he wholly followed the LORD, the God of Israel. Now the name of Hebron formerly was Kiriath-arba. (Arba was the greatest man among the Anakim.) And the land had rest from war. (ESV)
Caleb was able to take Kiriath-arba, literally, the City of Arba, who was the biggest giant of all! And so he conquered the last remaining enemy, and the war was finally over.
Most older men talk about their former conquests. Caleb took on new ones! He lived a full life until the end! How about you? I urge you, like Caleb…
LIVE A FULL LIFE.
Don’t be content to celebrate past victories. By God’s grace, pursue new ones! Take on the toughest challenges, and enjoy the abundant life God has for you.
Just a few years ago (2012), the Anchorage Daily News reported that two Alaskan residents got into a tussle with a moose and lived to talk about it. They were Dorothea Taylor, 85, and her husband George Murphy, 82. They were taking their golden retrievers out for some fresh air when the moose showed up.
Dorothea was waiting in their truck to avoid the Alaskan subzero temperatures while her husband collected the dogs…. That's when he noticed the massive animal.
George, a bush pilot from Willow, Alaska, told the Daily News, “He was way off. He spotted me, and he started to come right after me. So I was trying to get to the truck. But I didn't make it.”
The moose caught George and began stomping on him in the snow. Fortunately, his 5-foot-tall wife grabbed a shovel from the truck and attacked the moose, taking swing after swing at the animal.
She told the Daily News, “When it turned and started to go off slowly, I hit it with everything I had.”
Finally, the moose retreated, and one of their dogs, chased it off. Dorothea made it out of the fight unscathed, but her husband had seven broken ribs and a 6-inch cut on his forehead.
She said, “Well, we've helped each other out of problems before. This just happened to be the latest.” (Lisa Demer, “85-year-old woman wields shovel to stop moose stomping,” Anchorage Daily News, 1-22-12; www.PreachingToday.com)
I love that woman’s attitude! Even at 85, she doesn’t run away from the battles of life; she faces them head on! Sad to say, I know of people much younger than her, who have given up on life. Please, whatever your age, don’t you dare give up on life. Instead, take on the toughest challenges, and dare to live a full life right up until the end.
The question is: How? How do you live a full life no matter your age? How do you relish the challenges ahead and enjoy the abundant life God has for you? Well, you do what Caleb did and…
FOLLOW THE LORD FULLY.
Obey the Lord completely. Wholly commit yourself to accomplishing God’s will and purpose for your life.
Did you see it in the text? Three times, Joshua 14 says Caleb “wholly followed the Lord.” In verse 8, Caleb says, “I wholly followed the Lord my God.” In verse 9, Moses says to Caleb, “You have wholly followed the Lord my God.” And in verse 14, the Bible says, “He wholly followed the Lord, the God of Israel.”
Caleb chose to go God’s way even if everybody else wasn’t. He didn’t follow the crowd; He followed the Lord, and that’s what you must do if you want to live a full life. Wholly follow the Lord!
Christopher Parkening is considered to be the world's greatest classical guitarist. He achieved his musical dreams by the age of 30. By then, he was also a world-class fly-fishing champion.
However, his success failed to bring him happiness. Parkening got tired of performances and recording sessions, so he bought a ranch and gave up on the guitar. But instead of finding happiness after getting away from it all, his life became increasingly empty. He wrote, “If you arrive at a point in your life where you have everything that you've ever wanted and thought that would make you happy and it still doesn't, then you start questioning things. It's the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. I had that and I thought, Well, what's left?”
While visiting friends, Parkening attended church and trusted Christ with His life. He developed a hunger for Scripture and was struck by 1 Corinthians 10:31: “Whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.” He explains, “I realized there were only two things I knew how to do: fly fish for trout and play the guitar. Well, I am playing the guitar today absolutely by the grace of God… I have a joy, a peace, and a deep-down fulfillment in my life I never had before. My life has purpose… I've learned first-hand the true secret of genuine happiness.” (Randy Alcorn, Happiness, Tyndale, 2015, page 25; www.PreachingToday.com)
The true secret of genuine happiness is not necessarily getting away from it all or doing something different. It’s doing whatever you do for the glory of God. It’s living for the Lord in all of life. It’s using your God-given gifts and talents to serve Him, not your own selfish best interest. The crowd may think you’re crazy, but God will honor your whole-hearted commitment to Him with a full life. So follow the Lord fully and live a full life. However, in order to do that, you need to…
HAVE FULL FAITH IN THE LORD.
Trust God completely. Wholly depend on the Lord.
First, trust in His promise. Depend on God’s Word.
That’s what led Caleb to follow the Lord fully and live a full life. In verse 6, Caleb says to Joshua, “You know what the Lord said to Moses the man of God in Kadesh-barnea concerning you and me.” And what did God say to Moses? Verse 9: “Surely the land on which your foot has trodden shall be an inheritance for you and your children forever…” Caleb is counting on God’s promise made to Him 40 years previously! That’s what kept him going all those years. That’s what caused him to live for the Lord and enjoy the full life God had for him.
And if that’s what you want, you need to do the same. Trust in God’s promises to you. Depend on God’s Word.
Another man, who lived a full life because he fully followed the Lord, was Billy Graham. He went home to be with the Lord last year, but a few years before that, Newsweek magazine profiled his marriage with Ruth. Newsweek did not focus on their historic evangelistic crusades and international impact, but on their life as an elderly couple approaching their final chapters on earth.
One thing that stood out through the pages of the article was the incredible quality of their marriage. “At night we have time together,” Billy said. “We pray together and read the Bible together every night. It's a wonderful period of life for both of us. We've never had a love like we do now—we feel each other's hearts.”
Another thing that stood out in the article was Billy Graham’s confidence in the Lord. He said, “I think about heaven a great deal. I think about the failures in my life in the past, but know they have been covered by the blood of Christ. And that gives me a great sense of confidence. I have a certainty about eternity that is a wonderful thing, and I thank God for giving me that certainty. I do not fear death. I may fear a little bit about the process, but not death itself, because I think the moment that my spirit leaves this body, I will be in the presence of the Lord.” (Jon Meacham, “Pilgrim's Progress,” Newsweek, 8-14-06, p. 43; www.PreachingToday.com)
Billy Graham counted on God’s promise of heaven, and that led Him to live a full life of commitment to Christ.
You too can count on God’s promise of heaven if you’re a believer in Christ. The Bible says to every believer, “[God] has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 1:3). This is an even greater promise than God’s promise to Caleb. God promised Caleb only a PART of the Promised Land. On the other hand, God has promised us “EVERY spiritual blessing in the heavenly places.” ALL of heaven is ours with ALL its blessings!
If the promise of PART of the Promised Land motivated Caleb to live a full life with full commitment to the Lord, then how much more should the promise of ALL of heaven motivate believers today? Please, if you haven’t done it already, put your trust in Christ, who died on a cross for your sins and rose again. Believe in His promise to you of eternal life! Then you can’t help but follow Him fully and life a full life. If that’s what you want, then trust in God’s promise.
More than that, trust in God’s power. Depend on the Lord’s strength, not your own.
That’s what Caleb did. In verse 10, Caleb said, “The Lord has kept me alive, just as He said, these 45 years… And now, behold, I am this day 85 years old.” Verse 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…”
It sounds an awful lot like Philippians 4:13, which says, “I can do all things through [Christ] who strengthens me.”
Caleb depended on the Lord’s strength, not His own, and that’s what you must do if you want to live a full life wholly committed to the Lord. Trust in God’s power. Depend on the Lord’s strength, not your own.
There’s an old story about a mountain climber in the Alps, who came to a dangerous gap in the ice. There was only one way across and that was to place his foot in the outstretched hands of his guide. The man hesitated as he looked down into the gloomy depths below. If anything went wrong, it would mean certain death. The guide saw his hesitation and said, “Have no fear, sir. In all my years of service, my hands have never yet lost a man!” (Bible Illustrator #364-371, 7/1986.19)
That’s what Jesus says to you and to all who put their trust in Him. He says, “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and thy will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand” (John 10:27-28).
On another occasion, as Jesus was praying to His Heavenly Father, He said, “I kept them in your name, which you have given me. I have guarded them, and not one of them has been lost…” (John 17:12).
Jesus hasn’t lost a person yet! So trust in His power to see you through. Depend on His ability to take you all the way to heaven, even over the dangerous parts. If you want to follow the Lord fully and live a full life, then trust in His promise; trust in His power; and finally…
Trust in His presence. Depend on God’s company.
That’s what Caleb did. When he asked Joshua to give him the hill country where the giants lived, he said in verse 12, “It may be that the Lord will be with me, and I shall drive them out just as the Lord said.”
Caleb counted on God’s presence, and that’s what you must do if you want to live a full life wholly committed to the Lord.
We live in dark days with our country divided as never before, with our enemies threatening its very foundations, and our leaders without any good answers.
But these days are not near as dark as it was for Great Brittan in 1939 when the threat of Nazi tyranny overshadowed all of Europe. In December of that year, King George VI of England delivered his Christmas message to the British Empire. In that message, he quoted M. Louise Haskins, who wrote:
I said to the man who stood at the gate of the year, “Give me a light, that I may tread safely into the unknown.” And He replied, “Go out into the darkness and put your hand in the hand of God. That shall be to you better than light and safer than a known way.”
Psalm 23 says, “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me” (Psalm 23:4). And God Himself has promised, “I will never leave you nor forsake you” (Hebrews 13:5). So count on His presence even when you face the darkness.
To live a full life, follow the Lord fully with full faith in Him. Like Caleb, trust in God’s promise, trust in God’s power, and trust in God’s presence.
Let the words of our closing Hymn be your prayer today:
Take my life and let it be
Consecrated Lord to Thee.
Take my moments and my days;
Let them flow in ceaseless praise.
Let them flow in ceaseless praise (Frances Ridley Havergal).
It’s the only way to live!
