Today I woke up in a bit of pain, firstly I want to say I was not kind to my body in my younger years and age is most definitely reminding me of this. I'm not sure what God's plan is for me but He has kept me alive when even doctors claimed I would be dead or permanently crippled in my youth.. by this I mean I was told I would be dead of lung cancer or emphysema by the time I turned 21 because of black spots in my lungs at the age of 15 and 16, and was told that without surgery that I would not be walking by the age of 30. I am still walking and I'm still breathing. God is GREAT!! I may "gimp" around a bit but I'm still mobile and I'm smoke free as of 4 years ago this coming week. I am trying to walk closer with Jesus and trying to hear his message. Yes I backslide at times, but I try and am eagerly waiting for the purpose that God has for me... anyways what I'm trying to say is, I should have been on this route 20+ years ago instead of this late in the season but I wasn't prepared for what may lie ahead...
~B
If you’re going to follow God’s calling on your life, you’ve got to believe it’s never, never too late.
After Joshua sent the 12 spies into the Promised Land, they returned and reported that the land was too hard a place for God’s people to settle. Because of their unbelief, God had a nation wander around in the desert for another 40 years, and an entire generation died because they did not believe in God’s promises. But Caleb and Joshua believed, and they got to live.
When the Israelites returned to the Promised Land 40 years later, Caleb was 85 years old and living his second chance. He said, “Now here I am, eighty-five years old. I am still as strong today as 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” (Joshua 14:10b-12a NCV).
“Give me the mountain country.” I love that! The land Caleb wanted was full of giants and cities fortified with great walls. He was saying to God, “Give me the biggest assignment. Give me the hardest city. Give me the place with the biggest giants. Give me the mountain regions. I don’t want some easy place. I know I’m 85 years old, but I’ve still got it in me to do great things for you.”
When I went to the store recently to buy a birthday card for my granddaughter, I noticed something I’d never seen before in the greeting card section. They now have an entire section that offers birthday cards for the 80th, 85th, 90th, 95th, and even 100th birthday! Growing up, I didn’t see those kinds of cards, because everybody lives longer now. When my dad was born, the average age of an American man was 76. That life expectation has gone up at least 12 years in his lifetime.
Some of you think it’s time to hang it up. I’m telling you it’s time to get it down and dust it off! Do you think God’s going to let you live 30 more years just to play golf?
Here’s a word that’s not in the Bible: retirement. You may stop working, but you keep serving the Lord. You have more wisdom and experience now, and God is not going to waste that.
At the age of 85, Caleb began the greatest mission of his life. Moses was 80 when God called him to set God’s people free. Abraham was 79 when he received God’s call.
If you are in the Caleb generation, you have to believe that it’s never too late to start on your life calling. The best is yet to come!
10 “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!
11 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.
12 Now give me this hill country that the Lord promised me that day. You yourself heard then that the Anakites were there and their cities were large and fortified, but, the Lord helping me, I will drive them out just as he said.” - Joshua 14:10-12 (NIV)
This devotional © 2014 by Rick Warren. All rights reserved. Used by permission.
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