WITH MY WHOLE HEART

Joshua 14:7-9
Holy Bible. New Living Translation copyright © 1996, 2004 by Tyndale Charitable Trust.

Caleb Requests His Land

7 I was forty years old when Moses, the servant of the Lord, sent me from Kadesh-barnea to explore the land of Canaan. I returned and gave an honest report, 8 but my brothers who went with me frightened the people from entering the Promised Land. For my part, I wholeheartedly followed the Lord my God. 9 So that day Moses solemnly promised me, ‘The land of Canaan on which you were just walking will be your grant of land and that of your descendants forever, because you wholeheartedly followed the Lord my God.’


When Caleb had this conversation with Joshua, it was forty-five years later. He was now eighty-five years old … and still he “…wholeheartedly followed the Lord…”.

Look at what else Caleb had to say ... Joshua 14:11.

“I am as strong now as I was when Moses sent me on that journey, and I can still travel and fight as well as I could then.”

For me, I wish I could do at fifty-nine what I was able to do at forty. I can’t run as fast or jump as high but I can still wholeheartedly follow the LORD. If fact, each day I purpose to have a closer walk with the LORD. Some days turn out better than others. None would I count as perfect.

When, LORD willing, I reach eighty-five, I want to say like Caleb, “I wholeheartedly followed the LORD my God.”

How much better would our world be if more of us could make the proclamation of Caleb?