God uses all ages, there are so many examples of this in the Bible for both young and old, but today I want to focus on how God worked through Caleb. A little background on Caleb is that he was formerly a spy for Israel, sent by Moses. He spied out the land promised to them. He and Joshua and others went and saw that the land was ready for the taking. He and Joshua were the only ones that held this opinion. The rest were afraid and talked the people into not going in to take the land. And it wasn’t until after that generation passed away that they took the land. But two people from that generation got to take the land as well, because they obeyed and trusted the Lord. Proving that our success is not tied to our age, but because we trust and obey the Lord. Don’t let your age or stage, be your cage. God is not limited by your limitations. Caleb was in his 40s in his days of espionage, and now we catch up with him in Joshua chapter 14 when he is now in his 80s, the promise land has been captured and Caleb wants his portion of the land. Let's look at Joshua 14:6-14. 6 Now the people of Judah approached Joshua at Gilgal, and Caleb son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite said to him, “You know what the Lord said to Moses the man of God at Kadesh Barnea about you and me. 7 I was forty years old when Moses the servant of the Lord sent me from Kadesh Barnea to explore the land. And I brought him back a report according to my convictions, 8 but my fellow Israelites who went up with me made the hearts of the people melt in fear. I, however, followed the Lord my God wholeheartedly. 9 So on that day Moses swore to me, ‘The land on which your feet have walked will be your inheritance and that of your children forever, because you have followed the Lord my God wholeheartedly.’[a] Your success should not cease to progress.
There is no spiritual retirement where we stop fighting this fight. The form of your fight may change with your age, but the fight doesn’t finish. Caleb was as vigorous for battle as he was 40 years ago. This is something we can all have. I am not talking about physical health, because our battle is not that of flesh and blood, but we should never stop growing spiritually. Just because you’ve had success, doesn’t mean the only thing left is rest. God led by example in Genesis saying we need rest, but there is still always a battle to be fought, and we don’t retire from God’s army. Caleb was still as vigorous for battle which meant there was still battle to be fought. He wasn’t bragging about the past to say look what he had done, but to say look at how he is still capable to fight, so please give me a task Joshua. If you don’t lead the attack, you defend from the back. I want to camp out here on something else I find fascinating about this passage: Joshua was the leader of the people and he too was a spy who was obedient to God. This book of the Bible is even named after Joshua, and yet we don’t just here about Joshua and his obedience. Meaning this fight doesn’t belong only to the leaders, but all of us. Your success is not from your ability, but your humility. Why did Caleb have success? Because of his past successes and merits? No, it was because he wholeheartedly followed God, and that’s what our kids need to see. They need you. They need people to pour into your life, because: where there are no mentors, there will be manipulators. The family of God needs you. This generation needs you. We need spiritual parents and grandparents. Brothers and sisters, to step up to the plate. We, like Timothy in the New Testament need someone like Paul to come along and mentor us. Whether or not we step up to the plate, messages will meet this generation. Guys, our enemy is intentional and relational. The enemy uses negative relationships with people, idols, and habits, to lull this generation into the darkness. We need to be intentional about relationship to bring people to the light. Because where there are no mentors, there will be manipulators, to fill the void. If we can’t see the brokenness, then we aren’t looking. It’s everywhere. The number of broken families is unreal in this generation. There are those crying out to be noticed and loved and their filling the void with everything and anything they can find. Let this fuel our battle cry, that we will not the enemy take this generation, but we will be there for them. Not to force them into the church and it’s programs, but to show them the love of God they are crying out for. This is not a battle of funneling kids into our youth group, this is about us each doing the work of relationship with those inside and outside our doors. God asks us to look after the widow and the orphan, and this applies to the spiritual orphans and widows too. I am praying that at every age we are engaged to step into the fray and be a part of this battle., leading from the front and the back, and in humility.
Comments
|
Chris GreenI'm a children/youth minister who loves God and loves people. I'm doing my part to point myself and others to Jesus. Archives
March 2021
Categories |