"A Hill to Conquer" February 20 Readings: Joshua 13-18

 

Reading the Bible Chronologically in 2022

This year, instead of reading from Genesis to Revelation, we will read the Bible as the story flows, as it happened and was written. There are several plans out there and I have worked to combine them into a plan that lets the Bible tell its own story "as it happened." Remember, the Bible is inspired, but not in the order the books appear in our Bibles. The Old Testament is approximately 3/4 of the Bible, but I have divided it so that we will spend half the year in the OT, and half the year in the NT. 

Bible Readings: Joshua 13-18   

Background:   

We begin, in today's reading, the division of the land among the Twelve Tribes of Israel. The boundaries can be fairly dry reading - I'd encourage you to keep a map beside you as you read. The most interesting part of this to me is Caleb's request in chapter 14 to have a hill to conquer in his old age. May his tribe increase.

Daily Devotional: A Hill to Conquer 

Inerrancy requires that I believe that Scripture accurately records what Caleb says in Joshua 14:10-11, but I am allowed to have some doubts about whether Caleb was 100% accurate when he said it.

As you see, the Lord has kept me alive these forty-five years as he promised, since the Lord spoke this word to Moses while Israel was journeying in the wilderness. Here I am today, eighty-five years old. I am still as strong today as I was the day Moses sent me out. My strength for battle and for daily tasks is now as it was then.

I am 85 years old, he says. I assume he knew his own age. But when he says, "I am as strong today as I was 40 years ago," my own experience of aging makes me question just how true that is. He claims that his strength for battle and for daily tasks had not diminished. Maybe he was 100% accurate but I've known few men who were as vigorous at 85 as they were at 45. Well, none.

The key in Caleb's request is not his youthfulness, his diet, his exercise, and his training regiment. I am guessing he had a few aches and pains as all of us have as our bodies age. What made him so amazing was his attitude and his desire that his life count for the kingdom of God. Look at verse 12.

Now give me this hill country the Lord promised me on that day, because you heard then that the Anakim are there, as well as large fortified cities. Perhaps the Lord will be with me and I will drive them out as the Lord promised.”

He wasn't looking to retire from God's service. He wasn't looking to cut back and let someone else take the tough jobs. He asked for hill country where the Anakim (giants!) lived. He wanted to end his days doing tough jobs in the service of the God he loved.

I've been serving God for a long time and I wonder sometimes how effective it has been. But I want whatever time I have left to be the best time. I want a hill to conquer not an easy chair to sit in. I want my 60s to be more effective than my 50s and my 70s, if God allows, to be more effective than my 60s.

May we have the attitude of Caleb who said, "Lord, give me a hill to conquer -  for your glory."

Father, may I have a hill to conquer in the name of your Son? By his grace and the power of your Spirit, and for the glory of your name, help me to conquer that hill.

Consider God's Word:

Are you embracing great challenges for God's kingdom?
What are you praying for and seeking that only God can do?