Still More to do

 DEVOTION

JOSHUA

STILL MORE TO DO

Josh 13:1

13:1 When Joshua was old and well advanced in years, the LORD said to him, "You are very old, and there are still very large areas of land to be taken over.

NIV

All of chapter thirteen, fourteen. Fifteen, sixteen, and seventeen are mostly about the territories within the land of Canaan that Israel tribe by tribe, clan by clan were to inherit according to how the LORD told Moses how to divide up the land. However, the first verse grabs us right where we live. The LORD said to Joshua, although he was very old, that there is much to still do. Our culture today has been moving toward the young to accomplish the great things in life by putting the older ones out to pasture, so to speak. We are witnessing today that may be the norm for many of the people who are very old and well advanced in years, but it does not have to be. We can see some who are considered old doing great things. Retirement does not have to be our inheritance, for the Lord has never told anyone that we can find in the Bible that it was time to quit doing that which he called them to do and that he would find someone else younger to do it. Sure, Joshua replaced Moses, but Moses did not retire. He led Israel until God decided to take him home, on top of Mt. Nebo, at the ripe old age of one hundred and twenty. Now, Joshua is old, but not so old that God still had more for him to do. What we know is that we cannot retire from the call God has on our lives. Sure, our culture has established a retirement agenda, with some endeavoring to amass as much as they can to live out their days in comfort, spending them on their own pleasures. However, we cannot quit, we cannot give in, or give up no matter how old and well advanced we are in age, for the Lord has placed the call upon us to do that certain thing in his plan until he decides to take us home, or he releases us from his call. Yet, until he tells us we have done enough, we will continue to work for the Lord, doing whatever he has planned for our lives. Let us not even consider how old or advanced we are in age, for with God all things are possible and therefore we still have life within us, we still have his breathe within us, sound of mind, strength in our bones, and able to take nourishment. Let us serve with him all the passion he has given us. We still have more to do.