Wholeheartedly

 DEVOTION

JOSHUA

WHOLEHEARTEDLY

Josh 14

14:1 Now these are the areas the Israelites received as an inheritance in the land of Canaan, which Eleazar the priest, Joshua son of Nun and the heads of the tribal clans of Israel allotted to them. 2 Their inheritances were assigned by lot to the nine-and-a-half tribes, as the LORD had commanded through Moses. 3 Moses had granted the two-and-a-half tribes their inheritance east of the Jordan but had not granted the Levites an inheritance among the rest, 4 for the sons of Joseph had become two tribes — Manasseh and Ephraim. The Levites received no share of the land but only towns to live in, with pasturelands for their flocks and herds. 5 So the Israelites divided the land, just as the LORD had commanded Moses. 6 Now the men 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 brothers who went up with me made the hearts of the people melt with 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.'   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 desert. 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." 13 Then Joshua blessed Caleb son of Jephunneh and gave him Hebron as his inheritance. 14 So Hebron has belonged to Caleb son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite ever since, because he followed the LORD, the God of Israel, wholeheartedly. 15(Hebron used to be called Kiriath Arba after Arba, who was the greatest man among the Anakites.) Then the land had rest from war.

NIV

This is the story of Calab, who, along with Joshua and ten others, was sent in to spy out the land of Canaan. Calab recounts to Joshua how they were the only two who said that Israel could take the land, but the other ten reported there were giants in the land, and the hearts of the Israelites melted with fear. However, the story is about Caleb being forty when he was one of the spies, and he walked those forty years in the wilderness, just as Joshua did. The rest of the spies died, as did all those adults who refused to go into the land of promise. Calab told Joshua that he was forty when he was a spy, and now he is eighty-five, and it had to be five years of war, driving out those people who lived there. However, the truth we want to focus on is that Calab, at eighty-five, was still as strong as he was at forty and was ready to drive out the Anakites from the area of Hebron where he wanted his inheritance. Of course, Calab said that he could do it with the Lord helping him. Once again, we deal with age meaning nothing when the Lord wants to do something in our lives. Calab made the statement that he followed the LORD his God wholeheartedly. This may well be the secret to growing old but maintaining the vigor of our earlier years. From what we can tell, it does not appear that all the aches and pains of old age bothered Calab at all. But then he followed God wholeheartedly. There are truths here for our lives. First, we should examine our hearts and see if we are truly following our Lord wholeheartedly. We should reflect on all our years since we accepted Jesus as our Lord and Savior, that moment we turned from our wicked ways, and decided to follow Jesus, no turning back, no turning back. Tho’ none go with me, still will follow, the world behind me, the cross before me, I have decided to follow Jesus. This was the story of Calab; no matter what the other ten said, he would follow the LORD wholeheartedly. It does not matter how other Christians live out their days; we cannot do anything else but follow Jesus. Reflecting over the years, we believe we did whatever the Lord wanted and went where he led. Calab never confessed to be a perfect man, nor have we. However, we can say we have followed our Lord Jesus wherever he has led us and tried to do whatever he has told us. Have we missed the mark at times? Sure, but we have decided to follow Jesus. Are we following Jesus wholeheartedly? Maybe, just maybe, we could say one of the signs of wholeheartedness is being able to continue to move forward for the Lord, keeping on keeping on, being as vigorous and able to take the war against the forces of evil as we did in our earlier years. We wonder if our bodies are attacking us, fighting against us. Are we following as wholeheartedly as we think we are, or is this just a different time in history, and we age faster than they did then, and the condition of our bodies is not any reflection on how we follow Jesus wholeheartedly.