Joshua 14:6-15

May 2, 2004                 

Aging Gracefully

Many of us awoke this morning to aching muscles as we spent yesterday morning on the church property planting 49 trees and picking 490 rocks. It is times like that when I sense my age. There are other indicators that one is getting older:

Your back goes out more often than you do.
You quit trying to hold your stomach in, no matter who walks into the room.
Your arms are too short to read the newspaper.
You enjoy hearing about other people’s operations.
You no longer think of speed limits as a challenge.
People call at 9:00 p.m. and ask, “Did I wake you?”
The end of your tie doesn’t come anywhere near the top of your pants.
You can’t remember the last time you laid on the floor to watch television.
Your ears are hairier than your head.
You get into a heated argument about pension plans.
You got cable for The Weather Channel.

Age, like the weather, is a subject which people discuss, but can’t seem to do much about it. Simone de Beauvoir in The Coming of Age said: “Die early or grow old; there is no other alternative. And yet, as Goethe said, “Age takes hold of us by surprise.”

It is inevitable, but still we are surprised when bounding up the stairs takes our breath away, when a late night has dire consequences the next day, when those younger than you show deference by calling you sir or ma’am. Not only are we aging individually, our population is aging as well. In less than 30 years the percentage increase in U.S. population over 50 will be 74%. The increase of those under 50? 1%. (Rieske/Holstege, The Christian Guide to Parent Care)

The American Board of Family Practice asked 1,200 Americans how they would define middle age.

41% say middle aged is when you worry about having enough money for all your health concerns
42% say middle age comes when the last of your children moves out
46% say middle age means no longer recognizing the music on the radio       (Newsweek, 12/7/92)

Our youth oriented culture is the creation of the boomers whose decreasing cultural relevancy places them at odds with the cult of youth they’ve created. The result is a denial of the inevitability of death and the rejection of the benefit of aging - wisdom.

Some of the greatest accomplishments in history came very late in life. Immanuel Kant wrote one of his best philosophical works at the age of 74. Verdi penned his classic “Ave Maria” at 85…. Michelangelo was 87 when he completed The Pietá, his greatest work of art…. And Ronald Reagan was the most powerful man in the word at 75…. This notion that life should be winding down at 50 or 60 years of age is crazy.

Our passage this morning speaks of a man who understands what growing with grace is all about. In Joshua 14 Israel has concluded their long campaign to possess the land which God gave them. It is time to portion out the land to the various tribes. As the people gather at Gilgal, 85 year old Caleb steps forward with a request. READ Joshua 14:6-15 

After forty years of desert wanderings, five to seven years of battles, it would understandable for Caleb to take a step back, let the young exuberant warriors take over, retire to a nice senior-citizens’ tent city and live out his last years playing Canasta, sipping ice tea with his feet in a pool, and swapping stories about those desert years.

But he not only asks for the land that belongs to him, he asks for the toughest piece of land. He is not ready to give up nor does he expect others to take care of him. Instead of wanting to retire, Caleb wants to stay in the game. He still has health, still has energy, and still has desire. And, he picks the biggest battle. Here is this senior citizen taking on the giants. He says, “give me this hill country… with the Anakites and their large, fortified cities. The Lord helping me, I will drive them out just as He said.” Instead of sitting back at the end of his life, Caleb takes on the biggest challenge.

We all are aging, but how do we do it gracefully? We move through life full of grace by remembering God’s past mercies, recalling his previous promises, reaffirming his present grace and requesting his future blessings.

We must remember God’s past mercies                        14:6-8

Caleb begins by remembering God’s mercies to him in the past. As he approaches Joshua with his request he rehearses events from forty years before. His memories are just for the sake of good old times, but they serve as the basis for what he wishes to do in the present.

As you recall, forty-five years before Israel was poised to enter the Promised Land. They gathered on the southern boarder and sent in 12 spies to check out the land. When they returned forty days later, they were in agreement about one thing – the land was wonderful, flowing with milk and honey. They also agreed on its inhabitants and their cities. The cities were well fortified. The people of the land were likewise massive. Ten spies saw the danger, but two, Joshua and Caleb, saw the opportunity to obey and trust God in the face of overwhelming odds. There may be giants in the land, the cities may be fortified, but God had promised.

The people rebelled, wishing they would have stayed in Egypt; the cost too enormous, the dangers too great. When Caleb and Joshua plead with the people to trust God, the mob’s response was to kill them. Their stand almost cost them their lives. (Num 14:6-10).

In Joshua 14:8 Caleb summarizes his commitment to God. While the other spies spoke in such way as to make the hearts of the people melt, he wholly followed the Lord. In vv8, 9, and 14 this phrase is repeated. It is a phrased used by hunters when speaking of closing the gap between them and their prey. Caleb declared that he was in pursuit of God. That was where his focus was. Not on the problems, the giants, the well protected cities.

As Caleb considers what to do next in life, he begins by looking back throughout his life. He remembers God’s mercies in the past which enabled him to come to this place. 

Caleb stood alone in the past. He understood the need for courage, to go against the grain.

• This courage is needed by the teenager today who realizes the necessity to stand against the onslaught of moral and ethical decay of high school culture. Such a stand may well cost friendships. Yet, the starting point is to know God’s mercy despite what others may say or do.
• It is the young parent who feels the pressure from their parents who do not understand the choices made regarding the Christian nurture of children.
• It is the choice made by the executive who knows that his or her stand may well terminate a career, but God’s mercy has taken them to this point, so there is no need to turn back now.

Caleb has the advantage of age. So he stands as a reminder to us who are young that obedience when young may well have benefit in the years to come. Only Joshua and Caleb entered the land from that generation. Only they of their peers looked to God’s mercy and not the troubles before them when faced with the problems of life.

We must recall God’s previous promises                  14:9

Caleb was not content to glory in one good decision he made. His reason for remembering God’s mercy in the past which enabled him to stand against the pressure to fear life and not trust God is to recall the promises made to him at that time.

In v9 Caleb recalls the promise made to him by Moses because of his devotion to follow God fully. He will receive an inheritance. His request for land in this passage is nothing more than recalling of a promise made before. He anchors his faith on a promise made. In this we have a wonderful picture of God’s promises to us and how we too are to respond.

Caleb’s bravado flows not from his own ability. His abiding strength (v11) is all because the Lord has kept him alive (v10). That is the essence of faith. The promise is there, faith then acts in light of that promise.

Faith attaches itself to the promise. If the one who makes the promise is trustworthy, then the faith is prudent and will receive what it desires. If I were to promise $5 to someone here, what would faith look like? (hold out money, say nothing but repeat the question)

To come forward and take it may seem odd, others may think you forward. But you are doing nothing more than accepting me at my word. And for that, you have your reward. Faith for Caleb as for us is not just positive thinking. He received his land not because he was an optimist, one who could see the sunny side of life and did better than most. Faith is not merely saying we believe. Faith is acting on that which we believe. It is taking God at his word.

Romans 8 recalls the promises God, that he is for us. In light of that, there is no charge which may be lodged against us, no accusation that we are not his. The fears of the Father’s love evaporating are set aside. The troubles we face each day may shake us, but at our core we remain firm in the knowledge that nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ.

Our response then can be to take God’s promises and turn them into prayer, pleading them back to God. Take time this week to recall what God has already promised.

We must reaffirm God’s present grace                      14:10-11

It is not enough to repeat age old promises if there is no connection with the present. Caleb makes the connection between the promise of Moses 45 years before and his claim to the land at this time. Throughout the years it was God’s grace that kept him going.

He faced the perils and fatigue of the tedious march through the desert. The fact that he is alive is testimony that God would give to him what he promised. It was God who gave strength and stamina. With gratitude he is able to look ahead to see what God will have for him next.

After a morning planting trees and pulling rocks, I must admit I am a bit incredulous as to his claim. To say that he is as strong as the he was when Moses sent him out to spy out the land, makes me wonder about my aches and pains this morning.

Yet what Caleb is claiming is what we too must see in our lives. It is not enough to rehearse God’s grace in the past, but to see how our loving Father is active in the present. If all you can do is point out events from ages ago as evidence of God’s loving-kindness, there is a problem.

The fact that I feel the aches this morning is something for which I can praise God. That we have property on which, in God’s timing, we will build is an item of praise. That I have sufficient strength and health, that I serve a congregation as wonderful and loving as this, is a reason to reaffirm God’s present grace.

We must request God’s future blessings                  14:12-15

Now Caleb moves in for the request. The recollection of past mercies, of present grace all points to the request for future blessings. Once again, what Caleb requests is based on God’s promise, but without blushing, he now requests what has been promised to him – the land.

Yet even in his request he evidences faith which puts us to shame. He wants not the land already conquered and ready for settlement. This 85 year old warrior wants the hill country where the Anakim live, where the cities are fortified.

This is the land which put the fear into the hearts of Israel over forty years before. This is the land which they had not yet conquered. And now, with full confidence in God’s blessing, Caleb at 85 is ready to finally get to work possessing what was promised to him. This is not time for retirement, but for engagement.

How often I have meet Christians who have for years placed their trust in Christ’s completed work, are able to answer with confidence of their relationship with Christ as their savior. Yet, when it comes to engaging the Christian life, it is as though they have entered retirement. No longer seeking to learn, no longer spending time in fellowship with other believers, no longer growing, they are on a holding pattern. It is as though they fought the good fight and are just plum tired. Those sins which plagued them for years are seemingly pushed to the background that they imagine they can coast to glory.

Whether such a response is possible is not the question. Is it wise is the question. How much should we be like Caleb, confidently thrusting himself on God’s providence, “if the Lord will be with me, I will drive them out!”

Do you have that confidence about your thought life?

Do you have that confidence about your anger, your covetousness, your marriage?

Whatever giants you face, whatever opposition confronts you, are you able to trust not in your own innate abilities, but confidently plead the promises of God that are yours in Christ?

Dr. Paul Brand, a well-known doctor & author, was raised in India. His parents were missionaries there. In his book, "In His Image," he writes that when his mother was 75 years old, she was still walking miles every day, visiting the villages in the southern part of India, teaching the people about Jesus.

One day, at age 75, she was traveling alone and fell and broke her hip. After two days of just lying there in pain, some workers found her and put her on a makeshift cot and loaded her into their jeep & drove 150 miles over deep rutted roads to find a doctor who could set the broken bones. But the very bumpy ride damaged her bones so badly that her hip never completely healed.

He said, "I visited my mother in her mud-covered hut several weeks after all of this happened. I watched as she took two bamboo crutches that she had made herself, and moved from one place to another with her feet just dragging behind because she had lost all feeling in them."

He said, "At age 75, with a broken hip, unable to stand on her own two legs, I thought that I made a pretty intelligent suggestion. I suggested that she retire." He said, "She turned around & looked at me and said, `What value is that? If we try to preserve this body just a few more years and it is not being used for God, of what value is that?’"

So she kept on working. She kept on riding her donkey to villages until she was 93 years old. At age 93 she couldn’t stay on her donkey anymore. She kept falling off. But she didn’t stop. Indian men would carry her in hammocks from one village to another. And she continued to tell people about Jesus Christ until she died at age 95.

Paul Brand writes, "My most vivid memory of my mother is of her propped up against a stone wall as people are coming to her from their homes, schools, and places of work. I can still see the wrinkles in her face, and her skin so tanned by the weather & the heat.

"I saw her speaking to those people. I looked at them and saw the sparkle in their eyes, and the smiles on their faces. And I saw them deeply moved by the message of God’s love, spoken by this old woman. I knew what they saw was not an old woman who had passed her prime, but a beautiful person bringing tidings of love straight from heaven."

You and I have whatever time God has allotted us on this earth. We do not know if it is long or short. The question is – are we aging gracefully? Are we moving year by year, enveloped in God’s grace, knowing of his mercy to us in Christ? Are we finding all we need in his love for us so that when we are faced with issues in our lives which need change, we plead his promises to be with us guide us, strengthen us for whatever task is before us?