Christine Caine — Wholehearted or Brokenhearted
We're going to turn in our text today to Joshua chapter 14… We're going to turn in our text today to Joshua chapter 14, verse six. If you're tuning in
on the other side of the screen and you've never opened a Bible, stick with me because I'm going to tell you what the fountain of eternal youth is.
It is going to be so much more effective than trying to find out how to stay young out there. Just listen to this and you're going to find out how to stay young. The Bible says in verse six of chapter 14, Joshua:
Now the men of Judah approached Joshua at Gilgal, and Caleb, the 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.
I was 40 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. But my brothers who went up with me made the hearts of the people melt with fear."
I was 40 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. But my brothers who went up with me made the hearts of the people melt with fear."
On the other side of the screen as you're listening to this, I've got a room full of Americans and you should hear how they say heart. They say, "The heart."
You can work that out people. I'm just going to continue reading the Bible. Don't shoot the messenger.
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." So the hearts melted and now he's following God wholeheartedly.
"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."
Are we getting a theme here? He has followed God wholeheartedly, the people that didn't, their heart melted. Now then, just as the Lord promised, he has kept me alive for 45 years since the time he said this to Moses, while Israel moved about in the desert. So here I am today, 85 years old!" So if you're listening to this and you're 85, this is for you.
He goes on: "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." I hope you are getting a theme here. An 85 year old says, "Excuse me. I'm not retiring, I'm refiring. I'm just as vigorous to go out to war now as I was then." This is getting me fired up.
"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."
Then Joshua blessed Caleb, son of Jephunneh and gave him Hebron as his inheritance. So Hebron has belonged to Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite ever since, because he followed the Lord, the God of Israel, wholeheartedly. -- Wholeheartedly!
Why? Because he was the strongest? No! Because he was the fastest? No. Because he was the most eloquent? No! But because he followed the Lord his God wholeheartedly.
There is a lot to be said here but being wholehearted. These were -- this is Caleb talking to Joshua. Maybe you've heard this story before. They were the only two out of the original million men that came out of slavery in Egypt that crossed through the Red Sea when it parted, and they are the only two that went from Egypt into the wilderness and into the Promised Land out of that original group that came out of slavery. And it is so amazing that he had seen so many signs and wonders and miracles.
He had seen the Red Sea part. He'd seen manna falling from heaven every day for 40 years, several times a day. He had seen the river Jordan pushed back and the walls of Jericho come down. He had fought battle after battle to continue to take the territory.
I mean he had seen a lot in his life. And he says, "Hang on a minute. I've seen a lot. I might have seen the Red Sea part, I might have seen the Egyptian army drown, I might have seen manna come from heaven, I might have seen the river Jordan pushed back, I might have seen Jericho walls fall down, I might have taken land but that's not what this whole deal is about. I've still got something ahead of me that God promised me way back then and that's Hebron."
And actually, we ended with forgetting those things that lie behind, both good and bad. Sometimes we get so stuck on all the great accomplishments and achievements and acquirements that we've had that we think, well, you know what?
I've done enough. He's not saying I've done enough, he says, "I still haven't done the very thing I came here to do. You can all applaud me, you can all celebrate me, you can all think I've done great things, and here's my trophies and here's my acquisitions but you know what?
God promised me Hebron. And while there is still breath in my lungs, while my heart is still beating, while my blood is still pumping I'm going after the one thing that God said I can have. I'm 85! I'm 85! I'm just a spring chicken." That's what he is essentially saying. That's what it says in the original Hebrew. It says, "I am just a spring -- chicken!"
He said, "I've had to survive 40 years in the wilderness with people murmuring, grumbling, and complaining. It was supposed to be a three days journey from bondage into freedom but no, we had to do laps around Mount Sinai for 40 years.
I had to hear the same old people grumbling and grumbling and complaining and telling us why we couldn't go in. We came out of Egypt but Egypt never came out of them. And I had to listen to them doing laps around Mount Sinai for 40 years.