“Give me this mountain that the Lord promised me that day.” Joshua 14:12 NIV
“Other people don’t steal your dreams; usually a person gives up on them all by themselves.”
My thoughts today are, “never stop climbing.”
Life is about dreams and goals – God shaped and God sized – and the adventures that result. Joshua and Caleb were quite a pair. They stood out in their generation. They seemed to always take God at His word. Others looked around for some other indication of what they should do; Joshua and Caleb listened to God, and then obeyed. It was forty-five years earlier when they were ready and willing to go into the land God had promised to Israel, but others’ voices of doubt and fear loomed larger than their voices of faith.
But there’s always another day with a new opportunity. Your dream is still possible unless you allow regrets and doubts to steal your dreams. Can you even imagine holding on to a dream for forty-five years, with little encouragement along the way except for your own stubborn faith in God and yourself? Can you see yourself eighty-five years old and still ready to tackle the mountains where the giants and their fortified cities held control?
Caleb had no illusions that it would be easy. If anything, it could be harder than when he was younger, but the years had allowed him to see a lot more of what God could do with people who would believe. Our younger granddaughter, when asked about a family occasion she could not remember, said, “I can’t see myself there.” Until you can see yourself “there” – reaching your dream – you won’t believe that you ever will be “there.” That’s how and when you can lose your dreams; you lay them aside to be practical about life. Other people don’t steal your dreams; you give up on them.
What had Caleb been doing all those years in between? Listen to God’s description: Caleb, “wholly followed the Lord.” Joshua 14:9/14 NKJV. I would suggest that you will never lose your way if you are following the Lord with your whole heart. There are mountains of success and moments of satisfaction that are yours, if you are willing to never stop climbing.
A second and third thing about Caleb is this: “So I’m asking you to give me the hill country that the Lord promised me . . if the Lord is with me, I will drive them out of the land, just as the Lord said.” Joshua 14:12 NLT. Caleb knew what the Lord had promised him, and he recognized that only with the Lord’s help would he accomplish that. You have dreams that will never be fully achieved until you truly believe and know they are from God, and you rely upon His strength, and not only your own. With God beside you, never stop climbing until you get where you were going.
My prayer for you today is that your dreams become more real to you every day.