Are You Ready For Battle? – How To Keep Going

How in the world did Caleb have such vigor, zeal, and hope after all he’d been through? He was no stranger to suffering! He had wandered around in the desert for forty years, watching an entire generation die, through no fault of his own. He had fought for a homeland, stood strong when no one believed him, and built a family.

Yet this man — this eighty-five-year-old man — says he’s “still as strong today as the day Moses sent” him to scout the land, decades before. Just as ready to go out to battle. At his age, after all he had been through, he was on fire to go further. To rush into God’s promises — even facing large and fortified cities — with reckless confidence.

I don’t know about you, but after all that, I would be tired. I’m tired now. Maybe you are too. Maybe you’re weary of the fight, ready for the next season, and it’s all you can do to go through the motions.

This is for the mom who hasn’t slept eight hours in longer than she can remember. This is for the chronic illness warrior facing another day of excruciating pain. This is for the believer broken-hearted by church division.

Caleb tells us the “how.” If we look at the entire passage, Caleb tells us what sustained him. He honestly acknowledges the obstacles, but says “The Lord helping me, I will drive them out just as he said.” (Joshua 14:12)

“The Lord helping me.” The Lord helping us. The Lord helping you.

The Lord helping you, may you conquer the addiction that has held tight endlessly. The Lord helping you, may he renew your courage to open yourself to friendship again. The Lord helping you, may God restore in you the strength of your youth as you fight for your marriage.

The world may beat you down as it had Caleb. But like Caleb, let us not rely on our own power, but cast ourselves (and our burdens) into God’s hands.

Lord God, thank you for the examples of other men and women of faith to encourage me. Would you renew, restore, and strengthen me today? I give you my weariness and ask for your help. I cannot do this without you. Amen.

Throughout this day: Be encouraged as you listen to this song by Phil Wickham: “Battle Belongs”