14. The story of how patience built a legend.

(Joshua Chapter 14)

Have you ever felt forgotten?

I'm not talking about how someone stood you up once for a date, or picked you up really late to go somewhere. Yeah, those moments aren't fun. What I am referring to is like 45 years worth of forgotten?

What if someone told you they were going to do something for you, as long as you lived up to your end of the bargain? Sounds good so far, doesn't it? Now...what if days, weeks, and months went by and they didn't say anything else about it? Seems weird, right? What if those months turned into years? "Must be they had no intention of following through" would be about the last thought you gave it outside of holding a grudge on it. And I wouldn't blame you.

And then the guy that made the promise died?

Whelp...there goes any last trace of hope it would be honored.

And then, you and your friends decide one thing is worth a shot. You approach the predecessor of the guarantor, and tell them the promise that was made to you. Unbeknownst to you they actually knew the entire time the promise that was made 45 years ago to you.

And then this happened...

"Joshua blessed him. He gave Hebron to Caleb...as an inheritance...because he gave himself totally to God."

It's entirely possible that our timeline is very different than God's. And while I understand that isn't what we always want to hear, there is something more important in this chapter than land, and how God responds to time.

(*36)Keeping our word matters more than the keeping of time.

If we say we are going to do something, our feet had better be willing to walk those steps out. Keeping our word isn't based on the convenience of our current circumstances. It isn't based on what is more popular in a moment. And that's the hard part. Every time we run into an option that rears it's head as the author of temptation in our life, we have a choice to make.

Do we honor our word, or holler to be heard?

Do we stay the course, or allow the wind of opinion to blow us off course?

45 years.

I would imagine that there were plenty of times that Caleb felt forgotten in the midst of that time. Seeing others gain land, and receive their inheritance. How many times must he have been wondering if the land they had been given was actually meant for him, and it was just lost in transaltion along the way?

Have you ever been there before...caught up in the middle of daydreaming about what you felt was unfair? Drowning in self-pity and despair? I have. I've watched other people get jobs that I was certain I should have. I've seen people promoted, while I lost a job, and wondered why the Lord had forgotten about me. I don't know if I could have articulated it like that when it happened, but looking back I can piece together the feelings a bit more clearly.

I tell ya what...

45 years would be a REALLY long time to live in jealousy, regret, self-pity or anything else that stole my joy. I find a TON of hope in Caleb's story. The fact that, according to Joshua, he stayed the course. Caleb didn't waiver. Now...hear me when I say this...not that he wouldn't have had doubts or frustrations. BUT...he didn't let it take root long enought to grow into a mature problem in his life. The kind that given enough time could offer shade to cry under, or strength to build a temporary home in. And in either case they would be situations where we had not only gone, but stayed off course.

Caleb's willingness to make the initial journey to spy out the land was honorable. His integrity to stay the course and remain committed to God as he waited? Ladies and gentleman...that is the stuff legends are made of.

That is the stuff I want to be made of.

I'd be willing to bet you do, too.

Keeping our word matters more than what the hands on the clock of time are doing. Afterall, the reward we are really after isn't here anywhere.

(*37) Sowing seeds of patience reaps contentment.

One last note...

If Caleb had given in to his frustrations and stopped following God's plan for his life, he could have missed out on what was always meant to be part of his legacy. And I'm not even talking about the land. That was just a tangible blessing. The larger blessing is the legacy of obedience he left to his family and friends.

If he had just rolled with what was easy, he wouldn't have rolled very far at all.

Why?

(*38) Preference stalls the engine that vision started.

He stuck to what he knew was true, and didn't trade it for what he couldn't see.

Smart man.

If you asked me, that is what legends are made of.

PERSPECTIVE POINTS

(*36) Keeping our word matters more than the keeping of time.
(*37) Sowing seeds of patience reaps contentment.
(*38) Preference stalls the engine that vision started.

Reflection Questions...

36. What are you struggling to keep your word with today? Who can you confide in, so that the word you made stands, and you don't feel alone in the process? Who can you support that might be in the same situation that you are?

37. When is the last time you stopped and celebrated the markers along the way of your journey? You know...the ones where it was really hard, but you pushed through. Do you struggle allowing yourself those moments? To celebrate the wins on the way? If you do...stop. You deserve to rejoice in the process, not be burdened by it.

38. Have you ever experience a "45 year moment"? Obviosuly it doesn't have to be that exact number. BUT...have you waited a really long time for something to resolve itself? What did it feel like when it happened? How can you take that lesson and be a blessing to someone else today to encourage them on their "45 year moment" journey? And before you leave...do you know how much God loves you? Seriously...someone is sitting here saying to themselves "Brett, I am still waiting, and it may never come this side of heaven." Take a deep breath and remember our eternal rewards will always trump our temporal ones, and that keeping our word really does matter more than the keeping of time. Be encouraged, friend. You aren't alone. Not by a long shot. Hey, the Levites never received any land. Their inheritance looked very different, but it didn't make them any less significant.