Take Courage: ask for challenge
In the Life Church weekly e-newsletter, the church leaders write a brief introductory post each week exploring book of Joshua, and looking at how it challenges us to live biblically courageous lives.
Last week, Wouter Vertegaal looked at one small but significant moment in the life of Caleb:
Caleb was a spy who believed that God would give the Israelites the promised land. We read in Joshua 14 that, after 45 years and aged 85, Caleb finally comes to claim his inheritance. Rather than ask for a nice apartment in a retirement village, he asks for land that is still to be taken. And this is not just any land: Caleb asks for a hill with fortified cities and giants.
Though he was aged in years, Caleb asks for the privilege of a really hard assignment. He made his home city Hebron – formerly known as Kiriath Arba – named after Arba, the greatest of giants. Caleb founded his heritage on the defeat of the king of giants. What a man of courage!
Today, the work of God to bring his kingdom to this earth is still in full flow. He is still looking for men and women who, like Caleb, are full of courage and willing to take the good news of Jesus into new places of influence, or places where being a Christian is hard.
When we encounter God in all his glory and see through faith-filled eyes how he wants to outwork his promises through our hands, we will no longer be satisfied with seeking small things for our comfort. Instead, we will look for great and difficult things for his glory. So today, take courage: set your foot on the hills that are still to be taken by making yourself available for God's work today, and ask for challenge. Perhaps you too will ask the Father for the privilege of a really hard assignment for his great glory?
"I will give [Caleb] and his descendants the land he set his feet on, because he followed the LORD wholeheartedly.” (Hebrews 12:1-2).
If you are inspired by this, but feel the need for a bit more teaching, training or equipping to do it, come along to The Gathering at the end of this month. We will be looking specifically this time at taking courage in the context of the communities we’re in - our families, our churches, our workplaces and our neighbourhoods. How can we take the good news of Jesus into new places of influence? Come along and find out!