The Old Guy

But Caleb quieted the people before Moses and said, “Let us go up at once and occupy it, for we are well able to overcome it.” Then the men who had gone up with him said, “We are not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we are.” So they brought to the people of Israel a bad report of the land that they had spied out, saying, “The land, through which we have gone to spy it out, is a land that devours its inhabitants, and all the people that we saw in it are of great height. And there we saw the Nephilim (the sons of Anak, who come from the Nephilim), and we seemed to ourselves like grasshoppers, and so we seemed to them.” (Numbers 13:30-33 ESV). There are days when I really feel like “the old guy.” Some of that is because I am the old guy when I am in some circles. It’s always a little strange to me to be in that role. I still think of myself as able to do all the things I could do twenty years ago. Well, that ship has sailed! It’s not really the physical part of growing old that bothers me. I am more concerned with retaining spiritual vitality. Caleb was about forty years old when he gave the report to Moses in our reading today. He would be one of the few survivors of the Wilderness Wanderings. Later, we will read of his request for Hebron. It was one of the heaviest fortified cities in Canaan. He declares he is just as strong at 80 as he was when he first went into the land forty years earlier! He knew the secret of retaining spiritual vitality. One important key to retaining spiritual longevity is that we will not compromise, but instead stand our ground. That is what Joshua and Caleb did when they were sent by Moses to spy out the land of Canaan. It would have been easy to go along with the others. But they stood their ground at the risk of being personally ostracized and losing their friends, even their lives, because the people wanted to kill Joshua and Caleb. In the same way, we need to stand our ground. We need to be more concerned with God's approval than the approval of others. When you decide to wholly follow Jesus Christ, you had better expect and brace yourself for opposition. There are people who will ridicule, harass, and oppose you. But you cannot let anyone or anything keep you from the commitment you have made. If you want to stand the test of time in your commitment to Christ, then you must develop a set of convictions that will help you steer through the rough waters of temptation and compromise. Be willing to stand on your convictions from the Scriptures. Even when it makes us “old fashioned,” be willing to stand for your faith. More and more we will be called on to be the old guy in this day in which we live. Do it!