God’s Timing Requires Patience

I am not patient. It is a fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-33) that I continue to struggle to cultivate. There are many examples of patience in the Bible to reference for inspiration. But I recently discovered a story from Joshua, in the Old Testament, and I was flabbergasted by the patience I saw in it.

“Now, as you can see, the Lord has kept me alive and well as He promised for all these forty-five years since Moses made this promise – even while Israel wandered in the wilderness.  Today I am eighty-five years old. I am as strong now as I was when Moses sent me on that journey, and I can still travel and fight as well as I could then. So give me the hill country that the Lord promised me. You will remember that as scouts we found the descendants of Anak living there in great, walled towns. But if the Lord is with me, I will drive them out of the land, just as the Lord said.” Joshua 14: 10-12

So for those of you who don’t know this man – it’s Caleb. He had heard the promise of the Lord to bring the Israelites to the Promised Land and out of the hands of the Egyptians (Exodus 33). Caleb was then subject to the consequences of the actions of his people and their unbelief; therefore, he experienced wandering in the wilderness for 40 years (Numbers 14). 

So, to be clear, Caleb had experienced all of his first 40 years under that hand of Pharaoh, as a slave to the Egyptians. I imagine that after so much suffering, and so much life lived, how Caleb must have celebrated when he saw the promised land and God promised him a part of it!  And then I imagine how devastated he must have been when he heard he must wait 40 MORE years before the promise would be fulfilled. He continues to wait an ADDITIONAL 5 years, which includes the death of Moses, before Caleb makes this request that we read in Joshua.

And the request pays off; Caleb goes in and wins the battle and his progeny stays in that land that Lord had promised Caleb. What patience! And what boldness! To have lived 85 years with the expectation of God’s promise….that’s 40 years more than I’ve lived and I cannot say that I’m as strong now as even five years ago. Let us pray for strength to wait for God’s timing; let us pray to grow in patience. Lord, help us to continue to seek You and stay faithful like Caleb.