Bible Roulette! -- Caleb's Smart Gamble

Time for a new exciting game here at One Catholic Guy called:

bible roulette!  

The game is simple: after failing to write a blog post all day, I will flip randomly through the bible and try and find a quote having to do with this Easter theme of joy!  

First up from the USCCB online bible: Song of Songs 8:8 (who do we appreciate? Go team!)

“We have a little sister;^*

she has no breasts as yet.

What shall we do for our sister

on the day she is spoken for?

Okay, maybe not the best one to start with.  Let's try one with less breasts involved...or would it be more since the sister has none?

awkward. 

So let's give this another spin in the New American Bible I get around from confirmation class: Joshua 14. 

This one is actually kind of fitting for me personally but we'll get to that in a minute.  

Essentially it's a passage about how Joshua and the elders divided up the inheritance of the Israelites once they're in Caanan.  After 40 years wandering, they've finally made it to the promised land, but who is promised what?

We hear about Caleb, who along with Joshua, spied on Caanan and reported to Moses that they could take back the land when 10 other spies called it impossible (Check it out on New Advent).  Caleb is a man of great faith and trust in the Lord and Moses promised him the land he spied on, called Hebron,  "because you have been completely loyal to the Lord, my God" Joshua 14:9.  

The really cool part for me is this quote from everyone's favorite Kenizzite (whatever that means) Caleb,

 "although I am now eighty-five years old, I am still as strong today as I was the day Moses sent me forth, with no less vigor whether for war or for ordinary tasks" Jos 14:10-11

I had little time to write today because I was actually celebrating my grandfather's 91st birthday!  So this is fortunate spin on the ol' roulette wheel.  Caleb says he's as strong today as he was over 40 years ago. Given the crazy ages we see people live to in the bible, that could be physically true but I think 40 years will slow anyone down who lives less than 500 years total.  So how is Caleb strong still?

His strength is not physical but in his passion for the Lord.  The reference point he uses for his pinnacle of strength was Moses sending him forth.  It is Caleb's mission that solidifies his resolve in the Lord and he fights against popular opinion to tell Moses what the other spies would not, that they can complete the mission; that they can return home.  And he's rewarded by God for this loyalty not only with the land of Hebron but with this strength and firmness of will. To extend the roulette analogy, Caleb put all his chips on one number, God, and was paid more profit than the world could ever give: the favor and love of God,

I think it's common for an older man to look back on his life and think of his work and livelihood.  My grandpa just today said he had gone back to work last month because he loved working.  He has fond memories of his 40 plus years of work but surely it was not fantastic on a daily basis.  Grandpa worked in a sweater factory as a presser, basically operating a gigantic steamer that made sweaters creaseless and ironically men wrinkled from the heat in their face for hours a day.  The day to day of that business was arduous and the fact that it was a seasonal job surely meant large periods of time doubting whether the factory may reopen the next year.

I feel this myself as I've been unemployed for several months.  Will I ever complete my mission and will I ever receive any sort of commission for working again?   Am I able to do what God calls me towards and how do I know what that is? Am I on the right path?

Caleb, now who we see as an old man, knows the answer.  He has done right by the Lord and remained loyal and he is still strong. He says he has vigor for both war and ordinary tasks.  Part of this is from experience I think, he's lived many more days than I have and knows how things work.  Same with my grandfather, he can say he loved working because the ordinary tasks of that work are long gone and he now sees the grander overall benefit of his career. But, more importantly both these men had an innate trust in God.  My grandfather hoped and probably prayed that the factory stayed open until next season and Caleb knew when others doubted that the Israelites could get back what God promised them because God is a reliable promise-maker.

God is good to us and the source of great strength.  In Jesus Christ's coming, we are given even greater trust that God will keep His Word since He gave us His Word who is Jesus.  And, in the fullness of the Trinity, Jesus ascends to heaven and sends down the Holy Spirit to fill us with the vigor we need to do our mission in both extraordinary and ordinary ways as Caleb is set to still do at 85 and my grandfather, in a limited way, can at 91.

And I, on the brink of 25, will hold on hope* and trust in God that He will provide and I will receive my inheritance. I have strength still in me as I am in the Body of Christ, which too shows that I am useful to God despite my flaws, imperfections, unemployment.  All of us are called into Christ's Body and in the Catholic Church we are privileged to receive our daily bread, the Eucharist to give us the strength to hold on for the 45 years until Joshua can give what Moses promised.  At the end of the day I got a call for a new interview, a job much closer to my goal than the others I've applied for. God maybe placed that for a little encouragement.  And I'm very grateful.

*(For those who can't resist completing the Mumford lyric)


So as we conclude this first bible roulette I pray for all of us who need some more trust in God today and who feel weak.  Oh God, our life, strengthen us for the journey to You in heaven.  Keep us on the path of faith and be our light as You always are.  We love You and Praise You, now and forever!

Alleluia!

~onecatholicguy