Don't give up! Fri Devo

Read Joshua 14
When we had our first child, a boy, we were trying to select the right name for him. One of my many suggestions was "Caleb". Dave said, "No, we have to name him 'Joshua' and the next one 'Caleb'; which is exactly what we did. Reading this chapter makes me so glad we did.
In verse 6, Caleb and his delegation came to Joshua to remind him of the land God had promise him and about what Caleb had done for God. When they first arrived at the Promise land, Moses had sent out 12 spies, one from each tribe. Only Joshua and Caleb came back saying the land was good and they should take it. The rest of the men had only seen the giants in the land so they frightened the people from entering and they had to wait 40 more years as punishment. Caleb is now wanting the land Moses had promised him because he had "wholeheartedly followed the Lord." He even reminded Joshua that even though he was now 85 years old, he was still as strong as he was when he was 45.
How sweet of God! Caleb was ready and willing to take his land at the time God had planned for them to take it, but because his people lacked faith, he suffered and had to wait. I see this happen in families where one person is ready to go on with God and the other is not "there yet" and they have to wait. But God restores back to the one who has to be patient by giving him the same strength, the same promise, and the same result at the later date. There are things that God has promised all of us that we have not seen happen even though we have "wholeheartedly served the Lord". Don't give up. There will be another chance and everyone who is suppose to be with you will be ready. That is a whole lot better that doing it sooner and alone. God is so concerned about people. He has many children that he has entrusted to our care. They may seem to "hold us back", but God makes allowances for that and rewards us for having to wait. "They that wait upon the Lord will renew their strength. They will rise up with wings as eagles, they will run and not be weary, they will walk and not faint."
Lord, help us to realize that You are so in love with all your children. You patiently wait for me, help me to patiently wait for others.