Almost There

We have taken our children on many family trips over the years.  We woke before dawn, packed the minivan with luggage, activities, snacks, and kids, and drove across the country.  These trips were not “vacations” for us parents, but an exciting and exhausting change of scenery.

As we got farther down the road, the kids would begin to ask, “Are we almost there yet?”  Their turn of phrase made me smile.  They never asked, “Are we there yet?”  Evidently, they just needed the hope that we were, indeed, getting somewhere, getting closer to our destination, and were “almost” there. 

There was as much excitement when they knew we were close as when we actually arrived.  When we were almost there, that was the cue to wake up, find and put on both of their shoes, pack up their games and books, and start looking out the window.  They began to ask how many more miles and at what kind of place we were staying, their chatter revealing their excitement.

I think Caleb must have felt the same kind of excitement—amplified exponentially—after wandering through the wilderness with Israel for forty years.  He had faith that, with God’s help, Israel could possess the land God had promised to Israel, but his companions shrank back in fear and doubt.  After scouting Canaan, they had reported that Israel was no match for the people and giants who lived in those cities, and Caleb was forced to suffer through their punishment of forty years of wandering.

Four decades later, God told Joshua to lead the people across the Jordan River and into the promised land.  It was evident that they were almost there!  Once across the Jordan, Israel defeated thirty kings and Joshua “gave their lands as an inheritance to the tribes of Israel according to their tribal divisions” (Josh. 12:7, NIV).  Then Caleb stepped forward and said this to Joshua:

You know what the Lord said to Moses the man of God at Kadesh Barnea about you and me … “The land on which your feet have walked will be your inheritance and that of your children forever, because you have followed the Lord my God wholeheartedly.”  Now then, just as the Lord promised, he has kept me alive for forty-five years since the time he said this to Moses … So here I am today, eighty-five years old!  I am still as strong today as the day Moses sent me out; I’m just as vigorous to go out to battle now as I was then … the Lord helping me, I will drive them out just as he said.

Caleb followed the Lord wholeheartedly, and the Lord helped him to claim the territory promised to him.  Remarkably, Caleb remained exceptionally strong, both in his body and in his faith, for forty-five years.  Year after year of travelling through the wilderness did not erode his faith.  Like Noah, who was shut inside the ark for more than a year, and Abraham, who waited twenty-five years before Isaac was born, and Paul, who suffered through years of imprisonment, Caleb had plenty of opportunity to lose hope and doubt God.  However, he stood strong in confidence that the promise God had spoken to him through Moses would eventually be realized. 

Wholehearted faith is exactly that: faith that believes in God with all the heart.  Caleb did not have the Biblical record; his story was not yet printed on the pages of a book.  He couldn’t turn a few pages and see how it was all going to end.  But as the forty years of wandering came to a close and he realized he was almost there, Caleb trusted that God would be true to His word and fulfill His promise. 

If you are beginning to languish on this long journey, stuck in the backseat and not behind the wheel, and if you need some hope and encouragement to stay the course, allow me to be the one to tell you, “You are almost there!”  It is not the time to deviate from the course, hesitate, or stop.  Whether the fulfillment is years, months, days, or just hours away, God’s word remains true, and He is faithful to keep His promises.  There will come a time when you can look back and see that God was faithful and present through every long mile and every difficult moment. 

In the meantime, it is time to wake up, get ready, and begin to look expectantly for God to show up, for the answer to come, and for the comfort of the Holy Spirit to be present with you.  You are, indeed, almost there!