When Joshua had grown old, the Lord said to him, “You are now very old, and there are still very large areas of land to be taken over.

2 “This is the land that remains: all the regions of the Philistines and Geshurites, 3 from the Shihor River on the east of Egypt to the territory of Ekron on the north, all of it counted as Canaanite though held by the five Philistine rulers in Gaza, Ashdod, Ashkelon, Gath and Ekron; the territory of the Avvites 4 on the south; all the land of the Canaanites, from Arah of the Sidonians as far as Aphek and the border of the Amorites; 5 the area of Byblos; and all Lebanon to the east, from Baal Gad below Mount Hermon to Lebo Hamath.

6 “As for all the inhabitants of the mountain regions from Lebanon to Misrephoth Maim, that is, all the Sidonians, I myself will drive them out before the Israelites. Be sure to allocate this land to Israel for an inheritance, as I have instructed you, 7 and divide it as an inheritance among the nine tribes and half of the tribe of Manasseh.” (NIV)

‘“You are never too old to set a new goal or dream a new dream.” C.S. Lewis

This short passage resonates with me, because I am very much aware of the advancing years. I am now in my 70th year, and some people reading this will no doubt say, ‘That’s not old at all.’ Comparatively speaking, maybe not. But 69 isn’t young!

But this also resonates with my heart. I must not now allow myself to simply ‘coast’, just because I’m a pensioner. Spiritually, there is much ground to be taken. I want to spend the rest of my days pressing on and pressing in. Don’t you? There will always be land ‘to be possessed’ while we are in this world. How we can serve may change, but may the desire to serve always burn in our hearts. We can trust the Lord who has led us this far, to show us the works He still has for us to do.

‘Unlike some elderly people, Joshua lived in the future and not in the past. He had a job to do, and he wanted to complete it before he died. He was not satisfied to defeat thirty-one kings. He urged the tribes to possess the land they had conquered and claim it for the Lord.

No matter how much God has enabled you to accomplish in life, there is always much more land to possess. In the Christian life, we never stand still; we either go forward or backward. The challenge to the believer is Hebrews 6:1: ”Let us go on!” ‘

”The righteous will flourish like a palm tree,
    they will grow like a cedar of Lebanon;
13 planted in the house of the Lord,
    they will flourish in the courts of our God.
14 They will still bear fruit in old age,
    they will stay fresh and green,
15 proclaiming, “The Lord is upright;
    he is my Rock, and there is no wickedness in him.” (Psalm 92:12-15, NIV)

In the next chapter we are going to meet yet another inspiring ‘senior’!