The upper and lower springs
Caleb gave her the upper springs and the lower springs. (Judges 1:15)
As a young man, I worked in local government for the department responsible for clearing the city centre pavements of snow in the wintertime. When it snowed heavily, I had to turn up very early in the morning to help organise this work. I remember leaving my home one day after it had snowed through the night. It was the most beautiful cloudless morning. The stars shone brightly in the dark sky, especially the North Star. An untouched carpet of deep snow covered the avenue where we lived. There was not a soul about. Most of all, I remember the exhilaration of being the first person to walk through the fresh snow to work. I didn’t feel the cold. I just felt alive!
This simple experience has often reminded of me of the wonder of each day that God gives to us. We live in a dark world, but we can start each day by looking up to the One who is the Bright and Morning Star with hope in our hearts. We can walk by faith day by day through all the experiences of life with the assurance that our times are in His hand. There is also a path which is uniquely ours. In these paths of righteousness, we learn the ways of God. Behind us, we leave footsteps. Some are joyful, and others are not. In front, we have yet to make footsteps. Each morning June and I pray that the Lord would go before us guiding our steps in the ordinary and extraordinary circumstances of life.
Caleb was a remarkable man of God. He had seen the Promised Land as one of the twelve spies. When the people feared to take possession of what God had promised them, he said to them, “Let us go up at once and take possession, for we are well able to overcome it” (Numbers 13:30). But instead of possessing what God wanted to give them, their unbelief led them to endure nearly 40 years in the wilderness. But Caleb had seen the land and its beauty remained in his heart. When as an old man he entered the Promised Land, he spoke to his friend Joshua of how the Lord had kept him alive, and added, “Here I am this day, eighty-five years old. As yet I am as strong this day as on the day that Moses sent me; just as my strength was then, so now is my strength for war, both for going out and for coming in” (Joshua 14:10-11). The wilderness years were a very testing time. But Caleb had not lived them in bitterness and disappointment. He had walked before God in anticipation of what was to come.
When God gave Caleb his inheritance, his daughter, Achsah, came to her father to ask for the blessing of springs of water. In generous response, Caleb gave Achsah the upper springs and the lower springs (Judges 1:14-15). This gift reminds me of how God provides His word to bless and keep us in our experience of abundance (the upper springs) and of need (the lower springs). Caleb knew these experiences, and he wanted his children to know God’s faithfulness throughout their lives too.
Paul writes, “Not that I speak in regard to need, for I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content: I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things I have learned both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” (Philippians 4:11-13).
Let us open the door of this morning and know the exhilaration of our life in Christ.
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