D.L. Moody (1837-1899) was an American evangelist/revivalist who had only a fifth-grade education and poor grammar. He was hardly a candidate for success in Christian ministry, particularly one that involved public speaking. Moody once admitted, "I know perfectly well that, wherever I go and preach, there are many better preachers ... than I am; all that I can say about it is that the Lord uses me." Why did God use D. L. Moody to become the greatest evangelist of the late 19th Century, leading hundreds of thousands of people to profess Christ as their Savior? What was the secret to Moody’s success? The answer is, "a life completely dedicated to God." Moody’s most famous saying was, “The world has yet to see what God can do with a man fully consecrated to him. By God’s help, I aim to be that man.” I was reminded of that saying when I read the words of a man named Caleb, one of Israel’s twelve men who went to spy on the land of Canaan, before Israel would enter the land. He was forty years old at that time. In Joshua 14:8 Caleb states, “Forty years old was I when Moses the servant of the Lord sent me from Kadesh-Barnea to spy out the land; and I brought him word again as it was in mine heart. Nevertheless my brethren that went up with me made the heart of the people melt: but I wholly followed the Lord my God. At the age of eighty-five Caleb was still serving God with his whole heart. He “wholly followed the Lord.” Age did not lessen Caleb’s passion for God, nor his strength, “ I am as strong this day as I was in the day that Moses sent me: as my strength was then, even so is my strength now, for war, both to go out, and to come in” (Joshua 14:11). God blessed Caleb’s commitment to God and he went into the land at an old age and drove out the son’s of Anakim, a giant, warlike people from the land", And Caleb drove thence the three sons of Anak, Sheshai, and Ahiman, and Talmai, the children of Anak (Joshua 15:14).
In the end, the Lord did not forget Caleb's dedication, just as He does not forget our labors of love in His name, “And Joshua blessed him, and gave unto Caleb the son of Jephunneh Hebron for an inheritance” (Joshua 14:8). In commenting on Joshua 14:9 and Caleb, “wholly following the Lord” Wayne Barber wrote, "literally in the Hebrew, “He was fulfilled to walk behind Jehovah.” He was fulfilled. The word fulfilled means filled full—to the brim. Nothing else was needed in his life. That’s the most beautiful thing; he needed nothing else. No wonder Caleb was so successful! God was everything to Him and he gave his all for the Lord, just like D.L. Moody. What does God mean to you, and what are willing to give up and do to follow Him?
Keep pressing on,
Pastor Tom
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