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seeing the giants in the Promised Land, ten of Israel's twelve spies
came back and said, 'It can't be done.' But the other two, Joshua and
Caleb, said, 'It can.' But because of Israel's unbelief, Caleb had been
forced to spend forty more years wandering through the wilderness. And
by the time the Israelites crossed the Jordan River he was eighty years
old. Then another five years passed before the various tribes of Israel
were assigned land to occupy. Here's how Caleb described it all, years
later: 'I was forty years old when Moses...sent me...to explore the
land. And I brought him back a report according to my convictions, but
my fellow Israelites who went up with me made the hearts of the people
melt in fear. I, however, followed the Lord my God wholeheartedly'
(Joshua 14:7-8 NIV). If you've a negative attitude when you're forty,
there's a good chance you'll have one when you're eighty-five. Actually,
there's a good chance you won't even make it to eighty-five!
Psychologist Martin Seligman studied several hundred people in a
religious community; he divided them into quartiles, ranging from the
most to the least optimistic. Ninety per cent of the optimists were
alive at eighty-five, while just 34 per cent of the naysayers made it to
the same age. Twelve spies went out, but only Joshua and Caleb had the
faith to say, 'We can do it.' And forty-five years later Caleb was as
feisty as ever! Want to guess what happened to the other ten spies? They
died. None of them made it to Caleb's age. It's as simple as this:
faith and optimism can add years to your life.
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