This phrase is a portion of Caleb’s declaration to Joshua about his strength in his 85^th year.  The full text from the King James Bible reads:

As yet 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. (Josh. 14:11)

I’ve often thought of Caleb as a wonderful example of how to defeat the belief of aging and as a useful metaphysical concept to practically demonstrate this in our own experiences.  And I’ve used it successfully on many occasions.

But recently, I began to realize that the final portion—“even so is my strength now, for war, both to go out, and to come in”—is something that we can think of in terms of our willingness and God-given ability to go out and to come in from battle as we seek to heal the public and not just ourselves.

You might well be scratching your head and asking “What’s the connection?”

Let me explain.

Many of the folks that I speak with in my work are often afraid of actually doing what a Christian Scientist is supposed to do—namely heal the sick and reform the sinner.

Why?

Because they doubt their ability and understanding.  Or they wonder what others will think of them if they offer prayerful help.  Or particularly if they don’t succeed.

Frequently, they’re concerned about what will happen to them in terms of mental malpractice against their efforts—in other words, what the reaction of the carnal mind would be, how it might harm them physically, socially, employment-wise, and so on.

But each of these concerns are fears—are impositions—suggested to the individual’s consciousness by mortal mind, by evil, as if it were their own thinking, conclusions, and observations.

“To what end?” you might ask.

To keep the Christian Scientist from fulfilling his or her God-given mission in helping to destroy the carnal mind’s enslavement of humanity!

Caleb’s affirmation—backed by his reliance on God and his experience from having done so in the midst of the possibility of violent danger to himself as well as condemnation from his fellow Israelites—indicates clearly to me that we can go out to war and expect to come in from it without scars, without trauma, without harm to ourselves or our loved ones.

How so?

Because it is none other than Almighty God who impels us to do so.  It is God, and none else, who guides and protects us as we go forth to accomplish all that He wishes us to do.

And with that recognition and consequent action—with that spiritual understanding and obedience to our Maker—we bless our fellow beings and are simultaneously blessed!

Both to go out and to come in!