Joshua has watched Moses lead for 40 years. He has been an eyewitness to how Moses would meet with God. He has been an eyewitness to how Moses would seek God and trust in God. He has seen how the Lord provides. Now it is his turn to lead the people.
These short instructions say so much.
Read More word, confidence, courageFear and trepidation walk closely behind every person called to a new work for God, much of it due to a concern about how what we hope to give to God will be received, and perceived, by others. The people of Israel were poor followers, so much so that they pushed their former leader Moses to the edge of despair. Yet, God had chosen them and promised them a land where they would prosper and where eventually they would bring forth the promised Saviour; and God would deliver on this promise.
Read More remember, courage, storyAs the story proceeds, the children of Israel are encamped on the eastern side of the Jordan River, and they look to enter the land by moving west. Across the river is the heavily fortified city of Jericho, the gateway, we might say, to the promised land. Joshua’s first act is to find out what he is facing, that is, how strong are the fortifications, what kind of resistance might be expected, what is the state of morale. So he sends in spies.
Read More belief, trust, faithRahab’s faith was not unknown to God, for every person who has faith is known to God and no faith goes unanswered. This is why the spies, thinking that they were simply being smart spies ended up in the care of the one person in the city who had faith, because God knew her and loved her and intended to respond to her faith with salvation. However faith is not faith without confession, for it is one of the mysteries of faith that it is not faith if it is all tucked away secretly; no, somewhere faith must show itself as trust that defies the wisdom of this world.
Read More faith, trustAfter forty long years in the desert, years during which one whole generation had died, years of signs and wonders but also years of tedium and frustration, the people are about to enter the land promised to them so long ago. Why did it take forty years to get to this place? Because even after they saw the amazing work of God in bringing them out of Egypt with great power they had not believed that God was great enough to bring them into this land.
Read More prepare, dedicationCertain days change and mark our families forever, sometimes tragically, or sometimes because on that day a new beginning was made. Even if not everything worked out as was hoped, nevertheless nothing was ever the same after it. Sometimes such days of new beginning are days of physical moving, from one city or even from one country to another. When that happens there are also moments that for one reason or another are never forgotten.
Read More new beginning, memorial, mercyWhy, instead of simply moving north from the Sinai Peninsula and entering the Promised Land from the South, as every invading army since has done, did God have this mass of people continue east of the Dead Sea, then North, then face West with a river in between them and their objective? It’s like so many things that happen in my own life and in the life of my family that I don’t really understand. It seems like there should be an obvious and easier way for God to direct me.
Read More unseen, faithIdentity is an obsession with western people and has been for much of the past century. Everything – from the existential philosophers, Bourne’s many passports and Lady Gaga’s multiple costumes to the perennial “identity crisis” of forty-somethings – speak of this underlying confusion: Who am I really?
There is a solid foundation for our identity.
Read More identityJoshua looks up and sees a man with a drawn sword. It is not designated as a vision and Joshua does not treat it as a vision. He walks toward the man and speaks to him, asking him “Whose side are you on?” The one-word answer is pivotal to the story and to all of life. “Neither.” The question, as others have said, should be “Whose side am I on?” for we face Christ on holy ground, the Lord of history and the Lord of our lives.
Read More self-centredness, discipleship, obedienceThe instructions were to march around the city once a day for six days, in silence, behind the Ark of the Covenant. On the seventh day, they were to march around the city seven times with the priests blowing trumpets and at the end of the seventh march they were to shout. The time of silence is a time of humiliation, to walk and not taunt. They were not to sneer, nor take the opportunity to network with a neighbor. The Ark of the Covenant was a sign of the presence of God, of his promises, deliverance and forgiveness.
Read More victory, deliverance