Good Monday to you my “Walking with Jesus” friends,
When I turn the calendar to October my pulse begins to run a little faster, how about you? Years ago, my wife and I lived in a place where October was an exciting month of change! The turning colors of the trees forecast winter ahead. It was harvest time for the farmers and I loved watching the big combines and tractors bringing in the harvest which has grown up through the summer and now would feed the world. Where we lived daylight grew less by more than 3 minutes every day as sunrise was later and sunset was earlier, and the early mornings grew colder by the day. Yes, it was October in North Dakota!
In our “Walking with Jesus” journey together this past weekend we concluded several months of traveling with the apostle Paul on his second and third missionary journeys, oh my what remarkable experiences we’ve had, do you agree? And we have sought to understand the first flurry of letters Paul wrote during those years to new Christians in the Greek cities of Thessalonica and Corinth. While there is much more for us to experience with Paul, I feel led to pause our journey with Paul for now, possibly resuming with Paul next Spring. Today, I invite you to join me in time travel!
Let’s go way back into the Old Testament, almost 3400 years ago to the time of Joshua! Two years ago, at this time, the fall of ’21, in “Walking with Jesus” we were walking with Moses as we followed the Exodus story from the birth of Moses (Exodus 1) to his death, 120 years later. (Deuteronomy 34). We were amazed to see all God did through that remarkable man, Moses, as he followed God’s instructions to lead about 1 million Hebrew slaves from Egyptian slavery, to Mount Sinai to spend several months getting to know God, then following the cloud by day and pillar of fire by night through 40 years of desert wandering, all the way to the banks of the Jordan river, where the next generation camped preparing to cross into the land of Promise.
Would you join me today in Joshua 1 as we join this young man Joshua who is facing the daunting task of following Moses as leader of these people. Put yourselves in Joshua’s sandals as he hears God speak to him. Joshua recorded this life changing event this way: “After the death of Moses, the servant of the LORD, the LORD said to Joshua, son of Nun, Moses’ aide: ‘Moses My servant is dead. Now then, you and all these people, get ready to cross the Jordan River into the land I am about to give to them – to the Israelites. I will give you every place where you set your foot, as I promised Moses. Your territory will extend from the desert to Lebanon, and from the great river, the Euphrates – all the Hittite country – to the Mediterranean Sea in the west. No one will be able to stand against you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you. Be strong and courageous, because you will lead these people to inherit the land, I swore to their ancestors to give them.” (Joshua 1:1-6)
I don’t know exactly where Joshua was when he heard God speak to him, nor do I know if it was the audible voice of God, as Moses and Joshua had heard so many times before. But this I know… there was no misunderstanding for Joshua. History was being made, again!
I wonder what you find to be the most powerful words in what God said to Joshua and why do those words strike you with such power? For me it begins with the first few words God spoke to Joshua: “Moses My servant is dead. Now then, you and all these people, get ready…” It would have been understandable if Joshua and the people had assumed everything would collapse with the death of Moses, after all, no human being had ever lived such an incredible relationship with God! 8 times Moses had hiked up Mount Sinai to meet with God. Moses heard God’s audible voice, and received instructions directly from God, and then Moses came down from Sinai and led the people in doing what God had instructed! But God’s words to Joshua made it clear:
Moses was successful because he was a servant of God! His purpose everyday was to discern God’s leading in his life and accomplish it. No more, no less. But Joshua needed to understand that God’s great purpose for His people, these Israelites, was unchanged even though Moses was now dead. In fact, Joshua heard very clearly, it’s time to move forward, into the next chapter of what God had planned for these people, and that required that they ‘Get Ready’ to participate with God in what HE had planned for them next.
Today and tomorrow, I’d like us to look at what “get ready” meant for them, and what God might want it to mean for us in 2023. Joshua heard God say: “…get ready to cross the Jordan River into the land I am about to give to them – to the Israelites.” Do you hear God’s directive to ACTION with EXPECTATION? The action was to get ready to do something they’d never done before… cross the Jordan river, which by the way was at flood stage because it was harvest season, according to Joshua’s note in Joshua 3:15. So this was a call to action to join God in doing the impossible…cross a flooded river without a bridge! We’ll look at that miracle later this week. But today, here’s the question: Are you and I ready to hear God tell us ‘Get ready to join with God in doing the impossible’? What will be your response if God speaks to you as He spoke to Joshua?
But also, do you see God gave Joshua a reason to look BEYOND that flooded Jordan into a future only God could provide them. What future? Taking possession of the land God had promised Abraham about 500 years before! Let’s pause here and ponder a moment. I can see Joshua standing on the riverbank, looking at the flooded Jordan roaring downstream and then allowing his eyes to roam from all over the land on the other side of the Jordan and thinking about God’s promise!
Yes, it would require a Red Sea style miracle to get across that flooded river, but it would require an even bigger and much more prolonged miracle to take possession of the land with all its cities, including Jericho! So, again I ask, as God looks into your future and mine… the rest of ’23, then all of ’24 and into ’25, what do you think God sees that HE would like to accomplish, for His glory, IF you will join obediently with God?
Yes, Joshua knew that what God had promised would require great faith and courage and obedience on the part of Joshua and all the people. I wonder if Joshua looked around from his viewing vantage point. Tents and people as far as the eye could see. Thousands of tents, more than a million people. What would it take from Joshua to motivate and mobilize these people to ‘get ready’ to follow God with that roaring Jordan river in front of them?
And I believe the words of God which welled up in Joshua and gave Joshua a reason to hope were these: “As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you. Be strong and courageous , because you will lead these people to inherit the land I swore to their ancestors to give them.” (Joshua 1:5,6)
I have learned in my life that God will never invite and challenge His people to walk with Him courageously into a challenging future without God Himself going before them, preparing the way and then empowering them as God walks with them to follow God’s guidance. Have you learned that by experience? Let’s close today by remembering the times you’ve courageously stepped out in great faith with God, obeying God’s call to action, with great expectations.
Let’s thank God for what we experienced and learned in those miraculous times, and I’ll be waiting for you, right here tomorrow, on the banks of the flooded Jordan, with Joshua! Here’s a song to help us celebrate how God wants to help us get ready for a future HE has planned!
Today’s Scripture is Joshua 1:1-6.
Choose below to read or listen.
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Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.
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Pastor Doug Anderson
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
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