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Good morning friends on the Walking With Jesus journey with me, today we are reading Deuteronomy 31.
Moses has reached the end of his life, and the leadership of the people who fled Egypt with him, 40 years ago. It’s time for Moses to hand the leadership of this traveling tent city of 2 million refugees, to someone else. And very soon, the days of desert wandering will be over. The time has come to move into, take possession of, and settle as pioneers, in the new land. But leadership… then as now, that’s one of the biggest questions facing humanity, WHO would be able to lead these 2 million people into the new land?
Deuteronomy 31 is God’s answer to that question, and His plan for a smooth leadership transition. Today, let’s see how God handles leadership succession…because it’s part of everyday life, and all of you reading this will someday be where Moses was…at the end of the journey. Me too! Will we be ready to hand off well, to whomever will follow us, all that our live has been about?
Sadly, in America we have not seen many good examples of well executed leadership succession or transition… too often it is tumultuous or a disaster.
May I urge you to see these key ingredients in why the passing of leadership from Moses to Joshua was so successful?
First, Moses made it clear this was God’s idea! God had chosen Moses, many years before, and sustained him in his leadership all these years. God promised, He was going to do the same with His selection of the next leader Joshua.
Second, Moses was fully supportive of God’s leadership transition plan and would do everything he could to show his support of God’s selection, and the process as God had planned it. As you know a leader stepping aside with reluctance or non support of the next leader, can create a mess. Moses modeled it well.
Third, Joshua was well prepared. He’d been at Moses side for most of these 40’s years. He’d been up the mountain when Moses met with God, (Ex. 24) or in the little ‘tent of meeting’ (Ex. 33), with Moses and God. Joshua was one of the 12 leaders chosen to go in and investigate the promised land and one of only two who stood, to call for obedience to God and entering the land. In every way Joshua had been prepared by God and Moses for this leadership challenge.
Fourth, God put in place the key pillars to success of this leadership transition! Notice how Moses explained the need for a leadership change, and called the people to see God’s plan…“The Moses went out and spoke these words to all Israel: ‘I am now 120 years old and I am no longer able to lead you. The LORD has said to me ‘You shall not cross the Jordan.’ The LORD our God Himself, will cross over ahead of you…” (Deut. 31:1-3)
When you continue reading, you’ll see the promises Moses gave the people, of God’s continued Presence with them, and His Power which will accomplish His Purpose for them! Listen to his words… “Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them (the people in the land), for the LORD your God goes with you; He will never leave you nor forsake you.” (Deut. 31:6)
Then do you see how Moses personalizes the commission from God for Joshua, as the new leader… “Then Moses summoned Joshua and said to him in the presence of all Israel; ‘Be strong and courageous, for you must go with this people into the land that the LORD swore to their forefathers to give them, and you must divide it among them as their inheritance. The LORD Himself goes before you and will be with you; He will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid, do not be discouraged.” (Deut. 31;7,8)
Now, join me, let’s put ourselves in the crowd of people watching this leadership transition. All around us stand two kinds of people… those under age 40, who were born in the desert wandering years, and those over 40, who were children when they ran out of Egypt that Passover night. Moses is the only leader everyone has known. The cloud hovers over the “Tent of Meeting”. Breakfast this morning was manna which fell from heaven, as it has for 40 years.
But over that ridge, is the Jordan river and beyond it, the land we’ve heard about all our lives and soon will actually see. The time has come… will we trust and follow Joshua, as we have Moses? Do we see the hand of God upon Joshua as it was upon Moses? Do we trust God… and are we willing to follow HIM into the future? Will we forget, and fall into the same doubt and fear as those we’ve buried in the desert?
Those questions are why God instructed Moses to be sure he wrote it all down, as a record of God’s faithfulness, and insisted that record should be read every 7 years, to remind the people. Now think about that a moment. What if you heard the Bible read only once every 7 years? Do you see how important it was that parents told the stories to their kids, and explained the Cloud and other miracles very often? It calls us to ask the question…so how are we making sure our Spiritual family legacy is known and remembered by our grandkids and great-grandkids? What is the process your family is using, to be sure the story of God, in your family is not lost, as time and the older people in your family pass on?
Finally in Deuteronomy 31, God calls Moses and Joshua to meet with Him in the “Tent of Meeting”, As you might imagine, as they both came to the Tent, the Cloud of God’s Presence settled on the tent, and God spoke with them. Rather than leading you through it, I’m going to ask you to dig into it for yourself…look closely at what God said to each of them. Look at what God predicted the people were going to do, and then what He would do in response. Look at God’s promises to Joshua, who was undoubtedly overwhelmed with the thought of taking the reigns of leadership from Moses.
As you read, can you see WHERE God tells Moses and Joshua to put the scrolls, which contain all that Moses has written down? (vs. 26) Do you see the sacredness and importance of Moses’ record of God’s work with His people? Do you see the instructions Moses gives to the Levites about when and why this record is to be read to the people, and how they are to challenge the people to live in faithful obedience to God’s Word and to God’s leading?
And then I love what God does next. . .because God knows us human beings so well, and our natural tendency to forget; our tendency to be self-reliant and want to do it our way, on our schedule; because God knows our love of music… God gives Moses a song! Yes, a song, that God instructs Moses to each all the people, and command them to sing it often, listening very carefully to the words, because the song will tell the story of God and his people. That song is Deuteronomy 32, and while we don’t have the music, we have the lyrics, and they are powerful!
As we close today, I wonder what songs you’ve learned in your life, that are most powerful to you in calling you to remember God and His work in your life? Do you sing them often…and what happens in your mind and heart when you do?
Do you know the song “We Will Remember”? I found a very powerful YouTube recording of this special song as part of a worship service in Dallas… It’s much more than a choir…you’ve just got to take 5 minutes and worship with them today, my friends, and then thank God for what you remember in your life journey.
How different would your life have been if you’d been “Walking With Jesus” since you were a child? And for those of you who have, how do you thank Jesus for that heritage and experience? Here’s the YouTube link…
Pastor Doug Anderson 262.441.8785
“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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