GOD'S WAY FORWARD

GOLD FROM THE WORD

 

God’s Way Forward.

 

Recently many unexpected things have happened to various persons and to the Body of Christ that seemed to have thrown several families and churches into a mood of mourning and spirit of depression.

 

It has either been our witnessing helplessly as friends or ourselves lose jobs or watching our finances go down to the place we had never expected. Churches have seen their members in trouble even at a time when they are experiencing financial difficulties and can’t help as they used to.

 

If this mood is allowed to continue unchecked it can drain the life out of the church and her members and leave both vulnerable to the devil’s schemes to further afflict the Body and destroy it. It is at times like this that God gives a rousing call to the church and her leaders.

 

You may be thinking that this perhaps is the first time such a situation has occurred in the church. This is not so. When we look back in History we can see the church several times under depression and mourning. The church in the wilderness on her way to the Promised Land faced this. Another time History calls it the Dark Ages when it was like civilization was moving backward. For the sake of time and space we will limit ourselves to the Church (Israel) in the wilderness.

 

After the death of Moses Israel went into a thirty days of mourning. It was a period of disappointment and discouragement for the people who has seen the rise of the father of their nation and a powerful leadership that had given them independence, the law, and made the wandering nation a terror to the people of the Middle East. Rahab the harlot of Jericho had this to testify to the two spies Joshua sent to spy out Jericho;

 

9 And she said unto the men, I know that the LORD hath given you the land, and that your terror is fallen upon us, and that all the inhabitants of the land faint because of you.

 

10 For we have heard how the LORD dried up the water of the Red sea for you, when ye came out of Egypt; and what ye did unto the two kings of the Amorites, that were on the other side Jordan, Sihon and Og, whom ye utterly destroyed.

 

11 And as soon as we had heard these things, our hearts did melt, neither did there remain any more courage in any man, because of you: for the LORD your God, he is God in heaven above, and in earth beneath.

 

Moses whom God had used to create this impression in the hearts of Israel’s potential adversaries had now passed away. The heart of the nation was full of apprehension. They were now on the banks of the Jordan that separated them from the Promise of the Promised Land.

 

They knew God had used Moses mightily. Yet this military man they now had was not fully known. Joshua himself must have been apprehensive.

 

God could not allow this state of things to continue. So he responded with the words of Joshua 1:1-9;

 

 1 ¶ Now after the death of Moses the servant of the LORD it came to pass, that the LORD spake unto Joshua the son of Nun, Moses’ minister, saying,

 

2 Moses my servant is dead; now therefore arise, go over this Jordan, thou, and all this people, unto the land which I do give to them, even to the children of Israel.

 

3 Every place that the sole of your foot shall tread upon, that have I given unto you, as I said unto Moses.

 

4 From the wilderness and this Lebanon even unto the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, and unto the great sea toward the going down of the sun, shall be your coast.

 

5 There shall not any man be able to stand before thee all the days of thy life: as I was with Moses, so I will be with thee: I will not fail thee, nor forsake thee.

 

6 Be strong and of a good courage: for unto this people shalt thou divide for an inheritance the land, which I sware unto their fathers to give them.

 

7 Only be thou strong and very courageous, that thou mayest observe to do according to all the law, which Moses my servant commanded thee: turn not from it to the right hand or to the left, that thou mayest prosper whithersoever thou goest.

 

8 This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success.

 

9 Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the LORD thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest.

 

In the first three verses God calls Joshua back to Duty to arise and take up his calling. He is commissioned and told his responsibilities. He is to take possession of the Land that God has given to the children of Israel. He tells Joshua “Moses my servant is dead,” i.e. Moses is now History. God means he should accept the fact that he is now the leader and move on.

 

God wants the church to get out of her pity party and move forward. We cannot like Israel continue to lament over what has happened in our past, in the last few months because we cannot go back in time. Yet we can move forward to a more glorious future that God has over the Jordan of this life.

 

When God wants to do a new thing the old has to die to give way to the new. We must realize that some bad things have to happen so that the new and better things can be embraced. If your 1990 truck stays alive you will lack space for a 2009 more comfortable truck. If you do not lose your old Job you might not be able to see that God has a better and more lucrative one for you.

 

In verses four and five God reminds Joshua of the Largeness of the task and inheritance before him. It will stretch from Lebanon to the Negev in the south, and from the Mediterranean to the Euphrates River. God also promises him Victory and His presence throughout the length of his years.

 

The church must realize that the inheritance is as large as the task of possessing it. She must also realize that God’s presence is guaranteed. This makes the task of the years to come easier than of the past years because the Psalmist says in Psalm 16:11;

 

Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore.

 

We are to seek God’s presence more than anything else because that is where sweat-less success is available to us. That is where favor will overtake us and bring to us what “eye has not seen and ear has not hear, nor mind ever conceived.”

 

In verses 6,8, and 9 God tells Joshua to be strong and courageous. We may ask why all the emphasis. God understood that Joshua was going to face the savage ungodly tribes of Canaan whose iniquity was already full. This will lead to years of battle and blood and horror. Joshua needed courage and inner strength to stay the course of the campaigns and to govern the nation. It was important that the Commander should be courageous above all to lead the nation to victory. So God encouraged him again and again so that courage will sink into his soul and become part of his being.

 

The church of Jesus Christ is poised to enter into her glorious stage which the Lord had promised. There will be many battles with the enemy who is holding back what belongs to her. She and her leaders must courageously fight the evil forces and not back down so that she can possess her divinely granted possessions.

 

In verses 7 and 8 God gives Joshua the recipe that will guarantee victory together with his strength and courage. He is to do everything according to the law God has given through Moses. He is not to turn from it in any way if he is to prosper. He is to live the word all the time. He is to speak it, meditate on it day and night with the intent of observing it completely. In this way he will be prosperous and have good success.

 

In the church’s present circumstances, God’s instructions hold good. The word of God is to become the blue print for the character of the victorious church. The word is to become part of our daily conversation and our thoughts. We are to meditate on the word so much so that obeying the word becomes part of our Christian character . The Psalmist says in Psalm 119:11;

 

Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.

 

When the word of God takes first place in every activity a Christian or a church indulges in, or gets involved in. When we shall obey the word without veering from it, then the church will begin to get power to change and influence the world around us. Downplaying the word to the taste of the world around us is what has given us only partial success. Complete obedience and a complete application of the word will give us “good success.”

 

God’s final words to Joshua sounds very like Jesus Christ’s last word to his disciples before he ascended to heaven. God tells Joshua “Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the LORD thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest.

 

Jesus Promised the Church the same in Matthew 28:20.

 

 

 

Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.

 

 

Whether in the old or new testament we are to take note that God’s presence which makes things easier for us is guaranteed if we take care to give his word complete obedience. Moving forward then into a new life of victory in the promises of God is sure to be our portion.

 

God Bless You--Joshua

 

 

 

 

 

The Widow’s Mite