WALKING BY FAITH

Joshua 3

            When we face a difficult situation and find ourselves anxious about the unknown we need to remember that we didn’t come to that place by accident!  As the Israelites stood at the Jordan River they knew they had arrived there by God’s plan and purpose.  God had chosen the way for the Israelites from the day they walked out of Egypt!  He led them with a pillar of cloud and fire.  He brought them to the brink of the unknown and he had not allowed them to take any wrong turns.  When we face that threatening unknown we can find comfort in the fact that God’s providence has led us to that point!  We can be comforted in knowing that God’s perfect wisdom and timing are flawless.  Therefore, even though the way may be unknown to us it is not unknown to God!  Israel may not have been able to see how they were going to cross the river but in God’s eyes it had already taken place.  It was done! 

            I remember the feelings I had so many times as my late wife, Roz, was preparing for another brain surgery.  The doctors did their best to prepare us for what lay ahead but in all honesty, their efforts did little to give me any peace.  As the day of surgery arrived I would find myself struggling with all kinds of anxiety.  As I waited in the surgical waiting room I was exhausted by the stress.  After going through this several times I was finally struck by a realization.  God was in control of the entire situation!  He had brought us to this point in our lives.  He had planned everything that had taken place and he had planned the outcome of that particular surgery.  I didn’t know how things would come out but God did.  There was nothing for me to do but put my trust in him and let him carry me through!  So when we face the unknown we find comfort in the fact that it is not the unknown to God.  He knows and has planned the way through.  He knows the outcome. 

            Another comfort to us when we face the unknown is that Jesus has gone ahead of us.  Even though the way looks completely dark to us and the path through is unknown to us, Jesus, the light of the world, has already passed through it ahead of us.  He has already walked that path.  Even if we might be facing death we can find comfort in knowing that Jesus has been there as well.  We should not expect the future to be lit up brightly for us.  God never promised to reveal the future to us.  In fact, Paul told us, “We live by faith, not by sight” (2 Corinthians 5:7).  If we had the future all lit up for us then we wouldn’t need to put our faith and trust in the Lord.  All the Israelites needed to know was that their next step was a step into the Jordan River.  All they needed to do was obey what God had told them to do and they didn’t need to know the future to do that!   

            Not only has Jesus walked through a life of faith on earth, we have the comfort of being able to see that many other Christians have also walked the walk of faith before us.  On that day the Hebrews faced a new situation.  But it wasn’t a completely unknown or unprecedented situation.  Their forefathers had been in a similar situation on the shores of the Red Sea with the Pharaoh’s army bearing down on them.  God had delivered them safely through that sea so there was some comfort to be taken from that.   

            Every generation has to face the unknown.  Every generation has to have its faith tested.  Every generation has to learn how to put their trust in God and walk by faith.  But God has graciously allowed us to see how those who have gone before have faced such situations.  The Israelites learned that God would do for them the same thing he did for their forefathers.   

            This is a real blessing from God!  God refreshes and renews his covenant with his people.  He puts each generation into situations where he is able to show his power and his grace.  So when we face suffering, grief, loneliness, and all kinds of other trials, we can know that others have faced the same things and God has brought them through.  That’s why more experienced believers are able to smile at us knowingly while we shudder and balk in the face of the unknown!  They’ve been there before and they know God will bring us through!

FACING THE UNKNOWN

Read Joshua 3

            Do you have a hard time making major decisions?  If so, you wouldn’t be alone!  A lot of people find themselves frozen up and unable to make big decisions.  I’ve talked to so many young people who are trying to decide whether to propose marriage or accept a proposal of marriage.  They ask all kinds of questions.  “How do I know this is the right person?  What if he or she changes after we get married?  What if I haven’t given myself enough time to meet different people?”  Then there are the couples who made the decision to get married but can’t seem to make the decision to start a family!  They too have all kinds of reasons for not making the decision.  “We’re not making enough money right now and if she got pregnant we’d really be in trouble!  The economy is so bad; we’re just waiting for it to get better.  We don’t know if we’re going to be good parents.  How do we know if it’s the right time?”

            These are major decisions.  The people who stand on the edge of making such decisions often have a very difficult time.  It’s the same whenever there is a major change in a person’s life.  My own twins, Anna and Mary are graduating from high school next week.  They have big decisions to make.  College?  Which college?  What courses?  Should I just work for a year?  Then there are young adults who are trying to decide whether to move out on their own.  “Can I really afford this?  What if I lose my job?  Maybe I should stay at home and try to save more money?  What if I get lonely?”  All of these situations have something in common.  In every case a person is standing on the brink of the unknown.  They have lived their lives up to this point but now they are looking ahead into something they don’t know and cannot see.  It is difficult because we want to know what lies ahead.  We don’t like the feeling of being out of control.  We would like to be able to set the boundaries of the future so we won’t be surprised.  It’s a lot easier if we can know what to expect.

            In Joshua 3 we find the Israelites in just such a situation.  Except for Joshua and Caleb, all this generation knew was wandering in the wilderness.  None of them was over sixty years of age and all of those forty or less had been born during the wilderness trek.  That was the only life they knew!  Now they stood on the banks of the Jordan River facing the Promised Land.  The river was at its flood stage and there was no bridge and there were no boats.  The massively walled city of Jericho stood opposite them across the river.  How would they ever conquer Jericho?  And even if they did, it was only the first of many great cities in Canaan.

            Consider the kind of temptation that had to be going through the minds of the Hebrews as they stood on the banks of that river.  They had never gone this way before.  They had been all over the Sinai Peninsula but they had never crossed over the Jordan.  Some of the people may have thought, “Look!  All my life I’ve been a wandering nomad in the desert.  I’m used to it.  Why don’t we just keep living the way we’ve been living all this time?”  Some may have felt they had gone far enough.  “This land east of the Jordan is good land.  It’s good enough for us.  Why don’t we just stay right here and call it good?”  I’m sure many of them had great fears in their minds and in their hearts.  I’m sure there were many who balked at Joshua’s command to cross the river.  Perhaps doing something great for God was the very last thing on their minds!

            When I think about the Israelites in this way I can’t help but notice how I resemble them.  In fact, there are probably many of us who resemble them in some ways.  We face the unknown and realize we have never gone this way before.  It’s something different and new and we don’t know what to expect.  We are asked to do new things in the church and we’re filled with anxiety because we’ve never done anything like that.  We keep coming to church and hearing new things in the sermons and Bible studies and sometimes we just don’t know what to do with it all.  Some of us have grown rather comfortable in our lives and don’t really want to be stretched too much.  Some of us, like the Hebrews, may be tempted to just stay with what we know, with what is familiar, and hesitate to step into the unknown.

            If the people of Israel would take a moment to think about their situation they would discover that as they stood on the brink of the unknown, they had both comfort and direction from God to help them on their way.  The same is true for us, as we will see.  Even as we face the anxieties of the unknown, we can still see God and the encouragement he has for us!

(To be continued…)

RAHAB'S JUSTIFYING FAITH

Joshua 2 (If you haven’t read it lately it would help to read it now!)

           

            We know Rahab’s faith was authentic because it resulted in action.  She was risking her life by hiding, protecting, and sending out the Hebrew spies.  She was betraying her king and her own people.  She had become a believer in the God of Israel and she cast her lot with them.  True faith always results in action.  True faith is costly faith!  She could have been like so many people in our day.  She could have claimed to believe while declining to get involved.  But her faith was validated by the fact that she put it into action.  “In the same way, was not even Rahab the prostitute considered righteous for what she did when she gave lodging to the spies and sent them off in a different direction?” (James 2:25).  James observes that Rahab was considered righteous for what she did!  Faith takes action!

 

            We can see Rahab’s faith was genuine because it was a faith that resulted in obedience.  True faith is always accompanied by obedience.  When the men left Rahab they told her they could only be responsible for her safety if she hung the scarlet cord in her window.  It would be a sign on the day of battle and she and her family would be protected.  Such action would, of course, be a rather obvious identification of her home to anyone who was looking.  Instead of declining to take the risk of discovery Rahab obeyed and hung the cord immediately after their departure.  Her obedience validated her faith.  “By faith the prostitute Rahab, because she welcomed the spies, was not killed with those who were disobedient” (Hebrews 11:31).

 
            Rahab’s faith was a faith which changed her entire life.  She went from being an idol worshiper to a worshiper of Jehovah.  She went from being a prostitute to being a princess, the wife of a Hebrew prince.  She was saved from the destruction of Jericho and was brought into the nation of Israel.  According to Matthew 1:5 she married Salmon, the son of Nahshon.  Nahshon was a prince of Judah (see Numbers 1:7).  Thus, Rahab became a princess of the royal tribe of Judah.  Matthew’s genealogy says Rahab became the mother of Boaz (who married Ruth) and the great-great-grandmother of David.  This genealogy in Matthew is the genealogy of Jesus.  Rahab’s faith changed her life!  She was raised from prostitution to being a forbear of the Messiah!
 

            Rahab’s faith was a faith that paralleled New Testament faith.  How do we define faith?  “Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see” (Hebrews 11:1).  She had faith in her hope for a safe deliverance.  Her faith was in God.  She believed what she could not see.  She had not seen all of the works of God on behalf of Israel but she believed them and put her trust in a God she had not seen and entrusted her life to his care.

           
            When we make confession of our faith it needs to look like Rahab’s.  When we profess our faith in Christ we say that we believe in the one, true God who is Jehovah, the God of the Old Testament.  We say we put our trust in his word and in his deeds.  And after making profession of our faith in God we follow up just as Rahab did.  Our faith must be a faith of action.  It does no good to simply state that we believe something unless we take action that demonstrates our faith.  The demonstration of our faith is obedience.  Jesus said, “If you love me you will keep my commandments.”  True faith results in a changed life.  If we make profession of faith and then see no change in our lives then our profession is empty!  How are our lives being changed?  Do we look at sin differently?  Do we see how our old lives were empty and marked by sin?  Do we find in ourselves a desire to do the things God wants us to do?  Do we want to bring glory to God and make the name of Jesus famous by living lives of righteousness?

THE PROVIDENCE OF GOD

Joshua 2

(It would really help to read Joshua 2 first!)

            When we take the time to stop and look carefully at what God did in this situation we come away astonished.  There is so much that goes on behind-the-scenes that we miss it if we just fly through the story.  For example, God worked on behalf of the spies before they ever went into Jericho.  Think how he prepared the heart of Rahab.  By Rahab’s own testimony we know that she had heard all about what God had done on behalf of the Hebrews.  She heard how God dried up the Red Sea for his people.  She heard about the great victory the Israelites won over the mighty princes east of the Jordan.  Perhaps the most amazing thing of all was that Rahab had a warm heart toward the Hebrews.  She could have been very angry and upset about what was happening and she could have lashed out and betrayed the spies.  Somehow, Rahab came to understand that Jehovah was giving the land of Canaan to these people.  How would all of that have happened unless the Lord was working in her heart, preparing her to see what was really happening and help the representatives of Israel?  This is the providence of God!

            Think how God directed the spies to the woman whose heart he had prepared.  These men did not know Jericho.  Most scholars estimate that there were somewhere around 1,500 people living in Jericho at the time.  The spies didn’t know one of them!  They had no contact person.  Maybe they thought if they went to the prostitute’s house they would be less obvious?  But how would they find it?  If they had to ask where the prostitute lived they would give themselves away as out-of-towners.  So I really doubt they did that.  Somehow God worked it out so the spies were brought to Rahab’s house.  This is the providence of God!

            Then think how God protected the spies from the king.  Obviously, the king of Jericho had his own lookouts on the job.  He already knew Israelite spies had crossed the river and were in his city.  He even knew they had gone to Rahab’s house!  (“Bring out the men who came to you and entered your house, because they have come to spy out the whole land.” v. 3)  So even though the Israelites had been watched from the time they crossed the river to the time they entered Rahab’s house, God kept them from being captured.  He worked in Rahab’s heart and prompted her to hide the men instead of handing them over.  And the thing I find most amazing is that God caused the king’s officers to believe Rahab even though they knew the spies had gone into her house!  This is God’s providence!

            Finally, God worked to bring the spies home safely.  Rahab let the men down through a window that opened out to the city wall.  They used a rope to climb down to the ground.  How easy it would have been for a guard or just a passing citizen to see these two men as they rappelled down the wall!  Once on the ground they went into the hills and hid while all the king’s horses and all the king’s men searched for them.  God prevented the army from finding his men. This is the providence of God!

            Again, unless we stop and think about a passage like this we will miss important things like the providence of God at work behind the scenes!  Then, we need to apply what we learn to our own lives!  God’s providence is always at work, all the time, everywhere!  In other words, God’s providence is always working for us as well!  We need to realize God is working in every situation in our lives.  No matter how difficult things seem to be or how dark the situation may appear, God is at work!  He is at work in our hearts in just the same way as he was at work in the heart of Rahab.  Not only is he working in our hearts but he is working in the hearts of all the other people involved in our situations as well.  (Sometimes he is hardening their hearts just as he hardened the heart of Pharaoh against Moses and the Israelites!)  Just as God guided and protected the spies, so he guides and protects us.  The thing we need to keep in mind is that God works his providence to accomplish his will and his purposes, not ours!  But we need not ever be afraid because we know that he has already gone on before us.  We know that God causes all things to work out for our good even when we cannot see him at work or see the good that will come of it!



GOD'S WORD ALONE

Joshua 1:7, 8

“Be strong and very courageous.  Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful wherever you go.  Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it.  Then you will be prosperous and successful.”

            Another source of Joshua’s strength and courage was God’s word.  Why was it so important for Joshua to obey the law God gave his people through Moses?  Why is his success pinned to keeping God’s word?  We need to keep a “big perspective” view of what was going on here.  God was working out his plan.  His ultimate plan was to produce a Messiah who would restore his people to a right relationship with him. 

            What God was doing at this time was creating a nation through whom he would bring this Messiah.  He was going to defeat his enemies and install his people in their land.  God revealed his law to Moses.  He wanted his people to live according to his law.  He wanted them to be the kind of people he created them to be and the only way that could happen was for them to obey his revealed law.  If Joshua was going to lead these people in the way God wanted them to go he would have to know God and the only way to know God was to know his law because God revealed his character through his law. 

            If Joshua walked away from the law of God then he walked away from God himself.  If he walked away from God then he would not have success.  So, in effect, God was saying, “Joshua, you will find the strength and courage you need by getting to know me well and by staying close to me.  If you are close to me I will give you success.”  So Joshua was to read the Book of the Law and meditate on its meaning and obey its commands.  This revealed God’s character and God’s way and he would find strength and courage by walking in God’s way.

          
            Is this the way we look at God’s word?  It seems like some people look at the Bible as a book of rules that dictates our lives.  Other people view the Bible as a series of interesting stories and fables that teach us lessons.  What do we believe about the Bible?  Our denomination’s website says this: We believe that the Bible is the authoritative Word of God. It contains all that people in any age need to know for their salvation. We call the Bible God’s Word, believing that, by the power of the Holy Spirit, God speaks to us through this book.

             Just as God revealed himself to the Hebrews through the Law given to Moses on Mount Sinai, God has revealed himself to his people, the Church, through the Bible.  If we read it and meditate upon it day and night we will know God better and we will be drawn closer to God.  When we live our lives close to God we will discover that he puts his will and his desires into our hearts.  We will discover that he gives us the strength and courage to do the very things he has commanded us to do. 

            When people of faith immerse themselves in God’s word they are shaped into the very likeness of Jesus Christ.  When people of faith live the word of God they receive the strength and courage they need to do God’s work.  I kept a journal for many, many years.  The journal was not designed to record the events of my days but my thoughts and reflections on my Bible reading.  I can look back in my journals and find record of the greatest failures and troubles in my life.  These passages show not only my hard times, they also show the periods of time when I was absent from the Word of God!  Invariably, my struggles and failures coincided with periods in my life when I failed to be faithful in reading the Bible and meditating on it.  Strength and courage come from spending time close to God in his word!

GOD IS FAITHFUL

Joshua 1                       

            Look at the way God encouraged and strengthened Joshua in verse six.  “Be strong and courageous, because you will lead these people to inherit the land I swore to their forefathers to give them.”  What is the basis for strength and courage in this verse?  It is the faithfulness of God!  God told Joshua he would be successful in his new role as leader of the Israelites because the conquest of the land was a fait accompli.  In other words, it was a done deal because God had sworn to give that land to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.  God was inviting Joshua to look back over the generations and see his faithfulness.  He had promised the land to the patriarchs.  He had put Joseph in Egypt to provide rescue for Jacob and his clan in the time of famine.  And even though a Pharaoh rose up who did not know Joseph and who enslaved the Hebrews, God preserved them throughout the generations.  And now God was saying to Joshua, “I promised this land to your forefathers.  You have seen how I have led my people through the wilderness.  You have observed how I have provided for them.  You watched as I proved my faithfulness to Moses.  Now I am going to use you to take them into the land.  So be strong and courageous!”  Joshua was able to find the strength and courage he needed to lead Israel because he knew God’s faithfulness.

            Where should we go in order to find examples of God’s faithfulness?  We go to the Bible.  There we find countless illustrations of God’s faithfulness.  What did he promise Abraham?  He promised him the land and a nation of descendants.  He told Abraham that he would give him all the land where he set his foot.  He told him to look at the stars in the sky and count them if he could.  His descendants would be more numerous than those stars in the sky.  Now his descendants were preparing to enter the Promised Land and scholars think there were at least a million of them! 

            The examples of God’s faithfulness are too many to count.  He promised David that he would have a son sitting on the throne of Israel for eternity.  He promised the Jewish exiles in Babylon that he would return them to Jerusalem.  He promised his Messiah who would come and save his people from their sins.  He promised Jesus he would raise him from the dead.  In all these things we see the faithfulness of God. 

            Now think of the promises God made to his people in the New Testament.  These promises are given to the church and the church is us!  He says that he is working all things out according to his will and purpose.  He promises us that everything he is doing will work out for our good.  He tells us that if we need wisdom all we have to do is ask for it.  He promises that his Holy Spirit will teach us, lead us, empower us, and be with us.  He promises that he will provide for all our needs.  Have you seen God keep his word in your life?  Has he proved himself faithful? 

            I have many illustrations of how God has shown his faithfulness to me but one stands out in my mind.  When our oldest son, Aaron, was a baby we had to take him to the doctor and the bill came out to $98.  It was $98 that we did not have at the moment.  We decided to pray about it and ask God where we could get the money for the doctor’s bill.  We told nobody about our need.  After a few days we found an envelope in our mailbox with a note and some money.  The note was anonymous and it said, “As I was praying for you the Lord led me to give you the cash in my wallet so here it is.”  It was $98 exactly!  What is that thing in your life for which you need strength and courage?  Here is something that will strengthen you and give you the courage to follow through.  God is faithful.  He will not let you down.  You can count on him for everything!