The Joshua Challenge

August 20, 1989

Joshua 1

The death of Moses was a great trauma for Israel. His name was synonymous with deliverance. He spoke face to face with God. He brought down the Ten Commandments. He was a one man National Resource. He was full of life force one day— and he was gone the next!

Moses' death was also a personal shock to Joshua. Joshua had been a loyal follower. He had taken orders and obeyed them faithfully. Now he knew that things would never be the same again. The future loomed threatening and uncertain.

And it was in this fearful time of transition that God spoke to Joshua. God challenged Joshua, and promised him prosperity and success. But from the first word there was no question: this success must be on God's terms. It was to require both faith and courage!

God said: Moses my servant is dead. He stated the obvious. Joshua had to face the facts as they were. It was the end of an era. His life and the life of his people had already changed. The restrictions of listening to Moses and obeying his orders were forever lifted. But so was the security of leaving the responsibility of final choices to Moses.

Moses had shown to Joshua, and to all Israel, the power and grace and salvation of God. Moses had obeyed God. He had marched into Egypt to confront the Pharaoh. He had instituted Passover. He had parted the Red Sea. He had led his people for forty years.

Moses' very life spoke of God's grace and power in deliverance. Moses' message was "being saved from!"

Most of us have some Moses-type influence in our lives. We have had authority that has taught us of God's grace and love. We have learned of the Blood of the Everlasting Covenant and of deliverance from sin. Parents, the church, teachers, leaders— all have shown us the truth and lessons of faith. Thank God for our own Moseses!

But now for Joshua and Israel the limits of Moses' leadership had arrived. Moses was dead. And now came a new challenge! It was a challenge to find the rest of God's will, beyond being saved From.

God's plan from the very first was to deliver from Egyptian bondage, and bring His people into the land of promise. From the very beginning God had a destination as well as a destiny in mind for the people that bore His Name.

Forty years wandering the wilderness trails had not been God's first choice. Moses went to the mountain (Pisgah) and viewed the Promised Land from a distance, and then he died. And then God called Joshua to leave the wilderness and cross over the Jordan into new and exciting territory.

God said: "Now therefore arise, cross this Jordan!"

"Deliverance" is never quite enough! Getting out of prison is wonderful— but now there is valid work to do! Joshua hears God calling him to go beyond the bounds of what the great man, Moses, has been able to do!

Every generation is called on to break molds and exceed models, even of good and godly fathers and mothers. Every generation needs to reverently stand on the shoulders of all that is good that has gone before.

God said: "Every place on which the sole of your foot treads I have given it you ...(and) no man will be able to stand before you." God seems to be given to extravagant promises, like: "If ye abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you." (John 15:7) Or, here, "Every place you tread on will be yours!"

Walter Brueggeman says that a key question in the Christian faith is found in Genesis 18:14 "Is anything too hard for God?"

Of course there are dangers in taking God's promises seriously, in two directions at least:

We can over-simplify what we read, and perhaps even identify OUR will and our perspective of the situation with God's. Again Brueggeman says: "Faith does NOT make every desirable thing possible; not everything IS promised. What IS possible is characterized only as everything promised by God. That is, only what corresponds to God's good purpose is possible. He has promised a future in a new community, but not everything we would seek."[1]

We need to remember that Jesus prayed: "If it be possible..." then He ended His prayer as we always must: "Nevertheless, not My will but Thine be done!"

Another way we can mis-use God's promises is to over-spiritualize them, until they do not "connect" with the real world of blood, sweat, and tears at all. We can explain away all God's promises until we accept some level of mediocrity as the normal way God intends for us to live here and now, on earth.

God wills that every believer, like Joshua, shall not only be saved from sin, and guilt, and the scars of the past, but saved to a measure of love, joy, peace, and all the other manifestations of the fruit of the Spirit! God not only wants us "out of Egypt," He wants us "into Canaan, the Promised Land!" And that, in God's promise, is success!

God said: "Be careful to do according to all the law which Moses my servant commanded you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, so that you may have success wherever you go."

Seems a contradiction: Moses is dead! But still keep the rules!

But God is not saying "Keep the rules!" Rather He is saying, "Submit to Divine Authority! Walk humbly before ME!" There is no success, as God measures success, without obedience to His will.

God says: "Be strong and courageous! Only be strong and very courageous! Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous!"

This is not Disney World. The crocodiles are REAL! A man can get KILLED here! Disobey— and you will certainly suffer! The need for courage is very real, or God would not have repeated Himself again and again!

God said: "Just as I have been with Moses, I will be with you; I will not fail you or forsake you. Do not tremble or be dismayed, for the Lord you God is with you wherever you go."

This is a familiar theme, and here we are again at the heart of what faith is all about: a personal walk with God. It is the open secret of the ages. God loves YOU, and wants you to love Him and walk with Him.

The Joshua challenge is our challenge, too!

[1] Footnote needed here with the book name, etc., of Walter Brueggeman; will be looking for it...