Is Your Heart in It?

A short while later, in Numbers 32, we find Joshua’s name mentioned again, before Moses has passed on and Joshua has assumed responsibility for the leadership of the tribes  – I’ll be using the Message paraphrase:

“The families of Reuben and Gad…saw that the country of Jazer and Gilead was just the place for grazing livestock.  And so they came…and spoke to Moses…saying, ‘…the country that God laid low before the community of Israel – is a country just right for livestock, and we have livestock…If you think we’ve done a good job so far, give us this country for our inheritance.  Don’t make us go across the Jordan.’

Moses answered (them), ‘Do you mean you are going to leave the fighting that’s ahead to your brothers while you settle down here?  Why would you even think of letting the People of Israel down? … That’s exactly what your ancestors did when I sent them…to survey the country.  They…took one look and quit.  They completely demoralized the People of Israel from entering the land God had given them.  And God got angry – oh, did he get angry!  He swore: “They’ll never get to see it; none of those who came up out of Egypt who are twenty years and older will ever get to see the land that I promised…They weren’t interested in following me – their hearts weren’t in it.  None, except for Caleb…and Joshua; they followed me – their hearts were in it.”’”  [v. 1 – 12]

Apparently the land the families of Reuben and Gad were currently in seemed better to them, thus their request to stay behind.  It made sense – why would you go somewhere else when the very thing you need to be successful and prosper is already beneath your feet?

The argument could have easily been, “Hey, God is clearly blessing us here – why would we leave?”  I hear this in my head a lot – things have been pretty good where I am at – I have a good job, I get paid well for what I do; my wife has a great job, we have a great home to raise our family in…so the idea that we would have to move on and face some tough battles to inherit something God was giving us seems preposterous!  Why would we move from where we live when we have it so good?

The truth is, though things have been good for us, we’re facing a brewing storm.  I’ve watched the clouds build for weeks now, as if they were going to storm in from the west, huge, dark thunderstorm clouds, swirling and spinning, moving their way towards us with the occasional lightning strike and boom of thunder to warn us of it’s impending doom.

This must have been how the Israelite’s felt – I cannot imagine that things had been that bad as God provided the food they needed everyday.  But all the while, for those who were 20 and younger, growing up they had to hear the stories about the giant-like people who lived across the river and how God had plans to send them over there for an enormous battle-strewn age.  The storm had been building for more than 40 years, and two families decided that it was best for them to stay where they were.

The thing that gets me about this, though, is God’s declaration of why the initial people of Israel did not make it to the Promised Land: their hearts were not in it.

I could argue for a lifetime that my heart is in it – that I am sold out to God and am simply reaping the rewards for that dedication.  But God clearly has bigger plans than to just bless my family with a wonderful home, good paying job, and nice to drive cars.  When the storm arrives and things are not the way they were, will I still be willing to do what he has simply asked me to do?

Joshua was – he was steadfast and willing, trusting God in the face of an obstacle larger than life.  How would you feel if you were the leader of a people who were wishy-washy, stubborn, and selfish?  How would you feel if you had to lead those people into battle?  Yet Joshua’s heart was in it.  This was a result of years of choosing to sit at the feet of God, the result of years of choosing to go further up and further in, the result of years of giving everything he had to experience the great life of God.

Is your heart in it?  If everything you had were to be stripped away, would you still be all in?

I look out now at the storm as it approaches and believe that I am and still would be all in.  I have experienced moments of terror though, as fear gripped me by the throat with its threatening ways.  Certainly I’ve panicked and had a moment where I begged a “Moses” for comfortable relief.

But I have also held steadfast, trusted and walked forward no matter what.  I want to be a Joshua, one who’s heart is in it, who is willing to go the distance, no matter what storms that distance brings.

Will you be a Reuben or a Joshua?