lion rebel

We come to the end of Joshua’s preparation as leader of the People of Israel in Joshua 1 [I’ll be using the Message paraphrase]:

After the death of Moses the servant of God, God spoke to Joshua, Moses’ assistant: “Moses my servant is dead. Get going. Cross this Jordan River, you and all the people. Cross to the country I’m giving to the People of Israel. I’m giving you every square inch of the land you set your foot on – just as I promised Moses. From the wilderness and this Lebanon east to the Great River, the Euphrates River – all the Hittite country – and then west to the Great Sea. It’s all yours. All your life, no one will be able to hold out against you. In the same way I was with Moses, I’ll be with you. I won’t give up on you; I won’t leave you. Strength! Courage! You are going to lead this people to inherit the land that I promised to give their ancestors. Give it everything you have, heart and soul. Make sure you carry out The Revelation that Moses commanded you, every bit of it. Don’t get off track, either left or right, so as to make sure you get to where you’re going. And don’t for a minute let this Book of The Revelation be out of mind. Ponder and meditate on it day and night, making sure you practice everything written in it. Then you’ll get where you’re going; then you’ll succeed. Haven’t I commanded you? Strength! Courage! Don’t be timid; don’t get discouraged. God, your God, is with you every step you take.” [v. 1-9]

As we finally arrive at this place of transition, Joshua is reminded of God’s promise: the land that is being entered is theirs for the taking.  He is also promised that no one will be able to defeat them because God himself will be with them.

I have learned a lot about Joshua through these last three weeks – specifically about his preparation to become “the man.”  He was obedient, trusting, trustworthy, and submissive.  He also spoke up and engaged in relationship with Moses and people.  He did not settle for second best, but gave everything he had to be with God, to be intimate with Moses, and took responsibility for his own growth as a person.

He also faced a lot of enormity in the coming season.  Not just huge in nature, but scary and fear filling.  Thus the Lord’s affirmation again: “Be strong, be courageous!”  But with this comes a command that none of us should forget [as I am memorizing it]: “Keep this book of the Law always on your lips.  Meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it.” [v. 8]

Once we have been released to do whatever it is we are called to do, we cannot relax – the preparation does not stop.  There is a continued pursuit of God and his ways that we cannot ignore.  Too often it is too easy to believe we have attained what we were meant for!  Do not forget that Joshua, like Moses, was near 80 years of age when he took leadership [estimates range from 60 – 96 years old].  Most of us are imagining retirement at 65.  I, at 26, can already picture that I am fulfilling everything God has called me to – but why should it end here?  Why should this be all there is?  It is not an issue of incompleteness in my calling, but incompleteness in my satisfaction of serving the Lord whole-heartedly for the entirety of my life.

Wherever you are in your spiritual walk with God, know this: though the end of all days may or may not be near, the end of your life [spiritual] is nowhere near ending.  Eternity is, in fact, forever.

I can’t comprehend that factor any better than you can, but I do believe that we cannot rest, we cannot relax, and we cannot be satisfied with where we are, but continue to forge forward.

Francis Chan writes in his book, Crazy Love: “Are you satisfied with being ‘godly enough’ to get yourself to heaven, or to look good in comparison to others? Or can you say with Paul that you ‘want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death’ [Phil. 3:10]?

“For a long time this verse had just too much Jesus for me.  In my opinion, the verse should have ended after the word resurrection, so I could have an appealing, popular Jesus who didn’t suffer…But this went against everything I was reading in the Bible…Taking the words of Christ literally and seriously is rarely considered.  That’s for the ‘radicals’ who are ‘unbalanced’ and who go ‘overboard.’  Most of us want a balanced life that we can control, that is safe, and that does not involve suffering.” [p. 67, 68]

Will you forge forward with wild abandon like Joshua?  Or will you be satisfied with where you are at like the Reubenites*?

I want to learn what it means to give everything I have and when I am spent to ask God for more.  I don’t want to find satisfaction in this life, but look forward to the satisfaction that will arise within me in eternity with Christ.

From Moses’ memoirs in Deuteronomy 34, we arrive at the actual transition of leadership from Moses to Joshua after Moses is buried by God [I’ll be using the Message paraphrase]:

“Joshua son of Nun was filled with the spirit of wisdom because Moses had laid hands on him.  The People of Israel listened obediently to him and did the same as when God had commanded Moses.” [v.9]

Moses has climbed the mountain of God to get a glimpse into the Promised Land.  The Message conveys that Moses, though 120 years old, still had a spring in his step and a glisten in his eye.  But his time had come and as we have already seen, he took the proper steps to institute Joshua as the leader of the people.  Joshua was commissioned, not only by God and Moses, but also in front of the people, so that all could see he was the one whom they should follow.

I do not know your “spiritual” experiences, but I have been involved in several settings where hands have been laid on people, either for healing or as a commissioning of sorts.  The skeptic in me has always questioned this idea: “What good does this do?”  It has always seemed to me as just a formal act and at times it has been hard for me to be very accepting of any spiritual transference or meaning related to it.

But as I ponder it this morning, I realize there is an incredible power related to physical action as it relates to repercussions in the spiritual realm.  Think of it like this: would I really believe my wife loved me if all she did was say, “I love you,” but never touched me?  Would you really believe that someone was pleased to meet you if they said, “Pleased to meet you,” while refusing to shake your hand?  Would you really believe that everything was going to be all right in the midst of great sorrow when the person you were petitioning said, “It’s going to be alright,” but kept their distance from your sobbing?

For me, the answer is no.  And this is so much more than just doing it so that the people are aware of what is going on and will buy in.  The word tells us that Joshua “was filled with the spirit of wisdom.”  Imagine if Joshua had been subversive and undermined Moses’ leadership before he was fully commissioned.  Certainly he could have led a segment of the population to do what he wanted, but would he have had the wisdom it takes to properly lead them according to God’s plan?

It seems to me, though there is definitely a moment for action, there is more importantly times of waiting on the Lord.  It gets tough, though, when the time for action arrives and instead of waiting on the Lord you have been doing whatever it was you felt was more profitable than sitting around praying.  This is a disruption to the process because in the moment of action you experience a lacking in the one thing you need – wisdom for the decision.  Joshua, as we have seen, spent what we would consider as the majority of his “working” life, sitting and waiting, worshiping and praying, serving and submitting.

How far will you go before you sit and wait?  How far will you go with out the Lord’s guidance and wisdom as your direction?

Changing gears in Deuteronomy 1, we find Joshua mentioned in Moses’ direct portrayal of what happened as the Israelites traversed through the desert – this story picks up just as they began their great wait, waiting until the next generation could enter the Promised Land [I’ll be using the Message paraphrase]:

“But I also got it (punishment from God).  Because of you God’s anger spilled over onto me.  He said, ‘You aren’t getting in either.  Your assistant, Joshua son of Nun, will go in.  Build up his courage.  He’s the one who will claim the inheritance for Israel.’” [v. 37, 38]

I do not know the time frame of Moses’ publishing agent – I do not know when the Israelites got their hands on Moses’ memoirs, which is what Deuteronomy seems to be.  But, in my experience of being under a leader/boss, there are things you are not always told.  I would imagine this was one of those things – who would want to be told that they would need courage to face what is coming [even though, I’m sure Joshua had been prepping himself for that time already, knowing the courage it would take to defeat the people occupying the land of Canaan]?

Here, directly, Moses is told to “build up” Joshua’s courage.  Again, though this was a directive from God for Moses, how much would Moses be able to do this if Joshua was distant and unapproachable in his relationship with Moses?

This speaks to me because I can be distant and unapproachable, especially with a leader.  It takes work and effort; determined action on my part to be able to engage.  With out that, Joshua would not have been prepared well enough by Moses for what was to come because he was not engaging in the relationship.

Many times I have heard people say something like, “If only [insert name here] would invest in me, would take the time to sit down with me, would spend time with me, then I could…”  What this tactic effectively does is place the blame on someone else for the lack of your growth.

It is true – it is a two way street; it takes effort from both the mentor and the mentee.  But one thing I am learning: if I don’t pursue it, it probably will not happen.  I would rather put myself out there time and again, practically begging for attention, then walk away from a situation without really trying and blame the other person for their lack of effort.  All I am doing is glossing over my inaction by highlighting their inaction.

Would Joshua have become the man he became without Moses’ guidance and leadership?  No.  But I can guarantee that he definitely would not have become whom he was capable of becoming by sitting around his tent wishing for Moses to come over so that he could learn all the trade secrets.  Instead, Joshua gave everything he had in pursuit of both God and Moses in order to become the man and leader he was called to be.

I am responsible for my growth and development; not my Pastor, not my father, not my mentors, or friends.  I am – and so are you [for yourself, that is].

What are you going to do about it?

Picking up in Numbers 34, we find Joshua’s name mentioned again:

“God spoke to Moses: ‘These are the men who will be in charge of distributing the inheritance of the land: Eleazar the priest and Joshua son of Nun.”

Joshua has been appointed as the next leader of the people.  Truth is, he’s probably had a hunch that would happen for years and years.  And he’s been patient, waiting, taking orders from Moses.  Moses already knows that he’s not entering the land, in fact, everyone knows he’s not entering the land.  But he’s still giving orders and the people are still obeying.

It is not spoken aloud – in this part of Joshua’s story we don’t know or hear much about his feelings – so I can only imagine what he had been thinking for all these years, knowing that he was going to be in charge.  Because he was human, it is easy to assume that Joshua probably felt at times like he would have done something different than Moses.  But it is a testament to his obedience and trust that we do not know about these thoughts or feelings – he may have been distraught on the inside with wanting to lead these people differently – but he doesn’t speak it.

I think this is important because it sets the stage for every single Israelite to continue to follow their leader.  Though Joshua was next in line the people still looked to Moses for direction and guidance.  It would have been so easy for Joshua to cause uproar among the people, stirring up rebellion for his own leadership.  But Joshua was wise, Joshua was patient, and Joshua followed the leadership that God had placed in his life.

This is particularly hard in a season when you think you could do better than the person in charge of you, even harder when you know that you’re the next one in line.

How do you handle authority over you?   I used to think that bucking the system was an ok, standard behavior that comes with the territory of people in authority over you.  I used to believe that it was ok to blaze your own path in defiance of the path set before you.  How little I knew then; how foolish I was!

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?

Joshua next appears in Numbers 27  – I’ll be using the Message paraphrase:

“Moses responded to God: ‘Let God, the God of the spirits of everyone living, set a man over this community to lead them, to show the way ahead and bring them back home so God’s community will not be like sheep without a shepherd.’  God said to Moses, ‘Take Joshua the son of Nun – the Spirit is in him! – and place your hand on him.  Stand him before Eleazar the priest in front of the entire congregation and commission him with everyone watching.  Pass your magisterial authority over to him so that the whole congregation of the People of Israel will listen obediently to him.  He is to consult with Eleazar the priest who, using the oracle-Urim, will prayerfully advise him in the presence of God.  He will command the People of Israel, the entire community, in all their comings and goings.’” [v. 15-21]

At this point in time, we have come to the end of Moses’ life and leadership over the people of Israel.  It’s been some 40 years of wandering the desert waiting for people to die.  And Joshua, apparently, has been faithful to be obedient and trustworthy over this course of time.  Moses asks for God’s replacement of himself and Joshua is proved to be the man to fill his shoes.

The first thing I notice is Joshua’s apparent steadfast faithfulness.  I say apparent because there has been no mention of transgression – I am sure he is not perfect, yet he has exhibited a staunch dedication to God over the course of his life.  I notice this because I have a hard time lasting more than a few months without finding myself drifting in my devotion and dedication to God.  Staunch is not a word I would use to describe myself when talking about faithfulness to God.

This begs the question, then, what did Joshua know that I do not know?

I think he knew the words and promises of God.  At a young age, as already covered, he chose to place himself in position to adhere to God in every circumstance.  I do not.  And that is the difference.

The result is a culmination of Joshua as leader of the people of Israel – quite large shoes to fill.  Imagine filling the place of the man who led your people out of hundreds of years of slavery; who spoke face to face with God; who caused the Red Sea to part; who brought water out of rocks; who humbled the greatest king of the Earth…

Fortunately for Joshua, God knew how he needed to be instated – in front of the people, with Moses’ blessing and Eleazar’s prayers.  This demonstrated that he was being chosen to be their leader.

But what if Joshua had not stuck so closely to Moses over the years?  Would Moses have hesitated in his pronouncement of Joshua as leader?  Would the people have sensed his hesitancy?

Fortunately that is a moot point – because Joshua proved himself, time and again, by being faithful, obedient, trustworthy, and willing to put forth the effort to spend time with Moses and God.

Joshua had to wait a long time until he was made the leader of the people – could you have waited that long for God’s plan to be physically walked out before your eyes?  I have been debating this question for a few days, and I must confess, I probably would have found something else to do to occupy my time – something I had deemed more “profitable” or “productive.”

God’s plans are not on our time table – we cannot establish our own time frames and then determine that something God has placed on our heart, or asked us to do, is not viable anymore because our time frame has run out.

What is it that God has asked of you, what is it that God has put on your heart that you have gotten antsy with or pushed aside because your time frame has run out?

Joshua next appears in Numbers 14  – I’ll be using the Message paraphrase:

“Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh, members of the scouting party, ripped their clothes and addressed the assembled People of Israel: ‘The land we walked through and scouted out is a very good land – very good indeed.  If God is pleased with us, he will lead us into that land, a land that flows, as they say, with milk and honey.  And he’ll give it to us.  Just don’t rebel against God! And don’t be afraid of those people.  Why we’ll have them for lunch!  They have no protection and God is on our side.  Don’t be afraid of them!’”… [14.6-9]

“God said, ‘I forgive them, honoring your [Moses’] words.  But as I live and as the Glory of God fills the whole Earth…Not one of you will enter the land and make your home there, the firmly and solemnly promised land, except for Caleb son of Jephunneh and Joshua son of Nun.’” … [14.20, 21, 30]

“So it happened that the men Moses sent to scout out the land returned to circulate false rumors about the land causing the entire community to grumble against Moses – all these men died.  Having spread false rumors of the land, they died in a plague, confronted by God.  Only Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh were left alive of the men who went to scout out the land. [14.36-38]

After seeing a few moments of awkward words that don’t fit, here we find Joshua, with the backing of a friend, standing up again and speaking his mind.  This time, though, it is in front of the whole nation.  The first time it was just with Moses; the second was with Moses and 68 of the elders who had been appointed by God.  But now, in front of the entire nation, hundreds of thousands of people, Joshua, with Caleb, basically call ten other men liars, pleading with the people to live up to what God has called them to, to what God has given them.

This was an incredible leadership test – one side of the world, perhaps the business world, would tell us to take on a feat such as this (to conquer a whole land full of rebel skirmishers – or to reach out into the throng of sinful living and establish a new, righteous way of living) would be insane.  Why go to the effort of all that work?  The people clearly were bigger, stronger, and better – though the fruit of the work would have been marvelous, and there was evidence of that – the people still were swayed by what appeared to be bigger circumstances than they could face.  And they said no, even after two respected leaders stood up and said yes.

Often, it is intimidating to stand up and speak something directly opposing the view of the people we live with, love, and grow with.  I think the first question is, “Who am I to say this?  How can I be the one to know the right way?”  The key for Caleb and Joshua was to rely on and believe God’s promises for them.  This came from a complete understanding and belief that God was who he said he was.  This was the rock they stood on: that God loved them and promised them this land.  It didn’t matter what it looked like in that moment – it didn’t even really matter what it would look like in the future.  The only thing that mattered was that God had said it was to be so.

Instead, the people chose to believe what they saw in the moment, persuaded by rumours of scared men.  This brings the second leadership test: what do you think the response would be if hundreds of thousands of people you were a part of leading died with out ever receiving the blessing they had been promised because of disobedience and fear?  The first word that comes to my mind is failure.  It would be so easy to believe that you failed as a leader, that you should have done something more to persuade them, to bring them along, to lead them to their inheritance.

We know from history already, that Joshua and Caleb went on to lead the next generation successfully into the promised land.  The hard thing is determining what the outcomes of our efforts should look like.  It is easy to believe that as a youth pastor I should be a part of changing every student’s life in Laurel, MT, so that Christ is the center of his or her life.  But does that make me successful?  I think the question should be, what is it that God has promised and asked me to do?  This, I believe, is what Joshua stood on – again, the word of the Lord was his rock to stand on in the midst of what looked like incredible failure.  We are only responsible for our actions, not the choices of others.

Though it was intimidating, Joshua stood up for the truth of what God had said.  He made it plain and clear, and though the people didn’t listen, he still succeeded at what God had asked of him.

Joshua next makes an appearance in Numbers 11  – I’ll be using the Message paraphrase:

“So Moses went out and told the people what God had said.  He called together seventy of the leaders and had them stand around the Tent.  God came down in a cloud and spoke to Moses and took some of the Spirit that was on him and put it on the seventy leaders.  When the Spirit rested on them they prophesied.  But they didn’t continue; it was a onetime event.  Meanwhile two men, Eldad and Medad, had stayed in the camp.  They were listed as leaders but they didn’t leave camp to go to the Tent.  Still, the Spirit also rested on them and they prophesied in the camp. A young man ran and told Moses, “Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp!”  Joshua son of Nun, who had been Moses’ right-hand man since his youth, said, “Moses, master!  Stop them!” But Moses said, “Are you jealous for me?  Would that all God’s people were prophets.  Would that God would put his Spirit on all of them.” [v. 24-29]

Once again we come to a moment when Joshua speaks up and is wrong.  Only this time Moses corrects him in front of 68 leaders of the tribe – not just leaders, but recently Spirit endowed men.  The scene must have been electrifying as these men were all gathered together prophesying, speaking the things of God aloud.  I would imagine it to be one of the great spiritual moments of the Israelite’s journey.

Yet, here is Joshua, opening his mouth again.  It’s seems clear that Joshua is telling Moses what to do, which probably comes from the place that he had in Moses’ life.  I would imagine that Moses asked Joshua’s thoughts quite often as he raised Joshua up as a leader.  They had been together for quite awhile at this point, and Moses, therefore, knew that Joshua’s intentions weren’t to push him around or tell him what to do.  Rather, this statement was a reflection of Joshua’s desire to protect his leader, his mentor, and his spiritual father.  Though he might have been wrong in what he thought should happen, the more important thing here is his dedication to Moses.

Authority is something to which our current generations do not adhere very well.  We value independent thinking, personal autonomy, and the right to free speech, to bear arms, etc.  But there is a distinct difference between the value of independence and the value of dependence on someone who has been appointed by God.  For whatever reason, though all men are created equal, not all men can handle the same spiritual weight.  I am not sure this is simply a God-given trait, so much as an issue of the heart.  The leaders who have been placed in our lives as authority, more often than not, have a great reverence for God and an enormous desire to honor him.  True, men fall, women fail, and no human is perfect.  But God is faithful.  There is always something to learn from every situation, human failings or not.

That is why Joshua was willing to make a bold standard of, “They shouldn’t be prophesying outside the camp, they were being rebellious and staying home!”  His thought process was clearly that they should be punished.  But what he couldn’t see clearly was the strain it put on Moses to maintain the spiritual weight of the people.  Though he was dependent on God, fully reliant, and sold out to the glory of his God, he needed help – which was the purpose of the Lord passing his Spirit to the elders in the first place.

Once again, it was important for Joshua to speak up, even though he made a mistake, because he learned something.  Secondly, it is a vital part of our lives to honor the leaders placed in our lives and to protect them.

The next occurrence of Joshua is in Exodus 33  – I’ll be using the Message paraphrase:

“Moses used to take the Tent and set it up outside the camp, some distance away.  He called it the Tent of Meeting.  Anyone who sought God would go to the Tent of Meeting outside the camp.  It went like this: When Moses would go to the Tent, all the people would stand at attention; each man would take his position at the entrance to the Tent; whenever Moses entered the Tent, the Pillar of Cloud descended to the entrance to the Tent and God spoke with Moses.  All the people would see the Pillar of Cloud at the entrance to the Tent, stand at attention, and then bow down in worship, each man at the entrance to his tent.  And God spoke with Moses face-to-face, as neighbors speak to one another.  When he would return to the camp, his attendant, the young man Joshua, stayed – he didn’t leave the tent.” [v. 7-11

This is like a church meeting: everyone knows the Pastor will be preaching Sunday mornings so they show up and worship together.  But when the Pastor leaves the church goes back to what ever else it was they were doing.  Except Joshua.  It seems as if he couldn’t get enough.  His access to Moses got him clearance to be in the Tent of Meeting, but he didn’t leave when Moses left.  He chose to go deeper, stay longer, to worship God more intimately than the rest.

Church has become such a traditional, standard sort of thing.  Everyone does it - even those who don’t attend regularly go at least once or twice a year (except for a few stalwart anti-God people).  It’s a time to go and get your God fix for the week so that you can continue to tread onward, pushing through another week of living in this wretched world.

As someone who works for the church and can be labeled a “professional Christian,” it is easy to get frustrated by the lack of enthusiasm for God.  Yet, in the midst of that frustration, it is easy to fall into the habit of just doing it because it is Sunday morning.  Instead of being one who is like Moses, or even Joshua, staying behind, staying longer in the presence of God, it takes nothing to become just like everyone else, going back to “regular” life, rather than continuing to pursue God and his great justice and grace.

It begs the question – what was different about Joshua?  Why did he choose consistently to abandon himself to God?  Clearly there were things he could have been doing, things that Moses’ right hand man was in charge of, things that needed to be accomplished so that the tribe could continue onward.

That is what happens to me – I have worship lists to write, and messages to prepare, and websites to update.  People to coordinate, services to plan, and songs to write.  These things aren’t bad or wrong, but when we’re talking about the God of the Universe, the Creator of Everything, the Everlasting, Never-Ending, All-Consuming, Majestic King of all Things…

Though tasks are important, as I pointed out in my last writ, relationship is most important.  Relationship with people is important, but relationship with God is most important.  Too quickly I relegate him to the back burner, passing it off as trust of a God who is always there, when the reality is that I am just doing life on my own.

Joshua refused to do life on his own – this is what is portrayed.  For whatever reason [I am presuming his great desire to simply be with God], Joshua believed and lived out a pursuit of God as his number one priority.

Even as I use this time of exploring Joshua for some “God” time, it all too easily becomes about me writing good material so that people will read it, rather than actually discovering what it means to be Joshua so that I can grow in my relationship with God.

What standards have you set up in order to maintain a relationship with God, only to find those “traditions” replacing your desire for God?  What will it take for you to be more passionate about God rather than dutiful?

I, for one, am going to ask for God’s sweet revelation of the goodness that comes with his presence, that he will shower me with his understanding and grace, that I might give everything I have to be with him.  What a marvelous way to live!

The third instance of Joshua in the Bible is in Exodus 32  – I’ll be using the Message paraphrase:

“Moses turned around and came down from the mountain, carrying the two tablets of The Testimony.  The tablets were written on both sides, front and back.  God made the tablets and God wrote the tablets – engraved them.  When Joshua heard the sound of the people shouting noisily, he said to Moses, ‘That’s the sound of war in the camp!’ But Moses said, ‘Those aren’t songs of victory, and those aren’t songs of defeat, I hear songs of people throwing a party.’  And that’s what it was.”

In the first two moments with Joshua, we’ve seen his obedience, trust, and desire to live whole heartedly for God.  This is the first “mistake” Joshua has made.  Joshua, perhaps, was hoping for the best.  Or maybe he just didn’t have a clue and it really did sound like the Israelites were at war.  Interestingly he speaks first, though Moses must have heard it at the same time he did.

I inherited from my father the tendency to hold my tongue.  In conversations and situations I lean toward keeping my thoughts to myself unless I am asked, and even then I hesitate, wanting to say exactly the right thing.  If I were with Moses coming down the mountain I would have waited for Moses to say what he thought, or I would have said something profound like, “Do you hear that?” – the most obvious question in that situation.

Even if I had thought, as Joshua had, that there were noises of war in the camp, I would have held my tongue.  I think this comes from my hope to always say the right thing.  Joshua, instead, spoke up.  He took a risk and said what he thought.  Why is that important?

I am learning the most important thing in life is relationship.  Relationship never happens outside of communication.  Communication is key to building and maintaining relationship.  Joshua and Moses had to talk because they could not hear one another’s thoughts.  With out the words they shared, they would have nothing to build upon, and nothing to maintain as Moses groomed Joshua for his future role as leader.

There are a couple of things to note here:

1. Moses fostered some sort of environment where Joshua felt comfortable saying what he thought.
2. Joshua took a risk to say what he thought – the risk of being wrong and sounding stupid.
3. Joshua made a mistake – but he was able to learn from it, because he was willing to put his confidence at risk.

In the process of those three things Moses grew as a leader, Joshua grew as a leader, and together they grew in relationship.  Maybe they had a moment after Moses forced the Israelites to drink the dirty water of the smoldered golden calf.  Maybe they never talked about it.  Regardless, Joshua learned more of what it meant to be a leader by speaking up rather than by holding it in.

I underestimate my value as a human being, as a contributor to other people’s lives.  I think this can be fairly easy to come to as we grow up, being scolded and put down.

Example: Conversation with My 92 Year Old Grandma (Every Monday at Lunch)

Grandma: What are you up to these days?

Me: Nothing.

Grandma: Nothing!  Good for nothing!  That’s what you are!

This has always been commonplace with my Grandma – shame is the foundation of her “discipline.”  Once, my sister (at age 3) was crying about something after she was taken out of the bath.  My grandma “solved” her “crying problem” by making her stand in the corner naked with her hands above her head.  Supposedly she never cried at Grandma’s again.  (My sister’s now 17 and still doesn’t cry at Grandma’s house – must have been effective!)

The key is, again, to know and trust God and the leader he has placed over you. Truly, you might get burned because that person is human, but what is the use of hiding when you are trying to grow?  The goal: speak up!