 Joshua 4:8-14
Why do we celebrate birthdays, anniversaries, and other great achievements in our lives? Other than supporting the greeting card industry these times of celebration serve a purpose. They remind us of important events and times in our lives when something special and life changing took place. The hunter who hangs his/her trophy on the wall or the ball player who looks at his/her championship ring is reminded by their monument that something significant took place. As we look at that greeting card or trophy, those things have a way of taking us back to that moment that we said, “I do,” or helping us remember the feeling of excitement as we won the big game. If we need these items to help us for our physical lives, how much more for our spiritual lives? This is the purpose of these 12 stones that are picked up and placed in the middle of this river. The stones representing the people of Israel were to be place there in the midst of the Jordan river to remind the people that if it were not for the Lord there they would remain. They would be a people without a land and without a future, hopelessly cut off from all the goodness of God. The same is true for us, Paul says in Ephesians 2:5 that God, “even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ-by grace you have been saved.” When we look back on our salvation we should see that river, gulf, divide between us and the Lord that the Lord Jesus Himself bridged for us. Jesus stopped up the waters of our sins and God’s wrath so that we could pass safely to the His side and remain with Him for all eternity. We are forgetful people though, so He has given us monuments to remind us who we were and what we have been given. When someone comes to faith in Christ, the very first action they are called to take is to follow the Lord in scriptural baptism. This baptism is a monument to the gift they are given through faith in Jesus. Over the years as the walk with Jesus they can look back at that moment and remember the way the Lord worked to save and redeem them from their sins. We celebrated the other monument the Lord has given us as a church family this past Sunday. We call it Communion, or The Lord’s Supper. This monument to our faith reminds us of the love that Christ has shown to us and the forgiveness we have been given in Him. The Lord wants us to take time each day and remember what He has done for us. Through the study of His Word, prayer, fellowship with other believers. A big part of this is the weekly gathering for worship but also the day to day interaction we have with one another as we walk with the Lord. Let us ask the Lord today for opportunities to point other believers to the monuments of our faith where the Lord God has set up reminders to who we were and what He has given us. Let’s thank the Lord for His unending mercies He has given.
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 Joshua 4:1-7 for today.
While I have never run in a relay race I can understand the concept. Each runner must pass the baton on to the next runner or the whole team will fail. The speed of a runner matters but not if they do not have the baton or fail to pass it to the next person for the next leg of the race. The entire team will fail if but one runner fails to pass along the baton. This is the way God has designed our faith. It is meant to be passed from one believer to the next person who is not a believer. Typically this passing along of the faith begins at home. Parents are given the responsibility to share their faith story with their children. This is the meaning behind Joshua 4:6, “that this may be a sign among you. When your children ask in time to come, “What do these stones mean to you?” That is the opening for their parents to tell them of the great wonders they had witnessed by following the Lord. If you are a Christian then you have seen Jesus do amazing things in your own life. You have a story to tell that only you know. Your children are counting on you to share that story with them today. Do not waste this Monday use it to share your own experience with your kids and with those God puts in your path. Tell them of the ways that God has changed you as you have trusted on the Lord Jesus to guide, direct, and provide for you. Let us give praise to the Lord by the Words we speak and the actions we take today.  Turn Your Struggle into Strength for Yourself and Fellow Believers. To stumble and struggle is not a sign of weakness but growth! When you are fighting through your doubts and fears you are finding a greater strength in the Lord and deeper trust in His power over your own abilities. The absence of struggle is the absence of growth. Allow the Lord to use your stumbling to strengthen your faith and the faith of your brothers and sisters in Christ today. Return to Him every time and say again Lord I love you and you know that I do!
Stumbling in our faith and our faith failing are two different events. Luke 22:32 records the words of Jesus to Peter as Jesus explains to him that Satan is going to cause Peter to stumble. As Jesus was being put through a false trial that led to His unjust murder, Peter was watching and denying the fact that he even knew the man. Jesus told him ahead of time that this would happen and that He was praying for Peter and his faith, that his faith would not fail. As in after Peter had stumbled, he would get back up dust himself off and continue to follow after his Lord. Even though Peter denied Jesus three times that fateful night, his faith did not fail. The Lord Jesus came to Peter and restored his confidence in his love for the One who saved him. Jesus restored Peter for a purpose. A purpose that Jesus gave to him even before that night. Jesus told Peter that after he had “turned again,” that is came to his senses and realized that Jesus is worthy of his everything, Peter was to “strengthen our brothers.” The job Peter had been given was to help his fellow followers of Jesus not fall into the pit he had fallen into. That pit of doubt, of self-pity, of shame and defeat. Peter had to keep on trusting, keep on following, keep on moving forward even after all he had been through, in fact I would say that Peter was in a better position than before to do this now that he knew what it felt like to stumble and doubt the Lord. Had Peter not denied Jesus, this head strong over confident Apostle may have gone on believing that his success depend on his courage and ability rather than on the sacrifice and strength provided by the Lord. He stands as a warning to all of us today to not put our trust in ourselves but in Jesus. Jesus is the One who we trust to get us to heaven not our own abilities or strength. The Lord is the One who will win our victory not our strategies or self discipline. Faith follows Jesus, it does not attempt to lead or help Jesus out, which is what Peter had tried doing on several occasions and unfortunately he had not heeded the warnings his Master had given him. Faith follows Jesus through the most impossible situations but faith never believes our victory is due to our own ability or worthiness. This is the lesson I want us to draw as we finish out Joshua 3. Imagine being one of the priests who stood in the river as Israel passed by, which one of them could take credit for the waters that stood up in a heap to allow the nation to walk through on dry ground? Not one of them. Picture yourself as Joshua, how could Joshua possibly brag about how he had provided a way across the flooded Jordan river? He could not, he could only relay the Word of God and lead his people according to God’s Word not his own. Or even one of the people who walked across, what credit was due them for this amazing feat? All they did was walk across a dry river bed. Faith follows the Lord who shows the way and provides the victory. Faith does follow though. Consider the people, which one of them could claim to trust the Lord but stand on the other side of the Jordan river and refuse to walk across? You cannot claim to follow the Lord if you are standing still refusing to move. There is no such thing as frozen faith. Faith compels the believer forward into the Lord’s Will according to His Word for our lives. God is amazing! His salvation is such that we do nothing to earn it yet we still have to trust Him to receive the blessing from HIs hand. Allow your faith in the Lord to set you free from worry and doubt today. You are not responsible to fix all the problems in this world. The job you have been given is to simply put one foot in front of the other and do what God has called you to do. Tomorrow is out of your hands and in the One whose eye is on the sparrow. You worry about how you can be faithful in the situation you find yourself in on this Friday. And even as you stumble, know that Lord Jesus has prayed for you, if you want to know what He prayed for you read John 17. As you turn again from your doubts remember to strengthen your fellow believers in Christ. Join together with them this Lord’s Day was we encourage and lift each other’s eyes back up to the Author and the Finisher of our Faith. Let us pray today that God would give us grace to trust His plans and His will for our lives even as the world grows darker and more worrisome moment by moment, knowing that He has provided the victory all we have to do is walk across that river!  Taking the First Step Reflecting on Joshua 3.
What does faith look like? Jesus tells us in Luke 9:23 that the faith that causes us to follow Him leads us to make a daily choice to serve Him instead of ourselves. That is His meaning by taking up our cross daily. To take up a cross is to say that you are going to your death. You are dying to yourself that is you are giving up your desires and living for someone else. That someone else is Jesus. We say no to ourselves so that we can say yes to Him. Many times we get a picture in our minds that faith is about taking huge risks based on little information. That is not the typical way that we see faith working out in the Bible though. Most of the time faith is seen in taking one step at a time to serve the Lord. Faith is a simple confidence that the way God has told us to live and order our lives is the best way to live a happy life. Take these priests for example. They had to trust that when their feet touched this water that God would make a way forward for the rest of the people. The risk at this point was not too great other than looking foolish, now when they were standing in the middle of the river that was a different matter, but that first step would have seemed almost too easy I imagine. Without that first step of faith though, they would have never made it across that river. Which is the way faith typically works itself out in our lives. Each day we take a step of faith by trusting that God has revealed the best possible way for us to live in His Word and that to obey Him is in our best interest and will give us the best life we can possibly have. Maybe the step of faith you need to take on this Thursday morning is simply trusting that God has shown you the best way you can live. Perhaps the biggest step of faith God is calling you to take today is to simply obey. To trust Him more than your desires, more than your wants, more than public opinion. To say yes Lord I will put you first above all others. Let us join together and ask the Lord for the grace we need to stay faithful to His Will and Word for our lives today and serve Him and our neighbors with the words we speak and actions we take.  Today we look at the last section of Joshua 3, Joshua 3:14-17.
The world around us changes its mind on what matters on a daily basis it seems. The things that everyone though were important yesterday are discarded for whatever is trending on social media today. Christians might find ourselves wondering where we fit into a culture that has ever changing values and ideals. We follow the teachings of a book that dates back 1000’s of years and maintains the same basic principles and priorities of people from before the time of the written word. Of course these principles and priorities are timeless because they are the revelation of an eternal God. We are called to stand on the truth of this book that contains His Word to us regardless of the ways that our world demands that we change our minds. How could we ever stand against the current of pressure we feel from an entire culture that says we are wrong and our thinking outdated? Faith. Trust that God who created us continues to guide us into all truth by His Word to us. These priests that stood in the middle of the Jordan river as an entire nation walked across had to continue to trust that God’s Word is true regardless of how many people walked past them. As they stood there in the middle of a dried up river looking at a wall of water just waiting to be unleashed to come sweep them away, I imagine they had to wonder how much longer they had to endure the danger they felt. Yet they continued to stand strong not just for themselves but for the whole nation showing their friends family and neighbors their own trust in God’ Word. They were staking their lives on the fact that God would keep His Word to them and they were willing to let everyone know exactly where they stood, quite literally. Finally as the last member of Israel crossed over they were able to leave their post and finish the journey themselves but not before. The call for believers today is very similar. While we stand for God’s truth that He has given us it may be scary and feel lonely at times but we must still stand strong as a testimony to the fact that God’s Word is as true today as it was all those many years ago. We are staking our lives on this fact, eternity hangs in the balance and we trust that ours is held firmly in HIs hands. We continue to place our relationship to God as our highest priority in life as a testimony to our faith in His salvation and power. As we feel the pressure of the ever changing currents of our culture today we can continue to press forward in faith as we look backwards at the many witnesses to God’s power and faithfulness and then press on knowing that He will carry us safely all the way home. “Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted.” (Hebrews 12:1–3 ESV) 
Joshua 3:7-13 God has a purpose for everything that you are facing right now. I can picture Joshua standing on the side of the Jordan asking why in the world God would choose flood season to try and cross the river. Would it not make more sense to cross it when the waters were low and people could simply walk across? From a human perspective the answer is absolutely! God does not see things the same way we do though, His way of thinking is as far above ours as the heavens are above the earth, in other words, from the vantage point of eternity, He can see the whole picture from beginning to end (Isaiah 55:9). Joshua has the privilege of getting the inside scoop on what God is planning to do in Joshua 3:7. At least part of the reason that God has chosen this time of year to lead Israel across is so that the people will begin to trust Joshua the same way they had trusted Moses. Moses had led them across the Red Sea now Joshua will lead them in a similar way, across the swollen Jordan river. Joshua 3:10 tells us that this particular difficulty was also to show the Israelites that they can trust God to drive out their enemies from before them. If God can stop up a flooding river on command and allow them to cross then it makes sense that He will be able to give them the victory over the people living in the land. The people along with Joshua will also learn more about God through this ordeal. A title is given to God and repeated in Joshua 3:11 and Joshua 3:13; “the Lord of all the earth.” God is also going to use this challenge to the people’s mission as a way to show them part of His true identity. He is God everywhere not just the easy places but the places where cannot see how to accomplish what we are trying to do for Him. It is this Lord of all the earth that they will follow across this river into the promised land, and here they are getting a front row seat to witness Him in action. God had many purposes for leading the people to a river that is normally easy to cross during the time of year that is was impossible to cross. There was much He wanted to teach them through this moment in their lives. The same is true for you, He has many purposes for the challenges you face on this cold Tuesday morning. Sure He could make things easy on you, but you would miss out on so much joy and many blessings by not learning to trust Him as you ought. So rather than being upset by things not working out the way we want them to, we should actually give God a big thank you! Those times when things go sideways on us are chances for the Lord to show the people around us that He is working through us as we continue to follow and trust Him despite the difficulties we face. The problems that pop up on a daily basis are little strength building exercises that help prepare us for the big challenges we will face on down the road. When we come up against those issues that are so big and scary we so no way around them, those are the times in life when we will look back and realize that God was teaching us something new and special about His true nature and character. James put it like this, “Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.” (James 1:2–4, ESV). Those daily troubles are just part of God's purpose in your life to make you stronger and teach you more of Himself. You may find yourself standing in front of a flood river wondering if God is a terrible planner. Remember He knows what He is doing and if you showed up at the river during flood season count yourself blessed because the just means God has a very clear, special purpose in mind for you in the days ahead. Don't lose heart trust Him and watch what He can do when your faith is in Him and not yourself. Who knows what you may learn about yourself or about the Lord Jesus as you go through those trying times? He may have you in the middle of that flood season to show you more of His power like He did for the disciples in Mark 4:41 after the disciples had been through a horrible storm where they thought they were going to drown and Jesus had rescued them, they asked the question, “who then is this that even the wind and the sea obey Him?” If they had never gone through the storm they may not have ever understood the full extent of Jesus' power! We will face challenges today, do not think of them as problems though, think of them as opportunities for growth! Ways that God wants to grown your faith and help you trust in Him more as He shows you more about His true nature and abilities. Stand strong and follow along as He leads you right through the middle of your troubles. Do not question God's planning, simply trust His eternally good and gracious purposes for your life.  This week we will be reading Joshua 3. Today we will focus on Joshua 3:1-6.
Do you know what will happen tomorrow? Truth is, you do not even know what will happen today. Even if you did know how much could you really change? The temperature? The wind speed? Other people’s attitudes? When we really allow ourselves to consider the limits of our knowledge of; and control over our lives, we realize just how much we need the Lord to show us the way forward. This is a lesson Joshua and the people of Israel are learning as they attempt to take hold of the promises God has given them. At the beginning of this chapter we see Joshua standing on one side of the river Jordan that is overflowing it’s banks and on the other side is the land that God has told him to go get. He stands on one side with an entire nation, men, women, children, animals and no possible way to get them over to the other side. They cannot even think of swimming across, they are not able to build the rafts needed to float across, engineering that would allow a tunnel underneath does not exist, yet God has said to Joshua, take these people here, and go over there! How is Joshua going to make this happen? He is not! He cannot do what God has told him to do, it is impossible. At least from where he is standing he cannot see a way to do what God has said to do. But Joshua does not allow what he does not know to get in the way of what he does. He knows that God can do as He pleases and God will provide the way forward regardless of how impossible it looks. Even when we have no clue how God’s faithfulness and power will work themselves out in our lives, we can know without a doubt that God will not let us down and that He will work it all out for our good and His glory (Romans 8:28). Joshua trusts the Lord, that is why Joshua gives the instructions he gives in Joshua 3:3-4. The people are told to wait and then follow the ark of the covenant which represented God’s presence. It was the symbol God used to guide the people where they should go. Rather than following Joshua they would be follow the Lord God across the river. They even needed to give a little space so that they could see where to turn when needed. He reminds them that they have not passed this way before. They do not know where they are going so they must wait on God’s instructions. Trusting the Lord’s leading in our lives is a big part of finding confidence to go out our door each morning trusting Him to show us the way. This is why we study His Word, pray and spend time with other believers. The people need to prepare themselves to see God do what He is about to do. In Joshua 3:5 they are told to consecrate themselves, that is purify themselves and get rid of any worldly distractions, to confess their sins and be ready to meet with God. The reason is they are going to see God do wonders among them. This is a good reminder for us as well. When our hearts and minds are focused on the things of the world rather than on the Lord it is really difficult to see what He is doing and to trust His leading. Too much trust or want for the things this world offers will cause us to question whether or not God is really the one that gives us our directions. What if He tells us to give up something we really wanted and the world says we should not have to give that thing up? It is important to trust the Lord above all others, there is no room for dual allegiance in His army. After they are prepared, the priests begin to lead the people in verse 6. As I think about what is going to happen next, next in my family, next for my church, next for our nation, next with the world as a whole, there are times where I wonder how God is going to work it all out. I do not see how He is going to bring it all together. This passage reminds me that God does not give us the whole plan at once very often it is one step or one piece of the promise at a time, as someone said, “God often opens his hand one finger at a time.” We are given just enough light to take the next step of obedience, God does not show us all the ins and outs of His plan, they are need to know and He only tells us what we need to know, which is trust Him! Our job is not to second-guess what God will do or argue over how He could possibly do it, it is to simply put one foot in front of the other and march forward in faith. As Paul says in 2 Corinthians 5:7 “for we walk by faith, not by sight.” Let’s walk out today trusting that God knows what He is going to do and that His plans for our lives are eternally better than our plans. He knows what is going to happen today, tomorrow, and for all eternity and He can actually do something about it. So we follow Him and His will not our way and wants.  You have so much more potential than you realize. When you allow yourself to be used by God, there is no limit to the positive change you can make in the life of the people He puts in your path. I cannot begin to count the number of times in my 40 years that I have watched as one person made a difference in the life of many. It is amazing how much difference one with courage to speak as others keep silent in fear can make. Or how quickly one with humble wisdom can diffuse an explosive situation. The one with a servant’s heart, willing to do the work everyone else walked past can be the example to the rest to take ownership and fix what needs fixing. How many times in your own life has someone appeared at the right time and right place to say the words you needed to hear to get up and get back after it?
Rahab is such a one. She was discounted and discarded by everyone in her world, yet God saw fit to send Joshua to rescue her. Rahab’s rescue was not just for Rahab though! Her testimony concerning the attitude of the people in the land is the confirmation of God’s promises the people of Israel needed before they began to take the land God had given them. Joshua 2:24 records the report of the spies based on Rahab’s testimony, “Truly the Lord has given all the land into our hand. And also, all the inhabitants of the land melt away because of us.” This one woman did what the spies could not do 40 years prior as the people stood and doubted God’s power, Rahab’s faith was the spark of revival the people of God needed! Let that sink in, she changed the world by simply trusting God and telling others why. Jesus wants to use you today. Are you willing to be the one that He uses? If you are He simply calls you to, Trust the Lord and tell others the reason you do! One way God uses us is to encourage other believers, as Rahab’s testimony strengthened the Israelites, your testimony can give encouragement to the people of God. As you consider your plans for this weekend, please do not discount your importance in the life of the church. The author of Hebrews encourages us to come together for the purpose of giving each other strength in the Lord, “Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.” (Hebrews 10:23–25, ESV) I understand this text is often used to beat up on people for missing church but that misses the point. The point here is not simply regular worship attendance though it is extremely difficult to encourage people you never see, the point is to stir up one another, that is energize each other for serving the Lord. We come together not to check off our, “I went to church box,” but to give others strength as we ourselves receive strength from them. You see, each one needs the ONE, the Lord Jesus, and we cannot stay close to Him on our own. We need one another to keep us focused, to keep us strong, to keep us energized for the work at hand. So please never feel like your presence among God’s people is anything less than essential and world changing for those around you. Let us praise God for putting that collection of people in our path that have helped to give us hope and a deeper faith in Christ and ask Him for the grace to be that one He uses in the life of someone today.  As we continue our discussion of Joshua 2 today, we see in Rahab a reminder that it is faith that brings us and holds us together as God’s people. Our faith in the Lord binds us together with other believers today and for all ages. Rahab’s faith is mentioned twice in the New Testament. Once in James 2:25 and also in Hebrews 11:31 in Hebrews the author tells us that it is Rahab’s faith that kept her from being destroyed along with those who lived around her. Her faith in the Lord is what kept her from death. Paul tells us that it is through faith that we are saved, Ephesians 2:8. In the text I mentioned from James, he connects Abraham and Rahab as examples of faith. Think of that, Abraham, the father of the faith, was saved by the very same process as Rahab the pagan prostitute living among the condemned people of Jericho. The connection grows even deeper when we consider the imagery that the spies give to Rahab to exhibit her faith by. The scarlet cord hanging outside the window of her home was to be the sign by which she and her whole household would be saved from the coming wrath of God. It is difficult not to immediately think of how all Israel was saved from God’s wrath when He judged Egypt on the night of the Passover. In fact that is what the word passover means. God had said, “The blood shall be a sign for you, on the houses where you are. and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no plague will befall you to destroy you, when I strike the land of Egypt (Exodus 12:13). Here Rahab is told that when they see the scarlet cord, she and her household will be spared when Jericho is destroyed. She is to be saved as all God’s people had been and have been saved, by grace, through faith. Each of us finds ourselves forgiven, redeemed, saved, cleansed of our sins by the same means. Not one person who calls themselves part of God’s people became a child of God a different way. We must all come to the Lord humbly confessing our desperate need of forgiveness due to our sins. Apart from trusting on the Lord’s offer of salvation not one person is worthy to stand before the Lord. Whether we have the character and nature of Abraham the father of our faith or Rahab the prostitute, the need is the same, FAITH! As you stand for the Lord on the this Thursday, you do not stand alone, you stand beside the countless multitude who have come before, who are standing now, and who will stand for eternity, trusting on the Lord’s gracious offer of salvation. As you go to serve the Lord today you do not go alone, you march alongside the army of the Lord’s redeemed, sprinkled by the blood of the Lamb. The only One whom we have to to fear is the Lord God, and He gave His only Son to redeem us! So let us praise God for our brothers and sisters in Christ and go boldly as a people together to a world that so desperately needs to hear the message of hope that we have heard, trusted, and followed just like our great example we find here in Rahab.  I encourage you to read Psalm 139 today and hear David’s testimony about the absolute authority of the Lord over everywhere and everything, even our most secret thoughts, deeds and actions. He tells us that there is no escape from God’s presence, knowledge or power. This is the truth that led Rahab to call out to God for mercy as we have seen in Joshua chapter 2.
When we bow before Jesus as our Lord, we need to understand that He is king over all whole earth and desires to be king over our whole life. When we trust Christ, we can find our security and safety in Him regardless of where we go or what may happen, and that trust extends to believing that He knows what is best for our lives as well. If we claim to trust the Lord with our eternity, surely, we can trust Him with our Wednesday. Trust and obey there is no other way. Rahab is famous for her faith because she did not merely speak great words about God, she obeyed the Word of God and did what He told her to do. Rahab gives a great testimony to who the Lord God is in Joshua 2:11, she says that He is, “God in the heavens above and on the earth beneath,” this is the same instruction Moses gave to the Israelites in Deut 4:34. Here we listen as God is praised by pagan lips using the very phrase Israel was taught to use to describe Him. God’s great deeds have served to reveal His true nature and power as they always do. Just as Jesus rising from the dead shows His authority over the grave, here Rahab recognizes God’s authority over the nations of the earth. And as such she realizes that He has the right to command her life as well. Rahab’s faith was visible because of her actions. She not only hides the spies she also agrees to obey their command concerning the sign that is to be put in her window. (Joshua 2:17-18). This visible faith in the invisible God is what Jesus calls everyone today to as well. The testimony of all of Scripture is the same as Rahab’s confession here and David’s in the Psalm we read, there is truly nowhere that we can go or be taken that God will not or cannot protect us. Likewise, there is nothing too big or too small that His commands should not be obeyed. Let us pray for Rahab type faith today to trust God with our lives as well as our behavior. |
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