We are on the threshold of victory or defeat. Our next steps are significant for they reveal where are our hearts presently are. Our real battle is not the enemy out there but right in our hearts.
If you have had an opportunity to read through Joshua, you will find it to be a wonderful book filled with adventures and triumph. They have their share of problems but they are minimal. Just contrast this age to the one of the kings a few hundred years later and you all the more will appreciate what God did through Joshua. We need to face a few questions.
Is this just an ideal glimpse of what was or is it a picture of what can be?
What is it that made Joshua’s generation so different from the one before and those that would follow?
These questions are poised here are for us. Yes, Joshua was staged thousands of years ago but God has encoded how He works out His plans in these scriptures. As God’s people in the third millennium, we need to ask ourselves the same questions as Joshua.
1• What are we hoping for God to do in our midst? Do we have a glowing dream of a glorious church going forward winning battles? Or do we lack a vision for the church? Or even worse our vision is on self-fulfillment? Without a vision, we will focus on how the church is around us and follow their path. We will just accept that is the way things are.
2• How is it that we can differentiate ourselves from those dying about us? Is there any hope for us? What is needed to make our generation a model people?
We praise God for His Word that always brings hope and direction into our lives.
The Journey of the People of God (OT)
The people of God left Egypt after being there 430 years. We might think of it as their crib. They met God at Sinai and received His Law. This was but a few months at the most. We then find them wandering in the wilderness for 40 unnecessary years after they failed their test at Kadesh Barneea. The last stage is where they cross the Jordan River and entered Canaan, the Promised Land. Joshua is to lead them into the Promised Land. Another name for Joshua is Jesus who has led Him people into eternal life.