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Introduction
Joshua 1:1-9
The Lord’s Charge to Joshua
1 After the death of Moses the Lord’s servant, the Lord spoke to Joshua son of Nun, Moses’ assistant. He said, 2 “Moses my servant is dead. Therefore, the time has come for you to lead these people, the Israelites, across the Jordan River into the land I am giving them. 3 I promise you what I promised Moses: ‘Wherever you set foot, you will be on land I have given you— 4 from the Negev wilderness in the south to the Lebanon mountains in the north, from the Euphrates River in the east to the Mediterranean Sea[a] in the west, including all the land of the Hittites.’ 5 No one will be able to stand against you as long as you live. For I will be with you as I was with Moses. I will not fail you or abandon you.
6 “Be strong and courageous, for you are the one who will lead these people to possess all the land I swore to their ancestors I would give them. 7 Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the instructions Moses gave you. Do not deviate from them, turning either to the right or to the left. Then you will be successful in everything you do. 8 Study this Book of Instruction continually. Meditate on it day and night so you will be sure to obey everything written in it. Only then will you prosper and succeed in all you do. 9 This is my command—be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid or discouraged. For the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”
A man practiced at being a stranger. He grew up in Egypt, was part of the Exodus of the people from Egypt, was apprentice to Moses and with him when he ascended the mountain to recieve the 10 commandments. Afterwards he was often found at the tent of meeting to be close to the presence of God.
Joshua was also a warrior, a man who knew what is was like to engage in firece battles. He had been on of the leaders of Israel to go and spy the promised land and together with Caleb he was willing to go in and take the land when no-one else was prepared to do it. He was appointed to lead the people into the promised land.
So what do we learn from Joshua?
Lots -He valued his relationship with God and he was a man of his word. He was willing to fight for his country and to go against popular opinion
Numbers 14:6-9
Two of the men who had explored the land, Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh, tore their clothing. They said to the people of Israel "The land we travelled hrough and explored is a wonderful land! And if the Lord is pleased with use will bring us safely to into that land and and give it to us. It is a land flowing with milk and honey. Do not rebel against the Lord, and don't be afraid of the people of the land. They are only helplessprey to us. They have no protection, but the Lord is with us. Do not be afraid".
Two people, Joshua and Caleb, stood against the crowd of people in faith; ten people, motivated by fear, stirred up the crowd against them. Joshua, who knew God was with the people and Caleb, a "man with a different spirit and attitude" were the only ones who after wandering for 40 years were given the opportunity to set foot in the promised land.
Talk about patience. However, the main things I want to focus on today, are these. Leaving the past behind, living with courage and not letting excuses get in the way.
Living in a strange land, taking ground in a strange country, even a promised one, takes courage. God calls us to have courage and to "take the ground" he has given us.
1. Leave the Past Behind
Joshua became leader after the death of Moses. A change happenned and suddenly, he was in a new situation. No longer the offsider but the one the people looked to. It's almost like God had to remind him that he was now the one to lead the people.
Joshua 1:2
Moses my servant is dead. Therefore the time has come for you to lead these people, the Israelites, across the Jordan River into the land I am giving them.
In life, are we the one prepared to rise and and take responsibility to take the land God has given us? I think what God was saying to Joshua is: The past is the past. Moses is dead, he's not coming back and there is nothing that is going to change that, Don't dwell on the past. Instead, recognise that this is a new day, a new beginning, a time to take the land.
This is God's Word to us today. The past cannot be changed. Today is a new beginning. Don't dwell on the past. Instead, recognise that this is a new day, a new beginning, a time to take the land.
Isaiah 43:15-19
I am the Lord, your Holy one, Israel's creator and King.
I am the Lord, who opened a way through the waters, making a dry path through the sea.
I called forth the mighty arm of Egypt with all its chariots and horses.
I drew them beneath the waves and they drowned, their lives snuffed out like smouldering candlewick.
But forget all that-
It is nothing compared to what I am going to do.
For I am about to do something new.
See, I have already begun! Do you not see it?
I will make a patheway through the wildernessI will create rvers in the dry wasteland.
What in your past is God asking you to put behind you, to leave in the past? What is the new thing, the new land he is asking you to take?
As a community of Women, what new ground in this strange land is God asking us to take?
The people of Israel did not take the land in one go, it took years. But it was a new thing. They had to make a start. Joshua was faced with a strange land and a new generation of people to lead. God says - don't look at what has been, instead, look at what i'm about to do.
There is land to be taken, a new and strange place to live, but a place of blessing and fruitfulness.
2. Courage
Living in a strange land takes courage. Joshua had a promise that wherever he put his feet, it had been given to him by God. He had the promise that God would be with him. But God tells him twice to be strong and courageous.
(He had also been told to be strong and courageous in Deut 31:7)
We also have this promise from Jesus when he says in Matthew 28 to go into all the world. He says he will be with us even to the end of the age. He is always with us. The writer of Hebrews says that God will never leave or forsake us. (Hebrews 13:5)
But even with all these promises. God says in Joshua 1:6, 9 Be strong and courageous, do not be afraid or discouraged. God has hit upon the one thing that tends to be our downfall. We let fear take a hold and we allow ourselves to become discouraged.
To live in this strange land, and to take the land, we need to learn to trust God and his promise, to take hold of his promise. Let's not be ruled by fear or become discouraged. Let's learn to take those thoughts captive and to replace them with the words of the promises that God has given us.
David, in the psalms, knew how to encourage himself. He put it into practice when the band of people he was leading turned against him.
The Bible tells us that David encouraged himself in God.
1 Samuel 30:6
David was now in great danger because all his men were very bitter about losing their sons and daughters, and they began to talk of stoning him. But David found strength in the Lord his God
David had a personal understanding that God was his God. It wad a personal relationship. God told Joshua to meditate on his Word, day and night.
When we are thinking about the word of God and his promises to us, its hard to be discouraged at the same time. The problem is that we dwell on the fear and discouragement instead of the Word of God and the promises of God.
What fears do you allow yourself to dwell on?
What will you do to encourage yourself in God?
To be women of courage we need to meditate on the Word of God. We need to fill our mind with his ways and thoughts as we live in this strage land.
3. Age is no barrier.
Joshua was not young when he began to take the people into the land. We don't know how old he was, but he had to be at least 60.
We know that only he and Caleb who were leaders of their tribes survived. Everyone else over 20 died. They wandered for almost 40 years and so he had to be 60 or older. Age is no barrier. When God has called you, then age is not a barrier.
What has God called you to do? What barriers are you putting up in resistance?
God did not consider Joshua's age as a barrier. In fact at the beginning of Judges we find out that Joshua was 110 years old when he died. Judges 2:8
For most of the last years of his life, he was fighting for the land, taking the land and leading the people.Caleb was 85 years old when he went and fought the toughest group of people.
Joshua 14:6-15
6 A delegation from the tribe of Judah, led by Caleb son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite, came to Joshua at Gilgal. Caleb said to Joshua, “Remember what the Lord said to Moses, the man of God, about you and me when we were at Kadesh-barnea. 7 I was forty years old when Moses, the servant of the Lord, sent me from Kadesh-barnea to explore the land of Canaan. I returned and gave an honest report, 8 but my brothers who went with me frightened the people from entering the Promised Land. For my part, I wholeheartedly followed the Lord my God. 9 So that day Moses solemnly promised me, ‘The land of Canaan on which you were just walking will be your grant of land and that of your descendants forever, because you wholeheartedly followed the Lord my God.’
10 “Now, as you can see, the Lord has kept me alive and well as he promised for all these forty-five years since Moses made this promise—even while Israel wandered in the wilderness. Today I am eighty-five years old. 11 I am as strong now as I was when Moses sent me on that journey, and I can still travel and fight as well as I could then. 12 So give me the hill country that the Lord promised me. You will remember that as scouts we found the descendants of Anak living there in great, walled towns. But if the Lord is with me, I will drive them out of the land, just as the Lord said.”
13 So Joshua blessed Caleb son of Jephunneh and gave Hebron to him as his portion of land. 14 Hebron still belongs to the descendants of Caleb son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite because he wholeheartedly followed the Lord, the God of Israel. 15 (Previously Hebron had been called Kiriath-arba. It had been named after Arba, a great hero of the descendants of Anak.) And the land had rest from war.
He knew he had the promise of God, he knew he had been called to fulfill his calling. He held on to the promise, and meanwhile, got on with the job at hand.
And he died sometime after Joshua. These guys were powerful people who saw age as no barrier. They were powerful because they chose to trust God and to not let age get in the way of fulfilling God's call on their life.
They chose to get on with job they had been given, even though their own promise still seemed far away - during the wandering in the wilderness and the taking of the land.
What promises has God given you for the future?
What is God asking you to do know?
Caleb served Joshua, knowing that God would fulfil his promise, as he got on with the job at hand.
4. Mentor someone
Lastly - choose to mentor someone. Moses was a mentor to Joshua.
These guys made mistakes along the way, but one of the saddest, that had major repurcussions for israel, came as a result of no-one being grown and mentored to take their place.
Israel served God under Joshua, and under the elders of that era and then fell away. There was a gap, a vacuum, because no-one was mentored to take their place.
God was faithful and raised people up. Let's be women who mentor others, who develop others to take our place. The book of Judges is filled with some great stuff and some horrendous stuff. The end of Judges is a sorry time.
Judges 21:25
In those days, Israel had no king; all the people did whatever seemed right in their own eyes.
There was no-one to lead and to guide. God had raised up Judges, but the lack of clear leadership after the death of Joshua lead to anarchy and chaos.
Who can you mentor? Your life does not have to be perfect. Who can you help to develop to take on the work?
Paul had people like Timothy and Titus. Jesus had his disciples. Barnabas mentored John Mark . They understood the need to take people alongside and apprentice them in the work, to teach, to train, to guide and to mentor.
We all have something we can pass on to someone else.
Concluding thoughts
Leave the past behind and embrace what God has for you.
Take courage in God, trust him. Tell yourself to be srong and courageous, dwelling on God's word. When faith rises up, fear will flee.
No matter how old you are, God has a place for you and a work for you to do. Age is no barrier. Along the way, take time to mentor someone and help them to negotiate this strange land.
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