Easier said than done, right?
The narrative about Joshua and his call to ministry is a little different than what we are used to seeing. Typically in the people that we’ve looked at so far there has been a very clear circumstance in which the word of God came upon them in some form or another. With Moses we see a burning bush; with Mary there is an angel sent to proclaim her impending role as mother of God; with Isaiah there were seraphim with burning coals; with Joshua, he isn’t even consulted until the matter has been decided. Yep, I would say that would take a heck of a lot of strength and courage to live out a call that someone accepted on your behalf.
One of the things that I like best about my job is that I have a lot of flexibility with the way in which I do things. There are certain things that I have to do, but I get to make a lot of decisions about when and how they get done, and I like that. I like the feeling that I am in charge and can choose a lot of what I do. I think this is the part that throws me for a loop with Joshua is that he really didn’t have any choice.
Numbers 27 outlines the call of Joshua. Now, what you may find weird is the fact that Joshua is not involved in the process at all. The section that you read is essentially a conversation between God and Moses where Moses expresses his concern and God gives Joshua as a solution. In my humble opinion, if I were called to be the leader of the Israelite people and expected to lead them in the fulfillment of God’s promise, I’d kinda like to be involved in the decision process.
It’s ok though because later on in Deuteronomy Moses took Joshua to tell him all about what he and God had decided. Oh right, he told him in front of all the people of
Joshua really seems to take it all in stride, rather than feeling angry about the fact that he wasn’t consulted in the huge turn that his life was now taking, he understood it as the will of God and recognized the importance of God choosing him for that task. And let’s be honest here, that takes an awful lot of strength and courage. But really this is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to what he will face in the days to come.
Joshua’s ministry is not easy. He is called to fill some very big shoes…errr…sandals. Following after such an influential and well-known leader as Moses would not be easy for anyone to endeavor to take on. Although we look at it now and see the difficulty that was inherent in this calling, the one thing that we need to focus on is the promise that God makes in saying “Be strong and courageous.”
It doesn’t really seem like much of a promise, does it? You’re all probably thinking that with the coming of the end of the week I’ve lost my head a little and forgotten the proper grammatical term here; you’re drifting over to the comments section and your fingers are longing to type out, “It’s a command!” “That’s the imperative, you dummy!” “Bleearggghh! I’m angry!”
It does seem an awful lot like an instruction; as though God is commanding Joshua to take on this task of remaining strong and filled with courage no matter what the circumstance may be. The promise comes into play in Joshua 1 where God promises that just as he was with Moses, he will also be with Joshua. The reason that Joshua can remain strong and confident is not because he is superhuman and can deflect any troubles that threaten him but rather because God has promised to be with him. God gives him the strength and courage that he needs in order to take on this massive mission.
This calling of Joshua reminds us of one of the greatest failings that we find in our own lives: our dependence upon ourselves. We want so badly to prove to those around us that we are good enough to undertake anything thrown our way that we forget about God’s promise to be with us as well. We look inwardly for that strength and courage that God has told us comes from Him. We try so hard to do it on our own that we are shocked when we fail; shocked when it’s so difficult; shocked when it has drained us of all energy and all confidence.
When we look at the call of Joshua and the call to be strong and courageous, what we are really looking at is the call to believe in God. We are called to believe that God is there to give us the strength that we need in order to overcome the difficult situations in our lives. Joshua was never promised a life of comfort and ease. From the beginning he was told that he would encounter several difficult situations, whether from the people that he was leading or the very task of fulfilling God’s promise to his people. The difference is that he was never told that he had to do it on his own. As ludicrous as God’s plans seemed and as impossible as the Israelite people acted, Joshua was able to remain strong and courageous because of God’s promise that He was (and still is) always there.
No comments:
Post a Comment