Practical Wisdom from the Word of God

Joshua 1:1-3(NKJV)
¹After the death of Moses the servant of the Lord, it came to pass that the Lord spoke to Joshua the son of Nun, Moses’ assistant, saying: ²“Moses My servant is dead. Now therefore, arise, go over this Jordan, you and all this people, to the land which I am giving to them—the children of Israel. ³Every place that the sole of your foot will tread upon I have given you, as I said to Moses.

This week we have been looking at the experience of the children of Israel on their journey from Egypt to the promised land and how it relates to our journey as Christians. The deliverance from Egypt including the incident at the Red Sea could be likened to our salvation through the ministry of Jesus. Their crossing of the wilderness is like our growth and development from Christian childhood to adulthood.

Now we come to the point of Israel’s deliverance. The Promised Land. This was the place God had promised to the descendants of Abraham when he made covenant with him in Genesis. It was the will of God that they occupy this land and so that the Messiah could be born there. That was their destiny. Everything that happened to this point in their history was to bring them there.

I believe each one of us has a destiny in God. I believe as we bring those individual destinies together in the body of Christ we will fulfill a corporate destiny for the church in our generation. The Israel of Moses’ and Joshua’s generations were not like all other Israelite generations. This was a significant time in their history. They had to get to Canaan and they had to occupy it, not just for themselves but for the eventual plan of God.

I believe we live in that kind of day right now. Although it is always important to follow God and Christians always have a destiny in God, our generation is important. I believe what the church does over the next 40 years is very significant, not just for us but for the entire plan of God.

We are a Joshua generation. What does that mean? I believe it means a generation that is going to enter in to the destiny God has for us. In the case of Israel, the first generation never did. Their unbelief caused them to die in the wilderness. The second generation was different. They fulfilled the purpose for which God had rescued them all from bondage.

There are a number of characteristics of the Joshua generation. First of all we see that God made an interesting and somewhat hard statement to Joshua. He tells him Moses is dead. Now Joshua obviously knew that. God didn’t say it for information purposes. God made this statement to Moses because it was imperative that he understand that the past was past.

Moses was a great leader. The time he lead them through was a great time, but that time was over. If we are going to be a Joshua generation we have to recognize that this is a new day. That what is past is past. God has a new “thing” for us and we need to embrace it.

Does that mean we don’t carry anything from the past into today. Of course not. There are principles in the bible that are timeless. Certain things just don’t change. However we cannot look to the past longingly and say I wish it would be that way again. Moses is dead. Period. You can’t go back. This is Joshua’s day and both Joshua himself and the people needed to understand that.

Let me point out some differences in Moses day and Joshua’s days. Moses faced an assignment that had never been done before. He argued with God at the burning bush in the wilderness to send someone else to Egypt. He was not qualified in his own eyes. However Joshua is following a great leader. He has seen Moses bring plagues, part seas, produce water from a rock that followed them. Joshua had never done anything like that. Moses was a tough act to follow.

Moses had a very powerful enemy to defeat. However it was only one enemy. When he won the war over the Egyptians, that was it. Now all he has to deal with is the Israelite people themselves. I’ll admit that proved to be a formidable task, but he had few outside enemies that he had to defeat.

Joshua, on the other hand, is faced with many nations to defeat. He is called to drive them out of the whole region defined by the covenant promise. He faces Jericho first and wins a great victory but that is followed by a defeat at Ai. Joshua’s war is going to be much longer against many more enemies. In the end he will not be passing through Canaan. It will be his responsibility to divide the land among his people so they can occupy it.

Moses was given miraculous power to win his war. He brought forth plagues with the wave of his staff. He lifted his staff and divided the waters. He was responsible for manna appearing every day. All of that ended when the people came to the promised land. Joshua had to fight the old fashioned way. God did provide mighty power in bringing down the walls of Jericho, but even then the people had to fight. The falling walls did not kill the people in Jericho like the waters of the Red Sea killed the Egyptian army.

The ministry of Joshua was just as supernatural and just as powerful as that of Moses, but it was different. I believe there is much we can learn from the past. I believe that God will be on our side just as he was with Moses. However Moses is dead. We face new challenges and God is up to those challenges, but he may not do things exactly as we are used to.

Embrace today. Understand that there are some things in your pass that are important. Things you can use to help you today. However the past is the past. Don’t try to relive it. Don’t let its limitations bind you. This is a new day. God is with us and we will prevail.

To be a Joshua generation we must understand that Moses is dead. We can and will go forward. But we must do it God’s way for today. Your past may have been wonderful. It’s over. Your past may have been terrible. It’s over too. All you have is today. Ask God, “What do you expect of me today? What exciting ways do you have for me to win my wars today?”

This is going to be a great adventure for all of us who are willing to embrace it. That was a major difference with this second generation. They chose to embrace their destiny. Let me close with their words to Joshua.

Joshua 1:16(NKJV)
¹⁶So they answered Joshua, saying, “All that you command us we will do, and wherever you send us we will go.

Let that be our words to the Lord today.