Joshua was
first mentioned in the Bible in Exodus 17, when the Amalekites attacked the
Israelites in the wilderness on their way to Mount Sinai. In the story, Joshua
was already portrayed as Moses’ trusted assistant: “The Amalekites came
and attacked the Israelites at Rephidim. Moses said to
Joshua, ‘Choose some of our men and go out to fight the Amalekite’” (Exo
17:8-9). Moses seemed to have
been fond of Joshua that he actually took Joshua with him up to Mount Sinai on
his sixth climb to meet God: “Then Moses set out with Joshua his
aide, and Moses went up on the mountain of God” (Exo 24:13). Joshua stayed with Moses at Mt Sinai
for forty days, and went down with Moses: “Moses turned and went down
the mountain with the two tablets of the covenant law in his
hands. They were inscribed on both sides, front and back. The
tablets were the work of God; the writing was the writing of God, engraved on
the tablets. When Joshua heard the noise of the people shouting, he said
to Moses, ‘There is the sound of war in the camp’” (Exo 32:15-17). It seems therefore that Joshua was
with Moses when Yahweh inscribed the law in stone tablets.
Joshua
served Moses’ young aide all throughout Moses’ leadership: “Moses would
return to the camp, but his young aide Joshua son of Nun did not leave the
tent” (Exo 33:11). He was very protective of Moses’ role leadership over the
Israelites and was jealous for Moses’ sake (Num 11:29). As Moses’ assistant, it
was proper that he was a member of the 12-man scouting party Moses sent to
Canaan (Num 13:16-14:38). When Moses died, he succeeded him as the leader of
the Israelites (Deut 31:7-9; 34:9). This is not surprising because Joshua was actually a very
remarkable man of God. He was described by God as “a man in whom is the spirit
of leadership” (Num 27:18) and one who “followed the Lord wholeheartedly” (Num
32:12).
What fascinates me in Joshua’s life is the fact that even
though he was great in the eyes of God, he still suffered a lot with the people
of Israel. He was there in Egypt as a slave. He was there the very day the
Israelites left Egypt. He was a part of the wandering people of God in the
wilderness. He experienced the difficulties and scarcity of the desert. He
experienced the scorching sands of the wilderness, and its lack of resources
necessary for human survival. He experienced eating manna for 40 years, every
day. He experienced and saw with his own eyes God’s blessings and punishments.
He saw, and probably buried, thousands of people in the wilderness. As Moses’ assistant,
he knew how rebellious and ungrateful the Israelites were to God. Like
Joshua, with all his good credentials, was a wanderer for
forty years. His life may be the mirror of ours. We may be good men and women
but still in the desert, not because of our own fault, but because we belong to
an ungodly group of people. We might be suffering and stuck in scarcity because
of our own families. We might be experiencing the death of our own spirits
because of our friends. We might be experiencing a lot of toxicity because of
our workmates or school mates. We might be experiencing an asphyxiating
pressure because of our loved ones. Our potentials might be being suppressed
because of our leaders. We might be feeling discouraged because of others. We
can be like Joshua, the righteous man of God among a crowd of mockers, pulling
us down with them in their steady descent to the cradles of hell. Even
righteous people wander in the wilderness—not by their own choice—but as the
consequence of their belongingness to a group.
Nothing is more depressing than to realize that you are
doing the best you can only to be dragged down by your group. This was the life
of Joshua for 40 years. He was suffering as an innocent. He was wandering in
the wilderness of death, surrounded by people whose expertise was in grumbling.
The journey was already exhausting, but being with nasty people added to the
suffering. The journey from Goshen to the promised land is only about 900
miles, which they could have walked in four months, maximum. In fact, they
reached Mt Sinai, which was about than halfway through, in just 44 days. But
the journey lasted for forty long years, not while eating ice cream in the
desert, but in suffering and death. For Joshua and the Israelites, they could
almost see their destination. It was just right in front of them, but they
could not move forward. They were trapped in their hellish routine.
Never in his entire life would Joshua have expected to
experience victories. The odds were against him. Although he was the new leader
of the Israelites, the Israelites were still the Israelites. They were the same
rebellious, stiff-necked, doubting grumblers like in the time of Moses. If I
were Joshua, I would not be expecting much from the same people who were the
very reason for his 40-year wandering. It was not as if he joined another group
of more reliable and godly people. He was basically in the same place,
surrounded by the same group of people who weighed him down. He knew the Israelites
very well that the task given to him was challenging. He saw how the people
regarded God and Moses, and he was most probably not optimistic about his
dignified new leadership role.
But the miracle of miracles happened. After 40 years of
wandering in defeat, Joshua tasted two victories immediately after taking the
leadership from Moses. They were able to cross the Jordan river and defeat
Jericho without much effort. They have been trying so hard to enter the promise
land in the last 40 years, and the land seemed almost impenetrable. But Joshua
and the people crossed the Jordan river and defeated their first city within a
month’s time. In the span of one month, Joshua experienced a change from being
a defeated wanderer to a winning warrior.
How did this happen? What changed? What was different? We
can observe two things.
First, in both crossing Jordan river (Josh 3:14-17) and
conquest of Jericho (Josh 6:2-7), the priests holding the ark of the covenant
were leading the way. Gone were the days when the Israelites relied on their
own wisdom and strength. Gone were the days when the scouts led the way. It was
a new era: one characterized by unreserved (and even foolish) trust and
confidence in God. Can you imagine how foolish it was to send priests carrying
the ark of the covenant to walk ahead while crossing a river? Can you imagine
how foolish it was to send priests carrying trumpets to lead the way in sieging
a fortified city? They allowed God to lead them, and this gave them victories.
Secondly, immediately after entering the promise land,
Joshua led the people to be circumcised in Gilgal and celebrate the Passover
(Josh 4:19-5:12). Circumcision was the sign of the covenant between God and the
Israelites, so Joshua was leading the people to renew their covenant with God.
Most of the people who entered the promised land were not there when the
Israelites made the covenant with Yahweh at Sinai forty years ago. They have
broken their covenant of worship and faith in Yahweh in their repeated
disobedience and grumbling in the wilderness. One of the first things Joshua
did was to renew the covenant between the people and Yahweh. The way forward is
to return to covenant relationship with God.
These two things are what we should do today if we want to
transition from being a wanderer to a winner. We must make sure that our
covenant with God is renewed every day. We must make sure that we are in
relationship with Him. This is the foundation of all that we are as Christians.
Also, we must allow God to lead the way for us. We must renew our faith in God
and be confident in His wisdom and grace that will carry us through life. In
the words of Proverbs 3:5-6, we must
and lean not on your own understanding;
in all your ways submit to him,
and he will make your paths straight.
[This is the second sermon in the series New Beginnings. The fist sermon is here.]
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