The Second Sunday of Advent, December 7

JOSHUA: DARING TO TRUST

Joshua 1 and 21:44-45

In 1975, a young couple bought a small newspaper in California.  Almost immediately, they unearthed a scandal involving a foundation responsible for rehabilitating addicts.  They persevered in their research, even though major newspapers refused to run the expose', and local law enforcement insisted on looking in the other direction.  They ran down their leads, speaking with former members who were willing to talk.  When the foundation's leaders tried to kill an opponent by putting a rattlesnake in his mailbox, the story finally broke and justice was served.  The newspaper man had dared to trust in the truth—imagine how much greater the results if we will trust in the Lord's truth!

We often despair at the problems confronting us, wondering how we can even stand against powers that seem so much greater than us.  Sometimes we feel that giving up is the only alternative.  Virgil Hurley once wrote, "Those destined to lose cannot win, and those destined to win cannot lose if they persist in faithful obedience."  Joshua needed to know that.  Moses was dead, and he was now given the awesome task of crossing the Jordan River and taking the land.  God told him, "Be strong and of good courage; for unto this people shalt thou divide for an inheritance the land, which I sware unto their fathers to give them…Be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest." (1: 6,9)  In other words, dare to trust in God's truth.  And away they went—beginning with Jericho, they conquered the southern territories first and then the northern.  Joshua 13 relates that when Joshua was very old, they went to the east and then to the west.  They had been commanded to destroy everyone, because the inhabitants had had their opportunity to repent and turn to the Lord, but refused—hence, judgment.  But the people of Israel had not gone all the way, either—"Yet it came to pass, when the children of Israel were waxen strong, that they put the Canaanites to tribute; but did not utterly drive them out." (17:13)  They thought it would be more beneficial to co-exist, as many do today—using man's ways for God's work; being like the world in order to be liked by the world!

They thought!  I thought this was God's plan; I thought He was in control!  It is and He is, but He gives His people free will—the ability to make their own choices.  He was perfectly faithful to His promise—"There failed not aught of any good thing which the Lord had spoken unto the house of Israel; all came to pass." (22:45)  God was faithful, but His people blew it!  Over and over again, the repercussions can be seen.  For example, Tyre and Sidon were in an area that was supposed to be taken, and because they weren't, the gospel ran into a great deal of opposition.  And would there be the same mess today between Israel and the Palestinians, if Israel had taken all of the land the Lord had told them to?(see Joshua 1:4)   Listen—God has a plan, and He wants you in it.  Submit to Him, stay separate from the world, and God will be glorified!

~ Rev. Roy D. Warren, Jr.