Scripture
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. 7Be 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. 8Study 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. 9This is my command—be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid or discouraged. For the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.” Joshua 1:6-9
Observation
He had been waiting for this moment for 40 years, but now that it had arrived it was much harder than he had anticipated. God started out his conversation with this reality check “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.” (Josh 1:2). I can picture Joshua willing himself to stand up without shaking or falling over completely. Why do I assume he was intimidated at this new reality? God tells him three times in the span of four verses to “be strong and courageous.” The Promised Land was uncharted territory. The people had always followed Moses and Joshua had always followed his lead. Now, everyone was looking at him and he could feel their eyeballs burning through the back of his head as he faced the Lord. Like an expert guide on an expedition in a foreign land, God would be Joshua’s trail guide and he was handing him the trail map that would show him the way through- “Study this Book of Instruction continually.” This was going to be a hard reset for life as they knew it. They had been doing the same thing the same way since they had left Egypt 40 years earlier. Now, everything was different. A new leader, a new land, and new enemies meant a whole new approach to living.
Application
Thank You, Jesus, for this needful word to my heart. You are asking us to learn, unlearn, and relearn in this season of the hard reset. Let us let go of everything we have been clinging to and choose only to cling to You. Just on the other side of this reset is the Promised Land. What You’re doing now in Your Church is getting us ready for the victory that’s just on the other side of this Pandemic. We ready ourselves through repentance and set our heart towards You!as a church has given way to small groups and online services. In fact, tonight’s Midweek service at New Hope Oahu will kick off a whole new way of doing church completely online. I’m so thankful that God is repeating over and over “be strong and courageous”. In these uncertain times, I am certain of this one thing, my God is in control even when everything else is out of control. The same God who led His people through the wilderness, the Jordan and the Promised Land is the same God leading us today! I find myself pouring over the “Book of Instruction” as I choose to meditate on this instead of the 24/7 news feed frenzy. Here’s what I’ve discovered. Like the Israelites in Joshua chapter 1, the Church has found herself in the midst of a “Hard Reset”. When my iPhone X is unresponsive, the screen is frozen and/or the functions are glitchy sometimes the only choice is a hard reset. I can’t just push any buttons I want to make this happen. I must follow the instructions that make it clear the key to a hard reset is speed and sequence. Press and quickly release the Volume Up button first. Next, quickly press and release the Volume Down button. Finally, press and hold the Side button until you see the Apple logo. There are a few seconds as you hold the Side button that feels like an eternity. While the screen is black you’re wondering if you used the right combination of speed and sequence as you picture everything on your phone from precious pictures to passwords all disappearing into the ether. And then… slowly and softly that lovely Apple logo appears and your iPhone returns to the world of responding to your taps and commands. I think that’s where we are right now. As The Church we have had to respond with great speed in the face of a growing pandemic. We have had to make decisions in a day as a church leadership team and as a family that normally take a month to plan out. We have raised the volume of faith. We have lowered the volume of fear. And now… now we wait. In the power of the pause, on this side of the Jordan, we remind ourselves of the promises of God yet to be fulfilled. We trust that what has been taken away will be restored. And we rejoice. When that lovely view of the Cross of Christ lights up our screen and lights up our future we know we have been restored to our original factory settings. Our innovator and designer Jesus Christ is removing the glitches of our religious traditions, He is addressing the unresponsiveness of our busy and distracted hearts, and He is restoring our purpose for being here in the first place. There is much to be afraid and discouraged by in these troubled times, but God’s words to Joshua are words to us right here, right now. In the confines of our homes, in the middle of this hard reset, we rememberer, The Lord our God is with us wherever we go, even when it seems we aren’t going anywhere anytime soon.
Prayer
Thank You, Jesus, for this needful and timely word to our hearts. You are asking us to learn, unlearn, and relearn in this season of the hard reset. Let us let go of everything we have been clinging to and choose only to cling to You. Just on the other side of this reset is the Promised Land. What You’re doing now in Your Church is getting us ready for the victory that’s just on the other side of this Pandemic. We ready ourselves through repentance and set our hearts towards You!
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