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If ever you decide to get up and serve God in some way or other, then you had better prepare yourself for trouble.
If you think that following Christ, and doing something in this world for His glory will be a simple matter where every door opens in front of you, and all your enemies submit to your demands, think again!
Joshua was to take the children of Israel into the ‘Promised Land’, the inheritance that God had given them for their future and their children’s future. But having rallied the troops, crossed the Jordan into Canaan, they were to find that nothing was given them ‘on a plate’.
Fighting and wars were immediately ahead, and the highest challenges of faith and perseverance stood in their way day by day.
It took the miracle of crossing the flooded Jordan on foot just to get them into the land; and it usually takes some sort of a miracle to get each of us into the way of God.
The river dried up, and the waters were backed-up further upstream just to allow this company to cross! Can you imagine?
And I could well believe that the people thought it was going to be a piece of cake to take the land before them and claim their possessions.
But this was not to be the case, as you can see from the book of Joshua (chapters 1-5).
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Each challenge was to be met with a real and total dependency upon their God, and the miracles of deliverance and success would depend upon their immediate obedience to what He instructed.
There would be war and fighting every day, and personal challenges at every step.
Success would be measured by the willingness of God’s people to do whatever He said at any given moment. Instruction would be given at each stage of the ‘invasion’, and the master-plan trusted only to the Angel of the Lord.
Disobedience would hinder their progress, and slow them down in their conquest. So, simple trust and faith would be the keys to their ultimate victory and accomplishments.
Faith, fortitude, and steadfastness will all be tested to the full if you are one of the few that truly want to follow God and serve Him in His kingdom.
Even Joshua, who had spent forty years wandering round the desert, learning and serving under Moses, had to be confronted with the dynamic truth that all that he had been through, the troubles, the discouragements, the disappointments, the trials, all, all of these were just part of the preparation for stepping up to the mark and following the LORD into a battleground of accomplishment and victories.
‘And it came to pass, when Joshua was by Jericho, that he lifted up his eyes and looked, and, behold, there stood a man over against him with his sword drawn in his hand: and Joshua went unto him, and said unto him, Are you for us, or for our adversaries?
And he said, Nay; but as captain of the host of the LORD am I now come. And Joshua fell on his face to the earth, and did worship, and said unto him, What says my lord unto his servant? Joshua 5:13-14
What he had experienced before would now stand him in good stead for all of the huge challenges before him;
But now came the real fight, the real test of character and worthiness.
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One of the things I find most disappointing in this day and age is the way believers, once they get to a certain age, just give up, settle down, and simply ‘exist’. Their church-life is like a retirement home where they go and repeat the same old words every week to make them feel all cosy and peaceful.
They have the mentality that they have done their part, and now the rest of their life is over when it comes to being effective in the kingdom of God.
If this is where you are, then why not just go to heaven? You are just cluttering up the space already overcrowded on this planet.
Armchair Christians take up far too much room, and are usually the most boring (and the most unfriendly) people in the world. I have met thousands of them, from the one in the pulpit boring everyone to sleep, to those sitting on their padded seats thinking about what they will eat when they get home.
Where are the soldiers? Where are the valiant men?
Where are the 'darers' and the 'doers'? Where are the battle-hardened veterans?
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There will always be those who think they are the heroes of this age, and self-deceived into believing that they alone have the one true message, and the only ones who have got it right. Ignore them. Time will prove their insignificance.
The doctor’s waiting rooms are filled with such people queuing for their prescriptions of anti-depressant pills! And if they are not in that line yet, then they soon will be!
Actually, it was the ordinary, rugged men, called to be soldiers during the Second World War, who became the real heroes of that period. These were not ‘mentals’, neither were they naturally disposed to fighting.
They never went out to gain fame or become heroes, or become chairmen of some committee or other.
They simply went because they saw the desperate need, and heard the call from their Sovereign.
They left their families, their daily work, and enlisted in the army to fight for king and country.
But they went, and that is what made the difference!
The so-called Christian soldiers of this day sit at home in front of their televisions planning when they can have the next holiday, or the next football game to watch.
What a joke.
They surely do not really believe in heaven or hell, or else their lives would take on new meaning, and their thought processes would be transformed.
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So, between the ‘religious nutters’ and the uninspired and boring church-goers, where are the true and faithful warriors of God?
God is looking.
JGM Telling it like it is
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