Word of the Day (11-18-11)

Good Morning Everyone

Today is Friday November 18, 2011

The word of the day comes from Joshua 1:16-18 New Living Translation (NLT)

 ¹⁶ They answered Joshua, “We will do whatever you command us, and we will go wherever you send us. ¹⁷ We will obey you just as we obeyed Moses. And may the LORD your God be with you as he was with Moses. ¹⁸ Anyone who rebels against your orders and does not obey your words and everything you command will be put to death. So be strong and courageous!”

My Interpretation

There are four main components to this that we want to look at today in brief. There are four different angles in which we will do a brief over you on in the coming weeks. We can get into each point a little later, today is just groundwork. J I think this will be a blessing to you.

First point, this passage of scripture shows the maturity of the people. I hear so many stories from Bishops and Pastors who have gone on to be with the Lord, had to step down for health reasons, etc and the new Pastor is not well received, well liked, and is challenged at every turn by the people of God. Here, however, you see a united (that word can’t be spoken enough) front to be 100% (that can’t be spoken enough about either) behind the man/woman of God that God has placed in leadership. If you look at the beginning of Joshua, the Lord tells Joshua that He has chosen him to be the new leader of Israel. The level of maturity in the people is remarkable after God makes that declaration. They could have complained, acted out or what not but there response in our passage today is a testament to their relationship with God and their trust in God and Moses (as we will get to later) for the man of God (Joshua) who is now their leader. 

Second point, it shows the consistency in Joshua. No it doesn’t say that but lets read between the lines. I believe the consistency of Joshua helped assist in the people’s willingness to go with him (not stop him but go with him as he went with God) in ministry. What do I mean? Joshua didn’t just pop up on the scene in his book. Joshua has been there since Exodus. Joshua was the military leader. Joshua was faithful to God and ambitious to do the impossible with God on his side. Remember Joshua was one of the men who weren’t afraid to say they could take the giants that were in their land that flowed with milk and honey. The people were able to see for an extended period of time the walk of God being manifested in Joshua’s life. What was made public to Joshua from God was more than likely a confirmation that the people had in their spirits because they had spent enough time with Joshua to know what type of man he was and whose he was.

Third point, it shows just how great a leader Moses really was. What do you mean? Well Moses was leading from a mindset that he needed to groom his replacement. With every decision Moses made to give Joshua more responsibility and more chances to hear directly from him as he heard from God, it allowed Joshua to get firsthand experience (vital experience) in how truly Godly leadership is run and demonstrated. I believe that Moses willingness to delegate tasks and put responsibilities on Joshua that allowed him to grow in God, helped the people see that Moses was behind Joshua, that Moses saw something in Joshua and helped soften the people to begin to see things in Joshua too. It’s a lot easier to take in someone your leadership has already taken in and respected. When you respect your leadership, you respect your leadership’s decisions and I believe this was no different. I believe this helped Joshua tremendously having the backing of Moses.

Final point, it shows the awesomeness of God. Everything prior seems to seamlessly work together for His good work. The people are responsive to the new leader because of the maturity set before them in their previous leader Moses who displays his own maturity in not holding onto a ministry that was never his in the first place to hold or keep but rather have stewardship over while grooming a replacement. And in between both of those points is God’s ability to prep someone to be a replacement when they themselves are not fully aware of God’s plan but simply working because of their love for God. Yet God knows what they are capable of and are setting the groundwork for them to continue His vision and will and way. What an awesome God…

Each point is its own lesson so today I just wanted to give a brief overview before expounding next week and in the coming weeks.

Have a wonderful, blessed, productive, stress free day!