Fear, courage, and leadership

At the beginning of the book of Joshua, the Lord signals his choice of Joshua as the man to step into the shoes of Moses. As Joshua accepts this role, God gives him counsel to guide him in his service as leader of Israel:

Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful wherever you go. Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful. Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go." Josh 1:7-9 (NIV)

Contained in the list of "do's" and "do not's" is a statement that finds echoes throughout the book of Joshua. "Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged." And at the beginning of Joshua's span of leadership, fearlessness is a hallmark of his service. As a matter of fact, from Josh 1 through Josh 6, all of the fear and terror is on the side of Joshua's enemies. Their hearts were melting with fear. But then Ai happens.

After the disaster at Ai, Joshua trusts less in his own judgment. Now he has lost soldiers in combat. Now a loss tarnishes his record. After Ai, before every major battle, the Lord personally encourages Joshua with these words, "Do not be afraid."

Before the return to Ai (Josh 8.1)
Before the battle of the five kings (Josh 10.8).
Before the battle with Jabin (Josh 11.6).

Those words are followed with different instructions or predictions, but the most important part of the message is personal and to the point, "Don't be afraid, don't worry; this is what I want, and I will help you accomplish it."

Why this encouragement? Why the counsel up front to avoid fear? I believe that God well understands the burdens and dangers of leadership and he knows that fear is prominent among them. Some of you might answer that the leaders you know are among the most fearless people that you know. Some of them are; but some of them only appear to be.

Because of their experiences, some leaders struggle with fear. Fear of failure. Fear of falling short of God's plan or desires. Fear of winning the wrong battles. Fear of parts of the job for which we're not suited. Fear of a follower being lost or hurt or worse. Fear of having personal weaknesses exposed. Fear of a personal failure tainting a lifetime of public service. Fear of losing those closest to us because time is given to others who seem to demand it. God simply says, "Do not fear."

But what about discouragement? Sometimes discouragement is nothing but fear gone to seed. After we've avoided the things that make us fearful long enough, things just don't get done like they're supposed to be done. The inertia and the growing list of things to accomplish become the burden of discouragement. Or sometimes, a constant diet of listening to the fears and complaints of those who follow takes on a similar unbearable weight.

There is only one solution. Fear of the event is always worse than the reality. Do not fear, but go and do what God calls you to do.

How did things turn out? This advice becomes so engrained in Joshua's being that he, in turn, counsels his generals with the same advice, "Do not be afraid,"(Josh 10.25). And, in the end, Joshua urges his people to nurture only one fear: "Now fear the LORD and serve him with all faithfulness" (Josh 24:14, NIV).

Grace and peace,

Ron

The horseless head man

The instructions God gives to Joshua for the prosecution of war in Canaan make sense for the most part, even if some instructions seem harsh. But then, in the midst of a series of battles, a new order comes from the Lord:

"Do not be afraid of them, because by this time tomorrow I will hand all of them over to Israel, slain. You are to hamstring their horses and burn their chariots." Josh 11.6

The significance of this might elude us. This rule appears to produce one more heap of destruction in the wake of the Israelite army. But see what might have been! Look at the opportunity! Horse-drawn chariots, the high-tech weapon delivery system of choice in the Bronze Age. A line of these was equal to your Cobra copter, your Aegis destroyer, your Virginia-class submarine. It would be roughly another 1000 years before Alexander the Great developed a strategy that obsolesced the chariot. So why not teach your army how to use them and turn them on the enemy so as to expedite this war and get down to eating huge clusters of grapes?

This rule is more about God than war. God did not want his people dependent on human or worldly power, but his. He is the mighty warrior. "Joshua conquered in one campaign, because the Lord, the God of Israel, fought for Israel" (Josh 10.42). To rely upon horses or chariots shows a lack of faith in the power of the Mighty One of Israel.

This also could be a warning about alliances with other nations. For centuries to come, the primary source of good horseflesh would be Egypt. It doesn't take a very in-depth examination of scripture to see what God thinks about alliances with Egypt. Such alliances would be one more failure to rely upon God's strength.

But there is more to it than this. This rule has to do with justice. God did not want his leaders to oppress his people in order to maintain their leadership or their armies. When horses are not engaged in battle, they do three things (but in this case Coach Royal, none of them are necessarily good). They eat, they dispose of that which they have eaten, and they make baby horses. This is a problem, because: (1) somebody has to feed them (which means that someone is probably doing without food in order to have food to feed the horses), (2) somebody has to clean up after them (see Hercules, the Labor of the Aegean stables), and (3) more horses mean more of problems (1) and (2).

Perhaps a quote from a great warrior will explain my claim in point one above: "Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired, signifies in the final sense a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed." - Dwight D Eisenhower

So, when God anticipates that Israel will eventually want kings, he establishes rules for them (Deut 17.14ff) which specifically prohibit keeping many horses. And it is one of the reasons that Samuel rebukes Israel for wanting a king because maintenance of a standing army to protect a king and his court requires resources which will become oppressive to a people (1 Sam 8). A modern example of this is Saddam Hussein. (Has anybody noticed what has happened to every king named in the book of Joshua?)

It takes a bold and faithful courage to fight spiritual battles on God's terms. We will be tempted to use means and resources he has prohibited, but we must trust in God's wisdom. And we must teach our children to become leaders who are not oppressive with their leadership, but who lead with a light but faithful hand.

God grant that we can be like Joshua, who was unafraid to be the leader, the head man, and courageous enough to do it without horses.

Grace and peace,

Ron

Explanatory notes (to make sense of Ron’s sense of humor):

Washington Irving was the author of the "Tales of Sleepy Hollow", which contains the story of the headless horseman.

Coach Royal (University of Texas) said, "Three things can happen when you pass and two of 'em are bad." He was referring to incompletion and interception; reception being the only good thing.

Hercules (a Greek mythical figure) was assigned twelve labors (each of which was immense). The fifth labor was cleaning out, in one day, the Aegean stables of King Augeas, who owned more cattle and horses than any other man in Greece. Evidently this had not been done for quite some time. Hercules diverted the courses of the Alpheus and Peneus rivers (in itself a Herculean labor). The labor was done, and Hercules claimed 1/10 of the livestock of Augeas as his reward.

Alexander developed the phalanx (a square of soldiers carrying 4 meter long spears moving as one) into a weapons system itself, and one that defeated chariots. When attacked by a chariot, the phalanx would open a corridor to allow the chariot in, then soldiers in the opposing interior line would lower their spears, stopping the horses, and then dispose of the charioteers.

More arcane information for those who need to know.

The battle at Gibeon

When King Adoni-zedek of Jerusalem heard how Joshua had taken Ai, and had utterly destroyed it, doing to Ai and its king as he had done to Jericho and its king, and how the inhabitants of Gibeon had made peace with Israel and were among them, he became greatly frightened, because Gibeon was a large city, like one of the royal cities, and was larger than Ai, and all its men were warriors. So King Adoni-zedek of Jerusalem sent a message to King Hoham of Hebron, to King Piram of Jarmuth, to King Japhia of Lachish, and to King Debir of Eglon, saying, "Come up and help me, and let us attack Gibeon; for it has made peace with Joshua and with the Israelites." Then the five kings of the Amorites — the king of Jerusalem, the king of Hebron, the king of Jarmuth, the king of Lachish, and the king of Eglon — gathered their forces, and went up with all their armies and camped against Gibeon, and made war against it.

And the Gibeonites sent to Joshua at the camp in Gilgal, saying, "Do not abandon your servants; come up to us quickly, and save us, and help us; for all the kings of the Amorites who live in the hill country are gathered against us." So Joshua went up from Gilgal, he and all the fighting force with him, all the mighty warriors. The Lord said to Joshua, "Do not fear them, for I have handed them over to you; not one of them shall stand before you." So Joshua came upon them suddenly, having marched up all night from Gilgal. And the Lord threw them into a panic before Israel, who inflicted a great slaughter on them at Gibeon, chased them by the way of the ascent of Beth-horon, and struck them down as far as Azekah and Makkedah. As they fled before Israel, while they were going down the slope of Beth-horon, the Lord threw down huge stones from heaven on them as far as Azekah, and they died; there were more who died because of the hailstones than the Israelites killed with the sword.

On the day when the Lord gave the Amorites over to the Israelites, Joshua spoke to the Lord; and he said in the sight of Israel,

"Sun, stand still at Gibeon,
and Moon, in the valley of Aijalon."
And the sun stood still, and the moon stopped,
until the nation took vengeance on their enemies.

Is this not written in the Book of Jashar? The sun stopped in midheaven, and did not hurry to set for about a whole day. There has been no day like it before or since, when the Lord heeded a human voice; for the Lord fought for Israel.

Then Joshua returned, and all Israel with him, to the camp at Gilgal.

Joshua 10:1-15 NRSV

Grace and peace,

Ron

Loss, lament, and leadership

But the Israelites broke faith in regard to the devoted things: Achan son of Carmi son of Zabdi son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, took some of the devoted things; and the anger of the Lord burned against the Israelites.

Joshua sent men from Jericho to Ai, which is near Beth-aven, east of Bethel, and said to them, "Go up and spy out the land." And the men went up and spied out Ai. Then they returned to Joshua and said to him, "Not all the people need go up; about two or three thousand men should go up and attack Ai. Since they are so few, do not make the whole people toil up there." So about three thousand of the people went up there; and they fled before the men of Ai. The men of Ai killed about thirty-six of them, chasing them from outside the gate as far as Shebarim and killing them on the slope. The hearts of the people melted and turned to water.

Then Joshua tore his clothes, and fell to the ground on his face before the ark of the Lord until the evening, he and the elders of Israel; and they put dust on their heads. Joshua said, "Ah, Lord God! Why have you brought this people across the Jordan at all, to hand us over to the Amorites so as to destroy us? Would that we had been content to settle beyond the Jordan! O Lord, what can I say, now that Israel has turned their backs to their enemies! The Canaanites and all the inhabitants of the land will hear of it, and surround us, and cut off our name from the earth. Then what will you do for your great name?"

Joshua 7:1-9 NRSV

About six years ago, I started using Michael Carotta's model of spiritual formation as one way to understand spiritual growth. In his view, spiritual growth happens in three areas (frequently unequally): spiritual growth, moral living, and emotional intelligence. Obviously, when we first encounter a disaster as Joshua and the Israelites did, our first response tends to be neither spiritual nor moral/intellectual, but rather emotional. Fear. Hurt. Grief. Uncertainty. Remorse. God wired us to be emotional beings. Somewhere along the line we have to acknowledge that, and stop denying or disconnecting from our emotions and passions as I believe that we have been falsely taught to do in the past.

But after we have a moment to consider the crisis from more of a temporal (or geographic) distance, then we naturally begin to try to figure out whether what happened did so as a result of our behavior (moral living) or God's plan (spiritual faith) or something else. Many things happen in this world that don't correspond to our view of God and what we believe he ought to allow. And so yes, you would be so right if you were to say that this has more to do with us (and our mental and emotional adjustments) than it really does with God. But at the same time, God is not a disinterested observer in this process. Who knows but this adversary or adversity has been placed before us to strengthen or test us. It is not given us to know. But God made us beings who would consider these questions.

Joshua's attitude toward God (and that of the elders) is one of lament. Is he confused? No doubt, because Joshua is obviously blind-sided by all of this. A possible reason that God asked him to stand was to let him know that no amount of lament or worship was going to make this right; other action would be required and that action is consecration. In this situation, God tells Joshua exactly went wrong and devises a process by which not only is it possible to define who is responsible, but it is possible to make the people ready to continue their faithful obedience to God.

To feel emotions is a part of being human. And what they tell us is important, but before we make them the final analysis, we need to remember that they are only a part of the evidence. We need to weigh the emotion, the moral, and the spiritual whenever we are working our way through any situation. This may take time, if for nothing else than to make sure that we have brought them into balance. May God help us find balance in our lives.

Grace and peace,

Ron

The integrity of community

Luke wrote both a gospel and a history of the early church in his two volumes, Luke and Acts. Not only was he a gifted writer, but he was an earnest student of the Old Testament. That doesn't mean that he had to read Hebrew; like most people in the early church, his Hebrew scriptures were most likely a Greek translation called the Septuagint. Most biblical scholars believe that Luke writes his gospel so as to tell the story while keeping it in parallel with the events that happened in the first five books of the OT (the Pentateuch). He also deliberately uses OT language as he writes his books. But what does Luke have to do with Joshua?

Well, what happens in Joshua? A man named Joshua (Yeshua in Hebrew [it means "salvation"], Iesous in Greek) leads God's people into a new, but long promised relationship with God. Sound familiar? In Acts, Jesus (a derivative of Joshua and the same in Greek as Joshua) leads his people through his spirit into a new, but long promised relationship with God. In both cases, community, and the holiness of that community are markers that these people are in relationship with God.

But what happens early on in the life of these new fellowships (koinonias)? Both Achan and Annanias commit an act which undermines the integrity of the fellowship. Both men are supposed to make an offering before God, but that which was supposed to be given to God is held back, and misrepresentations are made. As a matter of fact, Luke uses the same Greek verb in Acts 5.2 and 5.3 for "held back" that the translators of the Septuagint used in Josh 7 (this Greek verb is only used 3 times in the NT, and 2 of them are here in Acts 5). Not an accident.

These stories have in common sudden death: stoning in one case, and becoming as dead as a stone in the other. Their burials were also disgraceful. As for Achan, who would want a pile of rocks over them to remind everyone in perpetuity of their crime? In the case of Annanias, both he and his wife were buried swiftly and without ceremony. This is not typical of funerals of the day, any more than it would be today (the fast funerals may more closely parallel Lev 10.1-7).

OK, so what? The writers of Joshua and Luke/Acts all believe that the koinonia of God's people is so sacred that it requires God's people to passionately maintain its integrity and its unity. We will be severely tested, but we must offer whatever we offer to God with a courageous faith like that of Barnabas. To hold back is an act of faithlessness, of cowardice. Such cowardice affects not just our relationship with God, but for our relationship with the community and the community's with God. It is a unity issue. One of the few places in Acts where church growth is not described is Acts 5, and that, again, is probably not coincidental (the Israelites didn't take any land during Josh 7, either).

Achan is not so far from Annanias, who is not so far from us. Just because no one lately has been hauled to the cemetery after an offering does not mean that God has lost interest in receiving the offering that we claim we are giving.

Grace and peace,

Ron

The battle of Jericho

Now Jericho was shut up inside and out because of the Israelites; no one came out and no one went in. The Lord said to Joshua, "See, I have handed Jericho over to you, along with its king and soldiers. You shall march around the city, all the warriors circling the city once. Thus you shall do for six days, with seven priests bearing seven trumpets of rams' horns before the ark. On the seventh day you shall march around the city seven times, the priests blowing the trumpets. When they make a long blast with the ram's horn, as soon as you hear the sound of the trumpet, then all the people shall shout with a great shout; and the wall of the city will fall down flat, and all the people shall charge straight ahead." So Joshua son of Nun summoned the priests and said to them, "Take up the ark of the covenant, and have seven priests carry seven trumpets of rams' horns in front of the ark of the Lord." To the people he said, "Go forward and march around the city; have the armed men pass on before the ark of the Lord."

As Joshua had commanded the people, the seven priests carrying the seven trumpets of rams' horns before the Lord went forward, blowing the trumpets, with the ark of the covenant of the Lord following them. And the armed men went before the priests who blew the trumpets; the rear guard came after the ark, while the trumpets blew continually. To the people Joshua gave this command: "You shall not shout or let your voice be heard, nor shall you utter a word, until the day I tell you to shout. Then you shall shout." So the ark of the Lord went around the city, circling it once; and they came into the camp, and spent the night in the camp.

Then Joshua rose early in the morning, and the priests took up the ark of the Lord. The seven priests carrying the seven trumpets of rams' horns before the ark of the Lord passed on, blowing the trumpets continually. The armed men went before them, and the rear guard came after the ark of the Lord, while the trumpets blew continually. On the second day they marched around the city once and then returned to the camp. They did this for six days.

On the seventh day they rose early, at dawn, and marched around the city in the same manner seven times. It was only on that day that they marched around the city seven times. And at the seventh time, when the priests had blown the trumpets, Joshua said to the people, "Shout! For the Lord has given you the city. The city and all that is in it shall be devoted to the Lord for destruction. Only Rahab the prostitute and all who are with her in her house shall live because she hid the messengers we sent. As for you, keep away from the things devoted to destruction, so as not to covet and take any of the devoted things and make the camp of Israel an object for destruction, bringing trouble upon it. But all silver and gold, and vessels of bronze and iron, are sacred to the Lord; they shall go into the treasury of the Lord." So the people shouted, and the trumpets were blown. As soon as the people heard the sound of the trumpets, they raised a great shout, and the wall fell down flat; so the people charged straight ahead into the city and captured it.

Joshua 6:1-21 (NRSV)

Grace and peace,

Ron

There are no winners behind walls

So the day came that Jericho falls. Has it ever struck you as odd that Joshua places a curse on a city in his own land (Joshua 6:26)? Why would you place a curse on the first piece of land which you took into possession? Either Hiel didn't know the story of the curse, or he didn't take the stories of his people very seriously, because he ignored the curse at a very high cost (I Kings 16.34).

There are several good reasons for Joshua's action. First, he was wise enough to know that there would be some who would think that this was an ideal spot and stop to rebuild and live. Long live the status quo! After all, most cities in the middle east are not built on new ground, but from the rubble of pre-existing cities. After 40 years in the wilderness, this place had to look good. But the people of Israel still had far too much territory to conquer to put down roots yet.

Or it could be that he was concerned that they would be tempted to rebuild the fortress and try to hide out in it when things got tough. But God has never been inclined to have a fortress mentality. Fortresses are what people trust in when they don't trust quite enough in God. His people are, when they behave as courageously as he would have them behave, marching at the gates of their enemies.

This is an important lesson for our kids to learn as leaders of the church. The church was never designed to have a fortress mentality, a defense of the status quo, with arrows for those who dare to march outside, but within bowshot. Instead, the church is intended to attack the very gates of hell, gate by gate.

Grace and Peace,

Ron

Where there's no smoke, is there still fire?

"By day the LORD went ahead of them in a pillar of cloud to guide them on their way and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so that they could travel by day or night. Neither the pillar of cloud by day nor the pillar of fire by night left its place in front of the people." - Exodus 13:21-22 (NIV)

When the Exodus began, God gave his people a tangible vision of his presence (although he chose not to reveal himself as he really is). This continued all the way through the wilderness wanderings and all the way up to Moses' parting from his people:

"Then the LORD appeared at the Tent in a pillar of cloud, and the cloud stood over the entrance to the Tent." - Deuteronomy 31:15-16 (NIV)

This was not a small matter to the Israelites, because centuries later, it still remained a symbol of God's compassion for his people:

"Because of your great compassion you did not abandon them in the desert. By day the pillar of cloud did not cease to guide them on their path, nor the pillar of fire by night to shine on the way they were to take." - Nehemiah 9:19-21

What is remarkable to me is that you don't read about the pillar in the story of Joshua. When did the pillar of cloud leave? When God makes his exit, it is frequently a big deal (just look at his exit in Ezekiel 10 or Acts 1). But the scriptures never tell us when the pillar of cloud left. Don't you imagine that God's people had to wonder where God was? Don't you think that their children would be asking about it? I personally think that the pillar may have ceased to appear when the manna and quail stopped. After that, God's providence through the land became the symbol of his continual presence.

I believe that since then God has required incrementally more faith of his people. It was easier for those who had seen the mighty acts of God in the wilderness and the taking of Canaan than it would be for those who came later. The prophets, despite the things that they heard and saw looked forward to the things that would happen in the time of the Messiah: "For I tell you that many prophets and kings wanted to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it" Luke 10.24 (NIV). And finally, Jesus made it clear that "Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed" John 20:29 (NIV).

Yet, at the same time, God has given his written word as evidence and the Spirit as a Comforter to allow us to maintain a faith that glorify him as surely (if not as largely) as Joshua's did. God grant us a childlike faith in his presence: simple, loving, and dependent.

Grace and peace,

Ron

Our place in the story

After the death of Moses the servant of the Lord, the Lord spoke to Joshua son of Nun, Moses' assistant, saying, "My servant Moses is dead. Now proceed to cross the Jordan, you and all this people, into the land that I am giving to them, to the Israelites. Every place that the sole of your foot will tread upon I have given to you, as I promised to Moses. From the wilderness and the Lebanon as far as the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, to the Great Sea in the west shall be your territory. No one shall be able to stand against you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will not fail you or forsake you.”

“Be strong and courageous; for you shall put this people in possession of the land that I swore to their ancestors to give them. Only be strong and very courageous, being careful to act in accordance with all the law that my servant Moses commanded you; do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, so that you may be successful wherever you go. This book of the law shall not depart out of your mouth; you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to act in accordance with all that is written in it. For then you shall make your way prosperous, and then you shall be successful. I hereby command you: Be strong and courageous; do not be frightened or dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go."

Joshua 1:1-9 NRSV

God deliberately communicates to Joshua an awareness of his place in the story of God's people, in history. Not only does God speak to Joshua through Moses' words (Deut 31:22-23), but he hammers home the message in a personal communication (Josh 1.1-9, above). In short, "Remember the promise, remember how I was with Moses, because now I am going to be with you and use you as a tool to bring about this promise. I am going to use you to change history. Now that you understand this, be strong and courageous."

This is precisely where passion and courage come in. When we understand our place in the story, passion and courage are required. When God's children truly see the possibillities that God places before them to change the world, the godly response of their heart is the passion that drives them to pursue that dream, that opportunity for God to glorify himself through them.

At the same time, when that dream is tested (and God will allow it to be), courage is what is required to persevere. Our passion pushes us to finish the course even though it presents obstacles that our vision (but not God's) did not allow us to see at the beginning. Our godly courage keeps us in the boat precisely when the human part of us wants to bail.

Let's try to find our place in the story, and for our children's sake, let's help them to passionately seek and courageously discover their place (it won't be the same as ours) as well.

Grace and peace,

Ron

Lines and circles

I wonder if we appreciate the difficulty of Joshua's task of leadership the day that Moses didn't come down from the mountain (Josh 1). The transition of leadership from one person to another is always fraught with difficulty. That change of person and power is vastly complicated when the new leader follows a leader that is good at the job, and nearly impossible when the previous leader has been the object of reverence and respect.

The initial reflex of leaders in such cases is to circle the wagons until the lines of authority become clear. Surely someone in Joshua's inner circle counseled him, "Allow people to get used to your voice and your style." But his choice made his leadership task that much more difficult; he followed God's instructions and made a bee line for the promised land. Perhaps this passionately brave act in the face of coolly cautious logic is why God encouraged Joshua to "be strong and courageous."

Oh, it's not like Joshua didn't check to see if anyone was following. He immediately queried the 2 1/2 tribes that were getting land on the east side of the river, and they reassured him: "Don't worry, Joshua, we'll toe the line. Be strong and courageous!" What made such remarkable loyalty possible? What assured the people that they could faithfully follow Joshua?

Their leader may have changed, but their God had not. As they lined up to march to the Jordan (Josh 3), the ark of the covenant, the very symbol of God's presence, moved one half of a mile in front of the nearest tribe. A full seven minutes ahead of the first soldier (I rather suspect that God is actually much farther ahead of his people than that). And then, in the middle of the river and on the other side, they left memorials of 12 stones. Some scholars believe that the Israelites did not stack these stones, but placed them in a circle (Gilgal can mean circular). Each tribe equal; each tribe a part, all of the tribes united. Whenever God leads, whether through transition, trouble, or temptation, the godly leader is assured of success (at least in God's terms). In this case, God led his people through a river swollen to its annual flood stage. Through battles with a stronger and more numerous foe. Even through their own failings and sin.

Both a godly leader and his people can be strong and courageous when they know that their true loyalties are to a God who is loyalty personified. If my leader is loyal to God, I can loyally follow. If my people are united, and loyal to God, I can lead as God would have me and be assured that they will follow. What makes a transition of leadership like the one from Moses to Joshua survivable? Loyalty and unity.

Grace and peace,

Ron

Moses and Joshua

Moses and Joshua are both known as great leaders, but sometimes I don't think that we realize the commonalities and connections between these two godly men. Here are a few of the parallels and connections in the life of Moses and Joshua as God works through them to lead his people from the land of Egypt to the land of Promise:

Moses comes to a place where he is “on holy ground” (Ex 3)
--Moses celebrates Passover with Israel (Ex 12)
----Moses leads Israel across the Sea (Ex 14)
------Moses ascends the mountain with Joshua below (Ex 32)
--------Moses delivers the covenant before Joshua and the people (Ex 34)
----------Moses and Joshua in the wilderness with the people (Numbers)
--------Moses reviews the covenant before Joshua and the people (Deut)
------Moses ascends the mountain with Joshua below (Deut 34.1-4)
----Joshua leads Israel across the Jordan River (Josh 3)
--Joshua celebrates Passover with Israel (Josh 5.10-12)
Joshua comes to a place where he is “on holy ground” (Josh 5.13-15)

Isn't it interesting how their lives focus on God's time with his people in the wilderness? (The above structure is called a chiasm by biblical scholars.) The Passover with Joshua may not seem like a large matter at first, but when you consider that it had not been celebrated for years (none of the males had been circumcised, Josh 5; see the rules in Ex 12) this makes the parallel more striking.

In addition, here are some interestingly similar events:

Both led the Israelites across a boundary (geographical and spiritual) of water
Both won a great battle with their hands extended up before God (Moses with a staff, Joshua with a javelin)
Moses led the first celebration of Passover in Egypt; Joshua led the first celebration of Passover in Canaan

It’s not that history repeats itself; we know better than that. We are not in some huge Hindu cycle of history. It’s just that the fight for truth, justice, and the kingdom way frequently connects us with places, or practices, or people, or opponents like ones encountered by those who have gone before us. May God give us the wisdom to learn from the experiences of those who have gone before us without thinking that their answers are sufficient for our moment.

Grace and peace,

Ron

Who are we not trusting?

God knows that Joshua was a patient man. For 38 years he waited for a promise to be fulfilled that, if fairness to an individual were more important than justice to a people, he deserved to receive after his first excursion into Canaan. Yet he waited, patiently serving Moses, patiently caring for the people whose faithlessness had blockaded his blessing, patiently waiting for God's good time.

And when that time came, he faithfully and courageously sought God's will. Until Joshua 7. Without waiting for word from God, Joshua sent spies up to Ai, and then began the attack based on their witness. Disaster follows. Achan is responsible for his own death, and the deaths of his family, but it may be that as a leader Joshua shares in the responsibility of the deaths of the 36 lost in the first attack on Ai. Perhaps if the Lord had been approached in advance, the sin of Achan could have been discovered without such a great cost [It's so easy to question the decisions of a leader after the fact, isn't it?]

"Courage is the capacity to wait until you've learned as much as you can and then take action. You're never sure of the results until you do it. You're still not going to know everything. You have to take gambles and learn more. Queen Elizabeth I wanted to put off most decisions as long as she could. She didn't make a decision until she had to." - Warren Bennis

Patience is an important part of courageous leadership. Sometimes a person's passion for a cause drives them to so relentlessly pursue their objectives that they fail to correctly assess and patiently cope with obstacles blocking that pursuit. Sometimes we just flat out want God to do things on our timetable and not his. As antithetical as passion and patience seem to be on the surface, one without the other either goes nowhere at all or ends in a dramatic crash. "Better a patient man than a warrior, a man who controls his temper than a man who takes a city" (Prov 16.32).

But just as passion cannot stand long without patience, patience is dependent on one more virtue. Trust, for example.

You cannot have patience without trust. I can wait upon the Lord because I can trust him to keep his promises. I may not understand his timing, I may not understand the path, and I certainly may not understand the obstacles, but still I can be patient because of trust. When I become impatient with God, isn't that a sign that I have stopped trusting in him and have elevated my wisdom and desires above his faithfulness?

We can't be patient with people without trust either. I can be patient with Ann to put dinner on the table, because I trust her to finish a wonderful meal at the right time. I can be patient listening to one of Daniel's lessons because I trust that, just as there is something in it for the fourth grader, there is something in it for me as well. I can be patient with the kids, because I can trust that God is active in their lives as well. And if I can't yet trust a person, I can trust that God will help me deal with them.

So when we find ourselves being impatient, it may be important to understand what is irritating us, but there is something more important. The key is to understand who it is that we are not trusting. When we discover that, we are on the path to peace.

Grace, and peace,

Ron

A pile of stones

Everywhere you turn in the book of Joshua, there are rocks. Sometimes they are single stones, sometimes they are stacked with a particular number, sometimes they are just a massive pile of rocks.

Twelve stones are brought from the bed of the Jordan to serve as a memorial of the crossing of the twelve tribes (Josh 4). Knives are made from stone to make the people holy and one (Josh 5.2-8). This caused the reproach of Egypt to be rolled away like a stone (Josh 5.9). Jericho (Josh 6) fell into a heap of stones [except the stones of Rahab's house remained standing, the original witness protection plan]. When Achan erred, he was stoned and buried under a pile of stones (Josh 7) so that his error would not quickly be forgotten. When Ai fell (Josh 8), not only was it left as a heap of burnt rocks, its king was buried under a pile of rocks (Josh 8.29). Then, on top of Mount Ebal, an altar of uncut stones is built to worship God, and Joshua copies the Book of the Law onto stones (Josh 8.30-35). When the five kings of the Amorites come against Israel, God makes even water into rocks, and more Amorites die from hailstones than from the sword (Josh 10.5-11). When those kings hide in a cave, they are trapped inside with rocks, and after their deaths, that same cave is made into a tomb sealed with those rocks (Josh 10.16-27). A stone memorializing Bohan, son of Reuben, is made into a boundary marker (Josh 15.6; 18.17) and a silent reminder of a promise fulfilled.

Surely this has the least curious of us asking, "Why all of these rocks?" It might just be that the promised land has lots of rocks, and although that is true, it does not explain why the writer of this story bothered to tell us about them. Why all of these rocks?

The answer comes at the end of the book and the end of the life of Joshua. Joshua sets up a large stone near an oak near the holy place of the Lord (Josh 24.26). He then says, "See . . . this stone will be a witness against us. It has heard all the words the Lord has said to us. It will be a witness against you if you are untrue to your God." You have all heard the expressions: "If these walls could talk . . ." or "If these rocks could speak . . . ." For the people of God, all of nature stands as a witness to the acts of God through his people, and their own acts of wilfulness.

Not far from Hollis stands a rock, a stone not likely to be moved by the hands of men. It stands as a witness to the lives of a father and his son and their God, and their relationship with one another: Ron, Ben, YHWH. Its testimony would help you understand how close these three have become because of the events that happened in its presence some time ago. Triumph. Disaster. Pain. Hope. Fear. Courage. Power. Exhaustion. Salvation. And every time that this father and son return with their God, that stone's testimony is heard again in all three hearts.

What testimony will the rocks and trees in Harmon County give about our time there? God only knows now, but if we are truly passionate about our children and our God, now is the time for us to think and plan and prepare for those moments so that we can have some assurance that God will be glorified by that testimony.

"Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God." Heb 12.1,2