MasterTruth

When Knowledge Falls Short

What happens when I bumble through the day versus surrender to and seek God first? I’m well-versed in the Bible, so it’s pretty normal to go on what I generally know God likes and expects of me for the day.

Let’s take three days from the life of Joshua to answer what happens when we bumble vs. humble ourselves and seek God. God’s stated will for Joshua is to lead the Israelites into the Promised Land and defeat all the inhabitants (Joshua 1).

Day 1: After entering the Promised Land, the first wicked city in the way is Jericho. God tells Joshua that He has given the city into his hands. Then He gives Joshua instructions on how to do it, which involves marching around the city seven days, and seven times on the seventh day. Joshua follows all the unorthodox instructions, and Jericho is defeated (Joshua 6). What a great, victorious, cloud-9 day for Joshua. It turns out that way because Joshua trusts God’s plan and obeys it. No rebellion there.

Day 2: In grief, Joshua wails before the Lord because the Israelite army just got whipped by a small group of warriors from the next enemy city, Ai (Joshua 7). Two things lead to this. One of the Israelites took something they were told not to from Jericho when they defeated that first city. So there was sin in the camp. God hates sin. He expects obedience. The second miss-step is that before the battle with Ai, Joshua just relies on what he generally knows to be God’s plan… defeat the enemies. I don’t see him asking God any questions about this battle with Ai. Perhaps if he had, God would have told him that there was sin in the camp they better take care of first. The point is, I may know God’s general will, but am I aware of my own standing before God? Is there sin I need to deal with before moving on with the day? I know how God is. Do I know how I am with regards to obedience to everything I know to be His will?

Day 3: Joshua makes a league with the next enemy that comes across his path, the Hivites from Gibeon who were included in the list of people God expected to deliver into the Israelites hand, according to Deut. 20:17. Instead, Joshua promises protection for them (Joshua 9). What? He is clearly supposed to defeat rather than protect the enemy. Turns out, the enemy is wily (vs. 4, like Wily Coyote). They dress up like they have traveled hundreds of miles. In explanation of their mission, the imposters say they heard how awesome God is to the Israelites, and they want to be on their team—as servants. They butter up Joshua, and he goes for it, not knowing that they are actually enemy neighbors. The point of this bumbling mistake is that I’m just as likely to do something like that if I don’t consider and put on the full armor of God pretty regularly (Eph. 6:13). Satan is a deceiver, and no matter how much of the Bible and God’s will I know, Satan knows it just as well, but he has ways around it that he will whisper in my ear, and it will sound pretty reasonable.

May today be a day where I pay attention and submit to God. I want more Day 1 instances in my life.

Jody

What Does it Mean to Wholly Follow the Lord?

Does wholly following the Lord mean to sell everything you have, give up all your possessions and go wherever a whim perceived from God takes you? I’m sure there are some inspiring and convicting sermons out there that would conclude that. But two and only two someones in the Bible are said to have wholly followed the Lord. Let’s learn what it means from the single instance in their lives about which they are said to have wholly followed the Lord.

Surely none of the men that came up out of Egypt, from twenty years old and upward, shall see the land which I sware unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob; because they have not wholly followed me: Save Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenezite, and Joshua the son of Nun: for they have wholly followed the LORD. (Num 32:11-12) 

Now we know, it was Joshua and Caleb. Here’s another reference that Caleb made years later concerning his own life:  Forty years old was I when Moses the servant of the LORD sent me from Kadeshbarnea to espy out the land; and I brought him word again as it was in mine heart. Nevertheless my brethren that went up with me made the heart of the people melt: but I wholly followed the LORD my God. And Moses sware on that day, saying, Surely the land whereon thy feet have trodden shall be thine inheritance, and thy children’s for ever, because thou hast wholly followed the LORD my God.” (Josh 14:7-9 AV)

You may recall the events in Israel’s history. A leader from each of the 12 tribes was sent by God and Moses to spy out the Promised Land to get the answers to some important questions. They all saw the same thing, but 10 spies couldn’t get past how hard it looked. They were afraid, and they made the people fear.

“And Caleb stilled the people before Moses, and said, Let us go up at once, and possess it; for we are well able to overcome it.” (Num 13:30 AV)

Want to know how a person who wholly follows the Lord thinks?

“And Joshua the son of Nun, and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, which were of them that searched the land, rent their clothes: And they spake unto all the company of the children of Israel, saying, The land, which we passed through to search it, is an exceeding good land. If the LORD delight in us, then he will bring us into this land, and give it us; a land which floweth with milk and honey. Only rebel not ye against the LORD, neither fear ye the people of the land; for they are bread for us: their defence is departed from them, and the LORD is with us: fear them not.” (Num 14:6-9 AV)

We can conclude that wholly following the Lord means knowing God’s word and thus His desire and not being afraid to follow it and not rebelling at God’s command. It means trusting that God will make His promises work out. It means standing alone against the worldly tide sometimes. Once you know God’s will on a matter, you go for it and you don’t look back.

Those who wholly follow the Lord will be successful—perhaps the envy of others—because they’ve learned to live above the fray. They don’t live on skittish street. Notice Caleb and Joshua outlived every single person who left Egypt for the Promised Land. That’s because they wholly followed the Lord and were rewarded with the promise that they alone of their comrades would enter the Promised Land. Not even Moses was allowed in.

Wholly following the Lord can be boiled down to three words. Trust and obey. Others in the Bible did that, but only Joshua and Caleb are immortalized for it. They are the example to follow. Any of us can wholly follow the Lord. All of us should. In the book of Numbers, only two of 12 did.