Sunday, October 29, 2006

A Time for Change--A Time to Conquer

The Children of Israel had just lost their leader of forty years. Moses was dead and the people still had not entered into the Promised Land. They had mourned his death for thirty days (cf. Deuteronomy 34:8) but the time of mourning was ended when God said, "Moses my servant is dead; now therefore arise, go over this Jordan, thou, and all this people, unto the land which I do give to them, even to the children of Israel" (Joshua 1:2).

This was a drastic change for the Children of Israel. Although they were quite familiar with Joshua and knew that he would succeed Moses as their leader because Moses had anointed him for that purpose (cf. Deuteronomy 34:9), things would no longer be the same. They now had a new leader with new ideas. Joshua did not do things exactly as Moses had done, but it was the same God leading Him as had led Moses!

One of the very first things we see different is the fact that when Joshua sent spies to check out the land, he did not send twelve as Moses had. He sent only two. Another difference between Moses and Joshua is the fact that Moses, for some reason, did not circumcise any of the children that were born during the forty years of wandering. Joshua, however, required that everyone be circumcised before they would take the land (cf. Joshua 5:2-7).

Aside from the changes evident in leadership and leadership style, the manna they had been accustomed to for so long finally stopped after they crossed the Jordan (cf. Joshua 5:12). Yes, things were going to be very different, indeed! A new day had come. They knew that changes were necessary if they were to take possession of the land the Lord had promised, and the Children of Israel were willing to do whatever was necessary to obtain their promise (cf. Joshua 1:16-18).

I am confident that we, too, have entered into a brand new day. We have wandered long enough. We have mourned long enough. We have felt inferior and isolated long enough. Now is the time to conquer! The Lord is calling us to be "…strong and very courageous…" (Joshua 1:7) because He is going to do something through us that we have never seen.

Yes, we will have to make some changes and adjustments as we go, but we will not fear for the Lord is with us! We, like the Children of Israel, are committed to doing whatever is necessary to obtain the promise—seeing our lost family members, friends, and neighbors come to the Lord. The difficulty of any change will pale in comparison to the joy we have at seeing our loved ones saved by the grace of our God!