Joshua
There’s an old joke about a couple who are going on holiday and they are waiting at the airport when the husband said to the wife, "I wish we had brought the piano." The wife said, "Why? We've got sixteen bags already!" And the husband replied, "Yes, I know - but the plane tickets are on the piano!"
People have some strange priorities at times in their lives – for some it will be all about having fun, and perhaps neglecting those who may be hurt by the fun or ignoring things they should be doing and for some it will be work and earning money, often at the expense of relationships. Life revolves around choices we make, and though we can often blame circumstances for things that don’t work out right, a majority of consequences for things that happen in our lives will be down to a choice we have somewhere made at some time.
How we live is obviously one of the most fundamental choices we can ever make. Today’s Old Testament reading (Joshua 24:1-2a,14-18) tells us a little about Joshua. He had been chosen by God to succeed Moses as the leader of the Israelites – for 40 years Moses had led the people back to the Promised Land, but it was to be Joshua that would actually take them there.
And the book of Joshua tells us of different events that occur as the nations resettles in the promised land. One book that I have says that the lessons of the book of Joshua, a book of 24 chapters, can be summed up in just 2 phrases :
· Without God the people could not have done it
· Without the people God would not have done it
And those phrases are true for every aspect of our lives today, just as they were for those Israelites crossing the Jordan River full of hope and expectation, but perhaps a little fear and anxiety as well.
The Book begins with God’s commission as he outlines his plans to Joshua, and today we have heard part of the last chapter, a chapter which tells us ultimately of Joshua’s death, but before he dies Joshua makes an appeal to the people to sort out their priorities.
The history of mankind seems to have been littered with new chances, new hopes and expectations, new starts, and then failures. Those failures often come about as a result of our own human instinct to control things or perhaps to look after ourselves rather than trust in anything or anyone else.
And so Joshua lays down a challenge to the people – ‘Make up your minds ! God has brought you this far – are you going to trust him, or are you going to place your trust in false gods, and hopes that will eventually crumble ?’
The people recognised when challenged what God had done for them, and recognised as well what he could do for them in the future – they recognised that without him their lives would not be complete – in other words as one of those phrases I mentioned earlier said, ‘Without God the people could not have done it’. And it really doesn’t matter too much what the ‘it’ is – because it is true for us all.
God is the one unchangeable thing in our lives – the one who stands by us constantly, in good times and in bad, the encourager, the supporter, the strength, the one in whom we can place our trust, and of course the one who loves us unfailingly into all eternity.
For the Israelites, the recognition of these things came when they were challenged by Joshua, and that’s how it often comes for us as well. When life is going well, when things seem to be going right, and when all the answers seem to be fitting our questions perfectly, then we often don’t think too much and we often forget the need to say thank you, or even forget who we should be thanking.
But in times of challenge, when we know we need the help, when we can see no other course of action other than to trust God, then we often find strength and then we are often ready to praise him.
Perhaps a greater challenge though is to look for God and to recognise his presence with us always and everywhere. It seems so simple to say, but we’ll all know how difficult it is to live with that reality at the front of our minds – the reality that says that God sees everything we do, good and bad, that God knows our thoughts, good and bad, but also that God protects us and surrounds us with his love – as he did to Joshua, he asks us to trust him with faith and with courage.
As the Israelites responded to the recognition that actually God was the one they needed on their side, so we are called to do the same.
But that’s not the end of the lessons of this book – there was the need to recognise God’s place in our lives, to recognise that without him we can be nothing in the real scheme of things, but there’s also a message that without us, God won’t do anything – it’s not that he can’t – without him we can’t, but without us, he won’t.
God’s purpose 1000 plus years before Jesus, at the time of Joshua, and his purpose on earth today is to enjoy a relationship with his people. I think it’s a wonderful thing to remind ourselves of – that we are so important to God that without us he would not be complete.
One of the most inspiring things in our faith can be to hear people talk about how their lives have been changed through a relationship with God – the excitement of that sudden realisation that God is there for them can be incredibly uplifting, but it is uplifting because it speaks to us of a feeling we have inside us – that a relationship with God has changed our lives as well.
It may have been something that has happened to us over many years, it may have been a dramatic change a long time ago, but we must constantly reflect on the living God, living in us and through us and with us today, and we must constantly give thanks for his life changing love.
Joshua issued a challenge to his people – follow God or not ! It was the same sort of challenge Jesus laid down to his followers in the gospel reading today (John 6:56-69). Some people had found his teaching too hard, and they had turned away from him, and so Jesus asked the 12 disciples, ‘Do you also wish to go away ?’ and it was Peter who responded, ‘Lord, to whom can we go ? You have the words of eternal life… we have come to believe and know that you are the Holy one of God.’
We will, as I said at the beginning face important choices almost every day of our lives, but there is none more important than the decision over where to place Jesus in our lives… When he asks us, ‘Do you also wish to go away?’ may we be ready to answer, ‘Lord where else could we go ?’ AMEN
People have some strange priorities at times in their lives – for some it will be all about having fun, and perhaps neglecting those who may be hurt by the fun or ignoring things they should be doing and for some it will be work and earning money, often at the expense of relationships. Life revolves around choices we make, and though we can often blame circumstances for things that don’t work out right, a majority of consequences for things that happen in our lives will be down to a choice we have somewhere made at some time.
How we live is obviously one of the most fundamental choices we can ever make. Today’s Old Testament reading (Joshua 24:1-2a,14-18) tells us a little about Joshua. He had been chosen by God to succeed Moses as the leader of the Israelites – for 40 years Moses had led the people back to the Promised Land, but it was to be Joshua that would actually take them there.
And the book of Joshua tells us of different events that occur as the nations resettles in the promised land. One book that I have says that the lessons of the book of Joshua, a book of 24 chapters, can be summed up in just 2 phrases :
· Without God the people could not have done it
· Without the people God would not have done it
And those phrases are true for every aspect of our lives today, just as they were for those Israelites crossing the Jordan River full of hope and expectation, but perhaps a little fear and anxiety as well.
The Book begins with God’s commission as he outlines his plans to Joshua, and today we have heard part of the last chapter, a chapter which tells us ultimately of Joshua’s death, but before he dies Joshua makes an appeal to the people to sort out their priorities.
The history of mankind seems to have been littered with new chances, new hopes and expectations, new starts, and then failures. Those failures often come about as a result of our own human instinct to control things or perhaps to look after ourselves rather than trust in anything or anyone else.
And so Joshua lays down a challenge to the people – ‘Make up your minds ! God has brought you this far – are you going to trust him, or are you going to place your trust in false gods, and hopes that will eventually crumble ?’
The people recognised when challenged what God had done for them, and recognised as well what he could do for them in the future – they recognised that without him their lives would not be complete – in other words as one of those phrases I mentioned earlier said, ‘Without God the people could not have done it’. And it really doesn’t matter too much what the ‘it’ is – because it is true for us all.
God is the one unchangeable thing in our lives – the one who stands by us constantly, in good times and in bad, the encourager, the supporter, the strength, the one in whom we can place our trust, and of course the one who loves us unfailingly into all eternity.
For the Israelites, the recognition of these things came when they were challenged by Joshua, and that’s how it often comes for us as well. When life is going well, when things seem to be going right, and when all the answers seem to be fitting our questions perfectly, then we often don’t think too much and we often forget the need to say thank you, or even forget who we should be thanking.
But in times of challenge, when we know we need the help, when we can see no other course of action other than to trust God, then we often find strength and then we are often ready to praise him.
Perhaps a greater challenge though is to look for God and to recognise his presence with us always and everywhere. It seems so simple to say, but we’ll all know how difficult it is to live with that reality at the front of our minds – the reality that says that God sees everything we do, good and bad, that God knows our thoughts, good and bad, but also that God protects us and surrounds us with his love – as he did to Joshua, he asks us to trust him with faith and with courage.
As the Israelites responded to the recognition that actually God was the one they needed on their side, so we are called to do the same.
But that’s not the end of the lessons of this book – there was the need to recognise God’s place in our lives, to recognise that without him we can be nothing in the real scheme of things, but there’s also a message that without us, God won’t do anything – it’s not that he can’t – without him we can’t, but without us, he won’t.
God’s purpose 1000 plus years before Jesus, at the time of Joshua, and his purpose on earth today is to enjoy a relationship with his people. I think it’s a wonderful thing to remind ourselves of – that we are so important to God that without us he would not be complete.
One of the most inspiring things in our faith can be to hear people talk about how their lives have been changed through a relationship with God – the excitement of that sudden realisation that God is there for them can be incredibly uplifting, but it is uplifting because it speaks to us of a feeling we have inside us – that a relationship with God has changed our lives as well.
It may have been something that has happened to us over many years, it may have been a dramatic change a long time ago, but we must constantly reflect on the living God, living in us and through us and with us today, and we must constantly give thanks for his life changing love.
Joshua issued a challenge to his people – follow God or not ! It was the same sort of challenge Jesus laid down to his followers in the gospel reading today (John 6:56-69). Some people had found his teaching too hard, and they had turned away from him, and so Jesus asked the 12 disciples, ‘Do you also wish to go away ?’ and it was Peter who responded, ‘Lord, to whom can we go ? You have the words of eternal life… we have come to believe and know that you are the Holy one of God.’
We will, as I said at the beginning face important choices almost every day of our lives, but there is none more important than the decision over where to place Jesus in our lives… When he asks us, ‘Do you also wish to go away?’ may we be ready to answer, ‘Lord where else could we go ?’ AMEN
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