“ARISE, GO!”

““After the death of Moses the servant of the LORD, it came to pass that the LORD spoke to Joshua the son of Nun, Moses’ assistant, saying: ‘Moses My servant is dead. Now therefore, arise, go over this Jordan, you and all this people, to the land which I am giving to them-the children of Israel.'”“

For a man or woman to lead well, they must first become followers. Character is forged out of hardship and such virtues become tools in the hand of God. God creates leaders and the life of this exemplary man, Joshua, is a great example of that.

Joshua was not always the commander and chief of Israel’s army and people. Like his parents before him, he had grown up as a young slave child under the hard yoke of the Pharaoh of Egypt. Uneducated, ignorant and abused, he along with his fellow Israelites, suffered with no hope in sight. Yet his parents seemed to prophetically name their son, Joshua, which means Yahweh is Salvation. I personally believe that they gave him that name in hope, the kind of hope that cries out to God from a pit. Whenever you’re in a desperate situation, even a glimmer of hope can look like a glaring beam from a lighthouse. When things seemed so incredibly dark and hopeless to the Israelites, God sent Moses to lead them out of Egypt and Joshua was with him along the way, witnessing all that the Lord was doing.

For some forty years Joshua wandered in the wilderness with his fellow countrymen, all the while the Lord was doing a work in him as he was under the guidance and leadership of Moses. Then something miraculous happened, “It came to pass that the LORD spoke to Joshua the son of Nun, Moses’ assistant, saying: ‘Moses My servant is dead. Now therefore, arise, go.'” It’s as if God was saying to Joshua, “I am going to use you to fulfill the meaning of your name, so let’s go!” And so he did.

The man who had been learning to follow was now ready to lead. And so the Lord said to him “Arise, go over this Jordan, you and all this people, to the land which I am giving to them-the children of Israel.” And by doing so, Joshua became a picturesque image of the ultimate “Joshua,” Jesus – the One that would lead us out of our worldly slavery and from our wilderness wanderings into a new life of faith and promise.

Take courage in knowing this; it was God who said, “Go over this Jordan, you and all this people, to the land which I am giving…” God gives His commands to us based upon His perfect will. He will not ask us to do anything where He has not already secured the outcome. If you find yourself bound in slavery or a stronghold in your life, then know now that it is His will that you be freed from it. Do you find yourself engaged in a battle against evil, lust, fear or doubt? Know that He has guaranteed the victory over it. There is no greater place to be in this world than in the middle of God’s will, and there is no greater security than to be His child. We must by faith acknowledge Him as the Almighty God and trust Him to provide and sustain us through the good and the bad of this world. “Now therefore, arise, go!”

Pastor Jack

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