Title: Providence of God (Joshua 1:1-9)
Contents
Former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill once drowned while playing on the banks of the Thames when he was a child, shouting, 'People will live'. A poor boy, Fleming, who was just passing by, risked his life and jumped into the river to save Churchill. Churchill's grandfather learned of this and asked Fleming, the benefactor who saved his grandson's life, "What is your wish?" “I want to study medicine,” Fleming replied. As it is now, studying medicine at that time cost a lot of money, so ordinary people could not afford it. Churchill's grandfather, a noble nobleman, offered to grant Fleming's wish.
It paid for tuition and living expenses and allowed Fleming to study medicine. Fleming studied hard and became a doctor. In particular, to repay the love of Grandpa Churchill, he worked hard to invent penicillin and was awarded the Nobel Prize.
Meanwhile, his grandson Winston Churchill also grew up and became a soldier. It was during World War I, and Churchill became involved in the Battle of Africa. Churchill, who was suffering from poor conditions in Africa, eventually contracted pneumonia and was on the brink of death. When Fleming heard the news, he took the penicillin he had invented and ran to Africa to rescue Churchill from death.
Churchill, who recovered his life in this way, became Prime Minister of the United Kingdom during World War II 20 years later and led the war well, saving Britain from the dictator Hitler's hand, and granting liberation and freedom to the underprivileged.
We can discover God's precious providence in the process of helping and receiving help from each other. God always fulfills the promises he has made to his chosen people, and in the process, he provides a wonderful providence beyond our imagination. Through the book of Joshua, we can discover this wonderful providence.
God promised through Abraham and Moses that he would “give Canaan, a land flowing with milk and honey, a beautiful and vast land,” to God’s people, and in the days of Joshua, God fulfilled that promise in detail. Therefore, we can find God who is faithful to his people through the book of Joshua. In addition, we must realize how disastrous the people's unfaithfulness to God and their sins can have disastrous results both individually and collectively.
Today's message is a mandate given to Joshua, who succeeded Moses, who passed away with the land of Canaan at hand. Therefore, through these words, we need to learn how God's providence is accomplished through the workers and how to live a more prosperous life while fulfilling the assigned mission.
Why God is with you
In verses 6, 7, and 9, God repeatedly commanded Joshua to be strong and courageous. The important meaning of this command is to ‘trust and rely on God alone’. Moses, who had led the nation of Israel from the time of the Exodus, was a very capable leader. In contrast, his successor, Joshua, was a man who did not dare compare to Moses in every way. Joshua himself was well aware of this, and at that time he was very bewildered and terrified.
Therefore, God said in verse 5, “No one will be able to stand against you all the days of your life, just as I was with Moses, I will be with you. I will not leave you nor forsake you.” This means that Moses was not originally a capable person, but God was with him, so he could become a powerful leader. Therefore, it emphasizes the fact that if God is with Joshua, he too can become a capable leader comparable to Moses.
A person who worries about something ahead of time or when he encounters a difficult situation is a proud person who considers himself to be the solver of all problems. Conversely, strong and courageous people rely on God's power. It is because we believe that all problems can be solved if God is with us. Psalm 46:1 says, “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.” Also, Philippians 4:6-7 says, “Do not be anxious about anything, but ask by prayer and supplication.” Therefore, we must trust and rely only on God in any situation. Then you can live a prosperous life.
This verse also shows that you never know when and in what form difficulties will come in your life, and when one problem is solved, another problem will arise. It means that the life of the past 40 years has been difficult and difficult, but entering the land of Canaan in the future will be more difficult. Although Joshua himself saw and felt the land 40 years ago while searching the land, the inhabitants of the land were strong and the city was very strong. However, it is a promise that if they rely only on God, no matter how strong they are, he will be able to take possession of the land.
The reason God made such a promise to be with Joshua was because he was a worker who would accomplish God's will. This is because it is not important to Moses or Joshua, but to fulfill God's plan. Likewise, if we are recognized as tools to accomplish God's will, we can experience the grace of God with us.
On the other hand, the path Joshua and the people of Israel took is the same as our life of faith today. The difficulties they experienced are the difficulties we can experience in our Christian life. Therefore, like Joshua, we must be strong and courageous and overcome all difficulties by relying on God alone.
The Jordan River split in front of Joshua, who trusted and depended only on God, and the fortress of Jericho, which was like a stronghold, collapsed. It also happened that the sun and moon stopped. There is no law that prevents such miracles from happening to us who believe in and depend on God and live according to God's providence. Therefore, no matter what difficulties we face, we must remember the promise he made: ‘The Lord is your keeper, and will keep your going in and out from now on to everlasting’ (Psalm 121).
The Word is the textbook of Providence
In verses 7-8, he promised, “As long as you keep all the words of God and do them, and do not turn to the left or to the right, you will prosper wherever you go.” In the same sense, in Deuteronomy 28:1 and below, it is said that blessings are given to those who obey the word of God. “In the city and in the field, bodily offspring and young of animals and cattle are blessed; baskets and bowls of bread dough are blessed; they come in and they go out.”
This is because the Word of God is, in a word, a manual for life and a textbook for providence. When using an electronic product, carefully read the user manual written by the person who made it and use it as it is, so you can use it for a long time without any trouble. The Bible is like a user manual.
God (Psalm 103:14), who knows our constitution and knows that we are like dust, is a lamp and a light (Psalm 119:105) that illuminates our lives and requires us to do only the things that are beneficial to us. You can succumb on its own. To say that we are prosperous is the same as saying that God's will is being done properly.
Psalm 1:2-3 says, “But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and he meditates on his law day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither; in all that he does, it prospers. ' he said. We must live that way too. That way you can get bored.
Living according to God's Word means acknowledging God's providence and entrusting the initiative of all life to God. A holy effort to put Jehovah at the forefront of your life. In this case, God will go ahead of us and guide our steps for good. Ladies and gentlemen, we must never get ahead of God under any circumstances. We must always follow the foot of God who leads us through the Word. In this way, God's good providence can be accomplished beautifully.
God's Continuing Work
God's work, which is accomplished according to God's plan and providence, continues without interruption even if people change and times change. Although Moses died, God appointed Joshua as his successor and allowed him to continue the work of conquest of Canaan.
A worker named Moses died, but the fate of Israel was not over. God's plan to conquer Canaan was continued by a new worker named Joshua. In this way, God's plan is not changed by man.
That's right. Even if the worker disappears, the owner continues to exist. The master plans, provides, and proceeds with or without a servant.
When Moses, the absolute leader of Israel, died, everything seemed to have come to an end, but God set up Joshua, who had been prepared in advance, to lead Israel more powerfully. In this way, we need to realize that God's will guides our lives and is not dragged by them, and we humbly obey God's providence.
God sometimes causes the sun to stop and the moon to stop in order to accomplish His will (10:12). He raises the dead and raises the sick. I hope that you will be preciously used in God's work that continues without interruption under any circumstances.
Joshua thoroughly believed and relied on God from the start, and he lived according to the Word throughout his life. And he urged the people of Israel to serve God well and to live obediently to His word until the time of his death. Joshua's life was only as a tool to fulfill God's will for the nation of Israel following Moses. We must not forget that we too are God's instruments. I need to recognize that I do not exist for myself, but that I am living my life as a tool to accomplish God's will. Therefore, in this unstable world where we cannot see even an inch ahead, we must be strong and courageous by trusting only in God and relying on Him. I pray that you will live a prosperous and blessed life by obeying God's Word, the textbook of providence.