“God is getting ready to do something great!” Joshua 3:5, paraphrased.

Commission and Covenant

“After the death of Moses the servant of the LORD, the LORD said to Joshua son of Nun, Moses’ aide: ‘Moses my servant is dead. Now then, you and all these people, get ready to cross the Jordan River into the land I am about to give to them–to the Israelites.” Joshua 1:1-2

This was an awesome responsibility that God placed upon the shoulders of Joshua. Fear had kept the Israelites from inhabiting this land forty years earlier. Those people had died in the wilderness, and a God had raised up a new generation.

Then Moses died, and Joshua’s first commission from God was to take the land of the giants. But with God’s commission, God gave a promise!

I will give you every place where you set your foot, as I promised Moses. Your territory will extend from the desert to Lebanon, and from the great river, the Euphrates–all the Hittite country–to the Great Sea on the west. No one will be able to stand up against you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you.

Be strong and courageous, because you will lead these people to inherit the land I swore to their forefathers to give them. Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful wherever you go.

Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful.

Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go.

Joshua 1:3-9

God promised to be with Joshua. He told Joshua to take courage in the fact that God would never leave or fail him. He told Joshua that his success would come from meditating continually in God’s Word.

“Joshua told the people, ‘Consecrate yourselves, for tomorrow the LORD will do amazing things among you.” Joshua 3:5

Consecration and Conquest

When God spoke to Joshua, Joshua didn’t hesitate. Immediately he told the people, “Get your hearts right with God. God is getting ready to do something great!” (Lois’ paraphrase).

Joshua said to the Israelites, “Come here and listen to the words of the LORD your God. This is how you will know that the living God is among you and that he will certainly drive out before you the Canaanites, Hittites, Hivites, Perizzites, Girgashites, Amorites and Jebusites. See, the ark of the covenant of the Lord of all the earth will go into the Jordan ahead of you.

Now then, choose twelve men from the tribes of Israel, one from each tribe. And as soon as the priests who carry the ark of the LORD–the Lord of all the earth–set foot in the Jordan, its waters flowing downstream will be cut off and stand up in a heap.”

So when the people broke camp to cross the Jordan, the priests carrying the ark of the covenant went ahead of them.

Now the Jordan is at flood stage all during harvest. Yet as soon as the priests who carried the ark reached the Jordan and their feet touched the water’s edge, the water from upstream stopped flowing. It piled up in a heap a great distance away, at a town called Adam in the vicinity of Zarethan, while the water flowing down to the Sea of the Arabah (the Salt Sea) was completely cut off. So the people crossed over opposite Jericho.

The priests who carried the ark of the covenant of the LORD stood firm on dry ground in the middle of the Jordan, while all Israel passed by until the whole nation had completed the crossing on dry ground.

Joshua 3:9-17

With this, the Israelites entered the promised land. And the battle had begun!

Application

God gives a commission to parents today. God says, “Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it.” Proverbs 22:6. The giants have claimed our children. If we would carry out God’s commission, we face an awesome task.

But every promise Joshua had, and many more, are written in God’s Word. These promises are ours today. God tells us to “Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.” Hebrews 4:16.     “…God has said, ‘Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.’” Hebrews 13:5. Will we tremble in fear as our children follow the giants? Or will we take our children for God?

God, as mothers, we ask you to cleanse and prepare our hearts. Our children are in the land of the giants. But the land belongs to you. You have commissioned us to take it. You are getting ready to do something great!

Thought for Today

“Get your hearts right with God. God is getting ready to do something great!” (Joshua 3:5, Lois’ paraphrase.)

Questions for Discussion

1. How did God use previous victories in Joshua’s life to prepare him to face the tremendous responsibility of taking the land of the giants without the aid of his mentor?
2. How did God bolster Joshua’s faith with a promise?
3. What are the giants God is calling you to take for the protection of your children?

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This article is Copyright ©1981-2010 by Lois Turley from the original website "Hope Undivided" (no longer in existence). Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Labels: Bible Studies, Blog, Called To Be A Mother, Motherhood