Get up off of your face
This week's Bible-y sweetness comes from Joshua 7:3-15:
Joshua was in charge of all of Israel. It was a job with huge responsibilities, and many disappointments. People don't always do what you ask them to do. Joshua sends them to do what should be a very simple job, and they fail. People are in a panic and the nation is now in danger. Instead of leading them, Joshua joins them in their panic and tries to bring God on board with his worries.
God basically tells Joshua to snap out of it and get hold of himself. God has a solution for his problems. It's not an easy solution, but it is a solution, which is more than he had before he came to God. Enough with identifying the symptoms. Let's fix the underlying condition and its causes.
We spend a lot of time identifying the problems to God, trying to get him to join us in our view of how hopeless the world is. At some point, he probably tells us to get up and start taking notes. We just have to make sure we're not blubbering too loudly to hear him. All of Joshua's problems were caused by something he was probably aware of already. He just needed God to spell things out for him and show how the two fit together. When he made the connection and did what God told him to do, Israel had a huge and lasting victory.
This is a good picture of the father God. He doesn't soothe us with a box of tissues and tell us how sorry he feels for us. He helps us to grow up and solve our problems. He tells us what to do, and he stands by us when we do it. He's more than just the "buddy Jesus" sold to us by popular culture. He's the Lord and Master of creation, able to both direct us and help us with our problems. If you ask, you will receive. If you're just venting, don't expect anything to change. Sometimes it's time to get up off of your face and go change the world.
When they returned to Joshua, they said, “Not all the army will have to go up against Ai. Send two or three thousand men to take it and do not weary the whole army, for only a few people live there.” So about three thousand went up; but they were routed by the men of Ai, who killed about thirty-six of them. They chased the Israelites from the city gate as far as the stone quarries and struck them down on the slopes. At this the hearts of the people melted in fear and became like water.
Then Joshua tore his clothes and fell facedown to the ground before the ark of the Lord, remaining there till evening. The elders of Israel did the same, and sprinkled dust on their heads. And Joshua said, “Alas, Sovereign Lord, why did you ever bring this people across the Jordan to deliver us into the hands of the Amorites to destroy us? If only we had been content to stay on the other side of the Jordan! Pardon your servant, Lord. What can I say, now that Israel has been routed by its enemies? The Canaanites and the other people of the country will hear about this and they will surround us and wipe out our name from the earth. What then will you do for your own great name? ”
The Lord said to Joshua, “Stand up! What are you doing down on your face? Israel has sinned; they have violated my covenant, which I commanded them to keep. They have taken some of the devoted things; they have stolen, they have lied, they have put them with their own possessions. That is why the Israelites cannot stand against their enemies; they turn their backs and run because they have been made liable to destruction. I will not be with you anymore unless you destroy whatever among you is devoted to destruction.
“Go, consecrate the people. Tell them, ‘Consecrate yourselves in preparation for tomorrow; for this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: There are devoted things among you, Israel. You cannot stand against your enemies until you remove them.
“‘In the morning, present yourselves tribe by tribe. The tribe the Lord chooses shall come forward clan by clan; the clan the Lord chooses shall come forward family by family; and the family the Lord chooses shall come forward man by man. Whoever is caught with the devoted things shall be destroyed by fire, along with all that belongs to him. He has violated the covenant of the Lord and has done an outrageous thing in Israel!’”
Joshua was in charge of all of Israel. It was a job with huge responsibilities, and many disappointments. People don't always do what you ask them to do. Joshua sends them to do what should be a very simple job, and they fail. People are in a panic and the nation is now in danger. Instead of leading them, Joshua joins them in their panic and tries to bring God on board with his worries.
God basically tells Joshua to snap out of it and get hold of himself. God has a solution for his problems. It's not an easy solution, but it is a solution, which is more than he had before he came to God. Enough with identifying the symptoms. Let's fix the underlying condition and its causes.
We spend a lot of time identifying the problems to God, trying to get him to join us in our view of how hopeless the world is. At some point, he probably tells us to get up and start taking notes. We just have to make sure we're not blubbering too loudly to hear him. All of Joshua's problems were caused by something he was probably aware of already. He just needed God to spell things out for him and show how the two fit together. When he made the connection and did what God told him to do, Israel had a huge and lasting victory.
This is a good picture of the father God. He doesn't soothe us with a box of tissues and tell us how sorry he feels for us. He helps us to grow up and solve our problems. He tells us what to do, and he stands by us when we do it. He's more than just the "buddy Jesus" sold to us by popular culture. He's the Lord and Master of creation, able to both direct us and help us with our problems. If you ask, you will receive. If you're just venting, don't expect anything to change. Sometimes it's time to get up off of your face and go change the world.
Comments
Post a Comment