Key to Success

After the death of Moses the servant of the Lord, the Lord said to Joshua the son of Nun, Moses’ assistant, “Moses my servant is dead. Now therefore arise, go over this Jordan, you and all this people, into the land that I am giving to them, to the people of Israel. Every place that the sole of your foot will tread upon I have given to you, just as I promised to Moses. From the wilderness and this Lebanon as far as the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites to the Great Sea toward the going down of the sun shall be your territory. No man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life. Just as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will not leave you or forsake you. Be strong and courageous, for you shall cause this people to inherit the land that I swore to their fathers to give them. Only be strong and very courageous, being careful to do according to all the law that Moses my servant commanded you. Do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may have good success wherever you go. This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success. (Joshua 1:1–8)

In this study of ‘therefore’ as a word about consequences, God is showing me how the OT points to Jesus and NT truths. That is, the OT events point to a greater reality. This passage is another one of them.

Moses and Law remind me of the promise of a Messiah and that God’s people wanted to obey but continually failed to keep the law. Then the death of Moses changed leadership. Joshua. Because Moses died, Joshua was given leadership into the land of promise. And I know this does not point to heaven but to a difference in their lives.

Joshua means “Jehovah saves” — another phase in the history of redemption. If I look at it as part of a salvation journey, it points to being set free from slavery to sin and learning how to walk in that redeemed freedom. It takes a lifetime and without the power of Christ, I cannot do it, just as the OT people of God struggled in their battle to live out the will of God in the land He gave them.

Again, this is not heaven. If it were, there would be no enemies and no battles, no lessons in how to live in total surrender to the God who saves. This is why He told Joshua and He tells me that He will be with me. All blessings are mine, and no one can take that from me. Obedience is vital to my success. So is reading and thinking about God's will day and night.

Fear and becoming down-hearted are my enemies so He adds: “Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.” (Joshua 1:9–10) This is not about emotional stability but about remembering and knowing that He is with me — all the time and wherever I am.

Jesus, Your presence is always with me, like the air around me. If I forget that, my life goes sideways or upside-down. It is never Your fault for You are faithful to Your word. May I alway be mindful that You never leave me alone. You are my strength and my obedience, my Savior and success.

He is right here with me . . .

An elderly Christian friend once told me that she didn’t pray in the normal sense of having a time of prayer because she considered every word she said, even every thought, was a prayer to God.

At first I thought that she was a bit daft, but today’s devotional reading has me rethinking her idea. The author points out that many people wish they could see God, or at least have a deeper sense of His presence so that “every act of our soul is done before Him and every word spoken in prayer is as really spoken to Him as if our eyes could see Him and our hands could touch Him.”

This brought to mind how Jesus seemed to have a particular focus on giving sight to the blind. This goes back to an OT story of Elisha who faced enemies. He was not fearful but his man servant was terrified.

Then Elisha prayed and said, “O Lord, please open his eyes that he may see.” So the Lord opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw, and behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha. (2 Kings 6:17)

I’ve read similar missionary testimonies where God opened the eyes of His people when they were surrounded by enemies and in grave danger so they could see that they were surrounded by angels. Others tell of their enemies later testifying to seeing armies of soldiers protecting God’s people. God wants His children to know by sight that He is always near.

Perhaps that is one reason the NT has many records of how Jesus opened the eyes of the blind. Yes, they wanted to see physically, yet this suggests to me a vivid illustration of how He also cures spiritual blindness and how He wants His people to know that we are never alone.

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, (Luke 4:18)

In that hour he healed many people of diseases and plagues and evil spirits, and on many who were blind he bestowed sight. (Luke 7:21)

Jesus controls both spiritual and physical sight. The disciples exemplify the first as Jesus “opened their eyes and they recognized him” then He “vanished from their sight.” (Luke 24:31)

At Paul’s conversion, he was without sight for three days, then a man laid his hands on him so that he might regain his sight. He said, “ ‘Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus who appeared to you on the road by which you came has sent me so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.’ And immediately something like scales fell from his eyes, and he regained his sight. Then he rose and was baptized.” (Acts 9:9-18)

Of course the devotional points out that we walk by faith, not by sight (2 Corinthians 5:7) yet all this illustrates that sight is not just physical. Faith is the spiritual ability to ‘see God’ — to realize His presence without seeing it. God was gracious to Elisha’s servant, to Paul, to the disciples, and the same to many of His children. He says, “I will never leave you or forsake you.” He is with me always. Faith ‘sees’ the reality of His presence. My eyes see the evidence of His work in creation and in His children.

Not only that, He hears every word I say and knows my thoughts. With that understanding, I can see how my friend could consider her every word and every thought was communication with God. She listened and heard His words and His thoughts also.

PRAY: Jesus, I know Your presence and know how I can “pray without ceasing” yet this is not an excuse or a reason to drop formal or usual times of prayer. However, it is a reason to guard my heart and my words, a reason to be aware of what is going on in my life. You know it anyway and I’m so glad that no matter where I go or what I do, You are right beside me, listening and telling me what I need to know as I share my ideas and burdens with You.

 

What about those bad dreams?

 

READ Psalm 120–134

Years ago I had a dream in which I was committing sin. I cannot remember the sin, but I do remember what God told me when I woke up. I asked Him why that dream and He said, “Would you rather I reveal your sinful attitudes to you in real life?”

He has done this several times over the years and again last night. This time I was trying to fulfill a legitimate need in a selfish way instead of relying on the Lord to take care of it. After waking up, I again asked the Lord to help me think and act in the right way, then discovered today’s reading actually began with that first thing: confess the selfishness revealed in the dream . . .

Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord! O Lord, hear my voice! Let your ears be attentive to the voice of my pleas for mercy! If you, O Lord, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand? But with you there is forgiveness, that you may be feared. (Psalm 130:1–4)

Over the years, my self-centeredness has taken many forms. One of them is being ambitious, wanting more or doing more. Learning to be content with the will of God and His choices for me has been a constant theme. He reminds me of that again in these verses:

O Lord, my heart is not lifted up; my eyes are not raised too high; I do not occupy myself with things too great and too marvelous for me. But I have calmed and quieted my soul, like a weaned child with its mother; like a weaned child is my soul within me. (131:1–2)

I picture a child that is not weaned. Sitting on mom’s knee, that child is constantly trying to nurse and making a nuisance of itself. In contrast, the weaned child is calm and not at all worried where his next meal will come from. Other images come to mind, but the sense of trusting reminds me that whenever I try to meet my needs without trusting God’s supply or His timing is far more than a nuisance; it is a sin.

The other reminder from this reading is about preparation for sleep. That dream could have been an attack from “the accuser of the brethren” who attempts to sidetrack me. I’ve had several amazing answers to prayer this week and shared them with many. The devil doesn’t like it. When I go to bed, I often ask for a good night’s sleep because “God gives to His beloved sleep” (127:2). These following verses suggest that I also ask for God’s protection and make sure that He is on the throne of my heart and I’m not thinking of running my own life. As the psalmist says . . .

“I will not enter my house or get into my bed, I will not give sleep to my eyes or slumber to my eyelids, until I find a place for the Lord, a dwelling place for the Mighty One of Jacob.” (132:3–5)

He was thinking of a ‘place’ of worship yet the NT says my body is now His tabernacle, even when I’m sleeping!

Included with a desire for His presence is praise, speaking well of God and relying on Him to take care of me. The psalmist calls out, “Come, bless the Lord, all you servants of the Lord, who stand by night in the house of the Lord! Lift up your hands to the holy place and bless the Lord!” (134:1–2)

This morning, I am acknowledging the self-effort of my dream and the sinful lack of depending on God to meet my needs, whether that shows up in a dream or in real life. Other verses tell me what to do: “As for me, I am poor and needy, but the Lord takes thought for me. You are my help and my deliverer; do not delay, O my God!” (40:17) and “He delivers the needy when he calls, the poor and him who has no helper.” (72:12) I know that my spiritual enemy does not like these requests nor any confidence in the Almighty, but God loves to hear me call upon His name and I know that He will answer — in His time and in His way! Amen.