Provision on the other side!
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Change is not easy. If we’re honest with ourselves, CHANGE IS NEVER EASY.
We can get excited about a new phase or new adventure coming up, but it doesn’t usually take long before we discover that we are creatures of habit, when all our good intentions hit a wall of resistance or where our enthusiasm seems to slowly drain away as we try to push forward but find things are not as easy as we initially thought.
As the Covid restrictions are slowly being lifted here in the United Kingdom, we are coming out of a challenging year, which for a lot of us has felt like a “desert” experience. So we are happy that it becomes slowly possible to meet up with family and friends again. But we also instinctively know that God has more for us than just going back to what life was like before the Covid-19 storm ravaged our world, invaded our lives, and disturbed our communities.
God has planned better things for us than what we experienced before. Individually and as a church we are entering a NEW PHASE.
What can we learn from Joshua about how we can cross over into our promised land – our new season of promise? Let’s have a look at Joshua chapter 3 together.
Firstly, in verse 3 the instruction is to “set out from where you are”. It has to be our own, personal decision to LEAVE. With that I mean to leave some old things behind, some old comforts, some old, familiar and comfortable way of living and doing things. Are we emotionally prepared to let go of some things that no longer fit God’s future for us?
How do we overcome the status quo? What helps us to do pack up and go? (Because paying too much time and attention to the things we are leaving behind will only cause us to not want to leave.)
I think the first key is found in verse 4, which tells us all to “FOLLOW the ark”.
I think this means two things: God’s presence and God’s voice. The ark was the primary object where God revealed his almighty presence. Do you remember that conversation that Moses had with God in Exodus 33:15-16 forty years previously? Moses said “If your PRESENCE does not go with us, do not send us up from here.” Moses would rather stay with God in the desert than to travel into the promised land without God. And in a similar way, this now leaves the question for us, which is: how could we stay on the wrong side of the Jordan, if God wants to cross over?
The second thing the ark represents is God’s VOICE. Moses heard the voice of God speaking to him from between the two golden angels above the mercy seat that covered the ark (Numbers 7:89). The main reason why I have ever made any major decisions is because I heard God speak to me. It is through his guidance that we know where to go and what to do. That’s why in verse 4 it says that if we follow the priests who carry the ark “you will know which way to go, since you have never been this way before.” To be honest, if I have been slow in doing what God has asked me to do, then it is most often when I did not pay enough close, careful attention to what God was saying to me.
The second instruction besides “Leave and follow” is the one in verse 5, where Joshua said to the people “Sanctify / Purify / Consecrate yourselves”. It means to set apart and DEDICATE yourself as holy, to be DEVOTED to a purpose.
So what is that purpose? Of course, God had promised that every tribe and family would have their own houses to live in and land to be productive and fruitful in. And of course, there is nothing wrong in itself with a prestigious job, big house, riches, etc. They can help us to connect with people in high positions with the gospel; a bigger house can help us to be hospitable to more people; and with plenty of money we are able to help and bless even more people. But let’s not pursue these things for ourselves or to look good in the eyes of the world around us. In Colossians 3:23-24 Paul says: “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.” So the charge is all about our heart attitude – are we wholeheartedly doing everything for God and for his honour and fame?
The purpose of God for our lives simply has to be as important to us as Paul regards it when he said in Acts 20:24 “My life is worth nothing unless I use it for doing the work assigned me by the Lord Jesus - the work of telling others the Good News about God's wonderful kindness and love.”
So what can we look forward to when we follow God and cross the threshold into his promises?
In verse 5 Joshua promised that “God will do great WONDERS among you.”
I am convinced that this means that we can be confident that God will provide us with all that we need on the other side of the Jordan in the land “flowing with milk and honey”.
Let me give you one example. Before I could finish my University degree and we could get married, Marjan and I prayed about where God would want us to move to after our wedding. Over a period of a few months, we regularly talked and prayed with each other, our parents, and our church leaders. And we felt the God focussing us on either Manchester (where Marjan was at the time) or Delft (which is where I was studying). Then, on one memorable night God spoke to me clearly and said that we were to move from Holland to Manchester. So being our normal pragmatic selves we made a list and presented it to God, saying that because he is asking us to move to another country, we were going to trust him for everything we need. This was based on the promise in Matthew 6:33 that “God will give you all you need from day to day if you live for him and make the kingdom of God your primary concern.”
That list contained 7 items, including: money to get there, somewhere to stay on arrival, a job for me, a job for Marjan, a house to make a home, etc. God promised us that he would “take care of all the details.” Well … I tell you, God completely blew our minds! He surprised us beyond our imagination! As a student I couldn’t have had a job whilst studying, so I had hardly any money. But the monetary wedding gifts were enough to pay for the van and the ferry and food for our first 1.5 weeks. Just days before the wedding we were offered that we could live in a house for half the rent (instead of just a friend’s spare bedroom). And when we arrived in Manchester, I was surprised to find that it was a four bed detached house (just for the two of us!), which had all the main furniture in it that we didn’t have (wardrobe, bed, dining table, etc.) and was left by a previous tenant. And to top it off, it was on the corner of “Holland Road”. (God has such a wonderful sense of humour - you couldn’t make it up if you tried.) And then when we arrived in the kitchen, we found a wedding present consisting of sets of big plates, small plates and deep plates. As a student I had just 3 mis-matching plates, which wouldn’t have been enough for all the hospitality that we planned to do. I was simply blown away by God’s generosity. It was one example where God went beyond providing all the big things (yes, I got a graduate job within a week, and Marjan could start working straight away, etc. etc.). But he then surprised us with things like sets of plates. He knows exactly what we need (better than we do) and likes to bless us above and beyond our asking and imagination. We have many such stories to tell of how he has done many signs and wonders in the 30 plus years since we arrived in England. Time and again.
The second thing we can expect is that – yes - there are difficulties and barriers we have to face and overcome. But in verse 10 Joshua promised “Today you will know that the living God is among you. He will surely drive out all your enemies”. God will go ahead and give us the courage and wisdom to overcome doubt, hurt, disappointments, disillusionment, etc.
But what is it that God is asking you to cross over in to? What DREAMS has God put in your heart? What prophetic words has he given you to confirm what his plans and purposes are for you and your family? In Ephesians 2:10 we learn that we are God’s workmanship, God’s masterpiece. And that he has created us anew in Jesus so that we can do the good things that he has planned to do.
I think we could and should get excited about what God has planned for us individually and as a church. He is going to use us as the priests who carried the ark, stepped into the Jordan, and saw EVERYONE cross over on dry ground. This is not just about God’s will that all of us in OpenWell will cross over into the promised land, but also that we will carry God’s presence and love as we meet people in the world around us. Yes, we will find that many people are in real trouble. But when we step into their troubled lives with the love of Jesus and the power of the Holy Spirit, we are going to see God move. We are going to see people’s lives changed, restored, healed, and delivered. God will work through us and we will be amazed at the miracles, signs and wonders. His purpose is to change this world we live in, for the name of Jesus to be made famous, and for hundreds and thousands to be swept into the Kingdom of God. And the staggering things about it all, is that Jesus has decided that he wants to use each and every one of us.
REVIVAL is coming. Let’s cross over and step into God’s miraculous wonders. Get ready to have your mind blown.
Let’s get excited about God’s plans for our future. And let’s cross over with boldness, courage and confidence in a God who goes before you and goes beyond your wildest dreams !!!
