Now I know, this verse is being spoken by the Israelite people to Joshua, but what if we lived our lives as if this verse was from us to God. That is what being a Christian is, is it not? Are we not called to go where he sends us and do what he commands us? If this is true, why do we not live it out. god tells us to give an offering higher than we are used to, and we rationalize why we don't have it to give. Or we will only go so far to help someone out, then when we hit that point, we leave them out in the cold, (not always literally, but you get what I am saying). We think we have the right to stop helping because it has become inconvenient for us, yet we seem to have forgotten that at any point while Jesus was on the cross, he called have saved himself, and then where would we be now. I can imagine it was not always convenient for Jesus to carry the weight of the whole world on his shoulders, yet he went through with it, because he knew the outcome, and knew it was going to work out. How would our hearts shift if we followed through with every commitment God told us to begin? How would it affect other people? It makes you wonder if the Israelite people knew what they were saying. When they told Joshua that they would go where he led and do what he said, did they really mean it, or were they speaking to make him happy? The passage goes on to say, "Just as we obeyed Moses in all things, so we will obey you. Only may the Lord God be with you as He was with Moses". If I were in Joshua's shoes right then, I would not have believed a word they said. Had they forgotten that it was them that stepped into the promised land, yet got scared and spent 40 years in the desert, eating nothing but bread from the sky and quail, so much so that they made themselves sick from it. These same people who griped and complained about everything. Who begged for food, then moaned when it came. The people who, when things looked grim, wanted to go back to slavery just to get "comfort". Now these people say they will follow Joshua as they did Moses. What changed? It is time to put heart behind these words. To go the extra mile with someone who is struggling. Letting yourself be pulled from comfort in order to be used by God. Sacrificing your reputation because God has promised something better. I don'y know about you, but I want to walk out these words with everything in me. If God says go, I'll pack my bags and go. If he says do, I want to run and do.
God knows what He is doing. We ask to be used by God, so God gives us assignments. if we don't like it, we don't do it, but then we wonder why we are not growing and maturing in our faith. God wants to use us, but if we are not willing to be used, He will move on to someone who is willing, and we miss the chance to be used.
Don't miss out on God because it got uncomfortable. Allow him to use you despite your discomfort, and he will do great things in you and through you.
Adam Semple- a young man on a mission from God.
*photo credit- www.godsway66.com
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