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1 After the
death of Moses the servant of the LORD, the LORD said to Joshua son of Nun,
Moses' aide: 2 "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. 3 I will
give you every place where you set your foot, as I promised Moses. 4 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. 5 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. 6 "Be
strong and courageous, because you will lead these people to inherit the land
I swore to their forefathers to give them. 7 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. 8 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. 9 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."
"Be
strong and courageous, because you will lead these people to inherit the land
I swore to their forefathers to give them. Joshua 1 : 6
Not
all endings are the same. How was your end of the year last night? Was it
full of celebration and remembrance? Was it quiet and reflective? Perhaps it
was just like so many other nights. And what did you step into this morning?
Are you bursting with energy and eagerness as you enter into this new year?
Are you confident that your hopes and plans are on track? Do you anticipate
success and satisfaction to mark year 2001? Or does the future scare you? Not
all endings are the same. After the death of Moses, after Jesus died, after a
loved one is placed in the grave, when the business collapsed, when we failed
the entrance exam, when we couldn't conceive or miscarried, after all the
hope and celebration, ...something ended. Life would never be quite the same
again. Bereft and rudderless, a void opens up and swallows the future. It
was just this kind of experience that Israel faced at the Jordan River. It
was just "after the death of Moses." Moses had led Israel out of
Egypt and set them free from captivity and slavery. Moses had led his people
through the Red Sea, had brought them into the presence of God, had climbed
the mountain and delivered the commandments to them; and he had guided his
people through the wilderness to the edge of the promised land, to the Jordan
River. Then he died. The
disciples faced this kind of experience on Good Friday. Jesus had been a
great Rabbi. He had confronted the religious establishment, calling the
people back to justice, mercy and love as the hallmarks of God's way with us
and our way with others. He had done all kinds of signs and wonders.
Multitudes of ordinary people risked deeply, changing their habits and
beliefs in order to follow His new Way. Then He died. Most
of the time, the endings we encounter are not this dramatic. Semesters, work
terms, and new years come and go. But along the way, there are always
endings. And each of them echo-sometimes loudly, sometimes only faintly-the
end that we all dread, the ending after which ... we know not what. It
is precisely then that we need to hear the word of God spoken to Israel at
the Jordan. After Moses died, God said to Israel: Be strong and courageous.
And then again, God said: Be strong and very courageous. In the Hebrew
context, when a statement is repeated, it carries double the power. In other
words, the text says: be strong; and be strongly strong. Be courageous; and
be courageously courageous. And then it says it a third time: Be strong and
courageous at yet a whole new level, and case fear and discouragement away. Let
us be clear. The word that God wants us to hear at our endings is not that we
should be "man enough" or "macho enough" to take
everything that's thrown at us, then work a bit harder, believe in ourselves
a bit more fully, until we finally pull ourselves up by our bootstraps. Not
at all! The
word that God wants us to hear is this: as we live in the promise of God,
there simply is no ending that can rob us of God's presence. None. There is
always an "after the end." And we always enter that "after the
end" with God. God does not forsake us. As we follow God's call, as we
live in obedience to God's word for life; God goes with us. Always. Wherever
we go.
Jesus,
Your word is a lamp to my feet and a guide to our path. Keep me rooted in
Your Word every day of this new year. Help me to face the future with courage
and strength, confident that You are right there with me. Amen.
Take
a moment now to once again "look out across the Jordan." What do
you see? What issues and concerns loom large? What do you fear about the days
and weeks ahead? Today,
the promise of God is that as we faithfully follow His way, He will be with
us, and in His presence, we will have the necessary strength and courage to
face whatever lies ahead. What
habits and disciplines "of this Book of the Law" have kept you
following Jesus' way in the past? How will you nurture and grow these
patterns of godly living so that you will stay strong and courageous in the
days and weeks to come? Today is not too late to make a resolution about such
things for this New Year. [Top] [Living Life Home] [SWIM Home]
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Copyright (c)1995-2000 Tyrannus Press & SWIM.All rights reserved. |
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