Facing Life's Challenges

Well the book of Joshua has always been one of my favorites. It is an epic swashbuckling account of the nation of Israel conquering the land that God had promised them. So it's just an exciting book to read. A blockbuster film could be made out of the book of Joshua and all the things that happened there. But it's also a story of God's hand on a young leader who is replacing an older leader who's passed off the scene. So it's a book all about transition. And for that reason it's very timely and it's also encouraging for us today at our history here at Johnston Chapel. So it's an exciting book, it's an encouraging book. I'll never forget this being the first Sunday evening series of messages I did at least in the book of Joshua after I became the senior pastor here. I had arrived, my family and I had arrived in June of 1990 and we worked through a six month transition time with the founding pastor who'd been here 37 years preacher Jimmy. And then in January of 1991 I actually moved into that role as as senior pastor. And the first Sunday night series I did was in the book of Joshua. It was January 27, 1991 that I preached the first message in the book of Joshua and it was so critical for me. That series was more for me than anyone because I was Joshua then. I was 38 years old following a revered, a founding pastor of our church. And I needed the book of Joshua and so it was a blessing to me. Whether or not anybody else got anything out of it, I needed it. And it was a blessing to me. Fast forward 28 years January 2018 as I now enter my last six months as you're senior pastor before I retire. My heart is drawn back to the book of Joshua. My heart is drawn back to this book because it deals with transition. But now I'm Moses. I'm not Joshua any longer. God has raised up a new Joshua, a new leader for this church, a new lead pastor for Johnston Chapel. One thing is constant however with all the changes that happen over the years and it's interesting for me to reflect upon how I felt as Joshua coming in and how I feel now as Moses going off the scene. By the way, Moses died. I'm not planning on that any time real soon although that's in God's hands. But moving off the scene, it's interesting to have experienced those two ends of the spectrum and both sides of that. But there's one thing that remains constant and that is God. God always remains constant and his word always remains constant. I believe this is a very timely book for us to be in and not just because of the transition we're going through as a church, not just for me and for Pastor Dan, but also for all of us because this is a book about facing new challenges as well. And the book begins that way with the challenge of entering a new land. This is a new way, a new land, a new experience, new horizons for the people of Israel that they've never experienced before and tremendous challenges were applied before them. As I think about that and the fact that we are in a new year, I think about the challenges that many of you may be facing as you enter this new year. Maybe before you is a huge challenge, maybe you've just started a new job and it just looks daunting to you and you're not sure if you can handle it. Maybe you're facing a huge project in a job you work for years and it's going to be a tough year with that on the horizon. Maybe you're just facing difficulties in your work, layoffs and looming problems in your area of work. Maybe you've gone into a new stage of life this year. Maybe you've just entered retirement and you're trying to figure out what that looks like for you. Talked with a gentleman before the first service and he was sharing with me. He's been retired about six months and he was talking about how difficult that transition has been for him and he's just now wrapping his mind around that new kind of life for him. Maybe that's you or maybe maybe you've got teenagers in your house and that's a new experience for you. It's stretching you. You're not sure if you're going to be able to handle those challenges or maybe all your kids are gone. Maybe the last ones heading off to college this year and you're facing an empty nest and you're not sure about that. That's threatening to you or maybe you find yourself single again either through the death of a spouse or a very difficult divorce and you're grappling with what does life look like now. This new kind of life and the challenge it lies before me or maybe you're just experiencing a personal challenge, financial, physical, whatever it may be. All of us face challenges. All of us face difficulties that are staring us in the face and we need to understand how God wants us to face those and how God wants us to meet those. Joshua is supposed to take Moses place and he feels I'm sure much like any of us would feel at the very beginning of this book as we are facing our own challenges. Moses has died. The book of Deuteronomy ends with the Nation of Israel mourning him for 30 days and the book of Joshua ends with Joshua now taking his place and leading the nation into the Promised Land. So one chapter closes, a new chapter opens. The book starts this way very first verse after the death of Moses, the servant of the Lord. The Lord said to Joshua son of none Moses aid. I notice he is called Moses aid. Moses assistant but don't misunderstand that. Don't think of Joshua someone who's just in the background polishing Moses sandals. Joseph is already of Joshua has already distinguished himself. He has already done significant work himself. In Exodus chapter 17 he's led the army of Israel against the Amalekites and led Israel to a great victory. In Numbers chapter 13 and 14 he has been one of the 12 spies entrusted with the awesome responsibility of spying out the land and reporting back the good land that God has prepared for his people and only one of two spies who had the courage and the faithfulness to give a positive report. He's already distinguished himself in his service for God. In Numbers 27 he is filled with the spirit and is designated by God to succeed Moses as the new leader. And so he's already proven himself. Joshua is ready for this. God has chosen him and prepared him and God's timing is perfect as it always is in transitions like this. But I'm sure that the enormity of the challenge that lie before him, the impossibility of the task looming in front of him of capturing this land with an untrained army. I'm sure that looms before him and was intimidating. It probably was discouraging. It may have even been paralyzing to him. I'm sure that others were comparing him to Moses whispering in their tents at night. Will he be the kind of leader we need like Moses was? I'm sure that was happening. I'm sure that Joshua must have compared himself to Moses not knowing that Moses himself doubted his abilities when God called him to lead the nation. Remember when God called Moses Moses came up with all kinds of objections as to why he couldn't do that task. Well Joshua doesn't know that unless Moses had shared it with him. And here he is on the verge of his ministry of leading the nation. Stiff challenge. Hard task ahead. And so in the midst of this where Joshua is and the midst of where you are today as you face whatever challenge you're facing, God speaks to him and asks today about how to have strength to meet the challenge. How can we have the strength to meet the challenges that we're facing? Will we need to take the counsel that God gave to Joshua and follow exactly what God told Joshua to do? Joshua is facing a huge task, a difficult future and God gives him encouragement and challenge as he does. So let's listen to what God tells him and I believe it will help us and the challenges we face in 2018. The first counsel that God gave to Joshua was this face the reality of the challenge. It's staring you right in the face. Don't look away from it. Don't try to get around it. Don't hide from it. Face it Joshua. Look at square in the eye. Face the challenge, the reality of the challenge. In the first four verses what God does is he clearly lays out the challenge for Joshua. Look what he does. They're in verse two. Moses, my servant is dead. Now then you and all these people get ready to cross the Jordan River into the land. I'm about to give to them to the Israelites. I will give you every place where you set your foot as I promised Moses. Then he describes the length and breadth and all of that territory that God has given them the land in verse four. By the way, dimensions of the land which Joshua would not take fully and which would not be fully taken by the nation of Israel till the glorious reigns of David and Solomon. But this is what God has promised to them. As a nation, God clearly lays out the challenge for him. He reminds him first of all who he's replacing. Remember Joshua, Moses, my servant is dead. He says, if I'm Joshua, you know what I'm thinking? Thanks a lot, God, for reminding me of that. We just spent 30 days crying over that. Thanks for reminding me that I'm replacing Moses. So he causes him to face that. That he's replacing Moses, but he also causes him to see the magnitude of the task that lies before him. That's what verse three and four is all about. I will give you every place where you set your foot and the territory is huge. The magnitude of the task is daunting. You'd across the Jordan River into this land and take this land. It's a huge task. The Jordan River is not a significant river to cross. It's only about a hundred feet across at this point. The southern part of the river just for empties into the dead sea. But we'll find out in chapter three. This was flood stage. This was the season where the river was flooding. And when it did that, it was spread out across the whole valley on either side, maybe for a mile across. Now, you talk about even getting an army, a trained, party army across a river like that. That's tough. Without the kind of machinery that we would have today, but to take a whole nation across, and he doesn't know yet how God's going to do that, we'll find that out later in the book. Take a whole nation across children, older people, animals, possessions. Man, that's hard to face. Even think about that. And then once you get on the other side of the river, that is a declaration of war for every city, state, and nation that is inhabiting the land. They're all going to come after you. They're all going to be ready for you. And so this is a huge task. But there's an important principle here. There's an important reason why God tells him, okay, Joshua, face up to it. Here's who you're replacing, and here's what lies before you. There's an important principle there. And that is that God wants us to face the reality of the challenges that we're facing. You see, we have an incredible ability to deny what's right in front of us, and to not want to tackle the hard challenges that are right in front of us. We may procrastinate, thinking, well, I'll get to that at some point. Or we may just deny the reality of it all together, and it not admit that we really are facing this challenge. We may say, well, we all have difficulties in weaknesses, and I just can't do that. There are things that everybody's like that we just can't accomplish. We may try to dodge around it, or just look the other way, and hope it will go away. We have a lot of ways of denying the reality of what's in front of us, that we've got to deal with whatever the challenge may be. And God is saying to Joshua, now face it. It's right in front of you. This river is right there. The land is right there. You're replacing Moses. Now face all of that. You know, sometimes I think with most everything, the hardest step is the first step. You just got to get going. You got to face the thing and tackle it. And that's the hardest thing to do is to get started. I think that's why God starts here. Face the challenge, Joshua. Look at square in the eye, and get going. Get moving. The first words of a research paper are the hardest ones to write. You know, I can remember writing some papers in high school, in college, in seminary, and just getting down to it and getting started and writing that first line, it's a hardest thing. The first hit in a football game is the hardest hit. The first steps in intervening with a family member in a crisis situation are the hardest steps to take. The first attempt to witness your neighbor will be the hardest. It's always the hardest to get started, to get moving, especially when the challenge is so daunting. And that's why I believe God says, here it is. Face it. Look it in the eye. But then he goes a step beyond that. He not only clearly lays out the challenge, he also encourages his servant. God encourages his servant. With the very words he's given him. Notice, when he says, Moses, my servant is dead, and then he says in verse 2, now you, and all the people get raided across the Jordan River into the land. I'm about to give them to the Israelites. Notice what he says next. I will give you every place where you set your foot as I promised Moses. So my promise has not changed. You can do this. I promised Moses that this land was his, was going to be given to the Israelites, and I'm making the same promise to you. You can do this Joshua. I love, I love how God just closes a chapter. Moses is dead. We're done with that chapter. Now get ready and go. Face the future. Don't live in the past. Face the future. Moses or Joshua, you've got to do this and you can do it. My promise is the same as it was to Moses. And you're not going to be able to do it in your own strength. But I have prepared you for this, Joshua, and God had prepared him for it. He would need vision and character to follow through on that vision. God had begun to develop that in him as he sent him into the land to spy it out and then had the courage to be one of only two who challenged the people to take the land in spite of the obstacles. God was already prepared. He would need leadership qualities, but God has prepared him as Moses assistant to face the leadership challenges of the nation. He would need military experience and God's prepared him for that. Quite possibly Joshua was trained as a military leader in Egypt. And that may be the reason why Moses entrusted military leadership to him in the wilderness. The first battle they ever faced was actually the 17 with Amalek. Joshua was leading the army and he leads the army through the rest of the wilderness battles. God has prepared him. He's ready. Face the reality of the challenge. I prepared you for this. You're ready for this is what the message is to Joshua. So whatever you're facing, whatever however strong your doubts are that you can face that challenge. Face it clearly. Don't dodge it. Don't try to go around. Don't deny it. Just face it and believe that God has prepared you for that. He would not have you here if he had not prepared you for that challenge. One of my favorite movies through the years has been the movie Hoosiers. I love that movie partly because we lived for nine years in Indiana and we understand high school basketball in Indiana. It's like a god in Indiana. Sad to say, but it is really, really fascinating to watch high school basketball in Indiana. Much more popular than college baller pro ball. In Indiana, it used to be up until a few years ago that all of the schools competed for the state championship. There were no divisions, you know, 3A2A, 1A. Everybody competed for the same championship. Little schools, big city schools from Indianapolis and all that. And the story of Hoosiers is based on the true story of the 1954 Milum High School basketball team, little farming community that had a basketball team that won the state championship. And on their way there played some big city schools to win that championship. It's fascinating story. In the movie, the coach of the Hickory High School that's called in the movie, basketball team from this little small farming town, they played a little cracker box gym and they come to the place where they're going to play the state championship game, Butler Fieldhouse, Butler University Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. And it's huge. It looks tavrnous to them. And they walk in and you can see his players are just standing there gawking and they're intimidated. They can see the fear rising in them. And the coach does something wonderful, very insightful and wise. He gets a couple of these players and he says, okay, come over here. Somebody stand here to foul line. It gets a tape measure. Tape from the foul line to the rim. Oh, that's the same distance as our gym back in Hickory. He gets a ladder, gets one of the guys up on it. Now measure from the edge of the rim down to the floor. Oh, 10 feet. That's exactly the same as our gym in Hickory. And the guys finally got it. No matter how big the seating capacity is, the floor is the same size. The bucket is the same size. All the dimensions are the same. We played on the same size court. Every game we played, we are ready for this. We are prepared for this. And they went on to win that championship game. God has prepared you for whatever challenge he has in front of you. He wouldn't have you there. If you were not ready to face it. So face the challenge honestly, believing that God has prepared you. Be encouraged by that. Then God gives another piece of advice and counsel to Joshua. Not only face the reality of the challenge, but Joshua trust in the promises of God. Trust in the promises of God. He's going to face a difficult challenge. The task that lies ahead of him will produce powerful enemies, fortified cities. There will be the task of getting food for all the Israelites as they go into the land because God is going to stop the miraculous provision of manna from heaven. So they're going to have to feed the whole nation. There's just incredible challenges ahead of them and the task ahead of them. So God gives him some promises to steal his soul against those challenges. Notice the reality of God's promises to him. God makes four promises to him. Verse 5, he says this, no one will be able to stand against you all the days of your life. That's the promise of his protection. No enemy you face will be able to stand against you all the days of your life. You're going to face a lot of interesting and strong foes. They will not be able to stand before you. I promise you that. I promise you my protection. A part of the difficulty of facing the challenges of life is that Satan has a way of throwing all of his forces at us, all of his strength. He's a very wily and strong foe. He and his demons can present some real challenges to us to cause us to doubt whether or not we can successfully navigate the difficulties of life. And God's made you some promises too. Couple of those in the New Testament Ephesians chapter 6 and verse 11, Al mentioned earlier when he was introducing his song, put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. No matter what the devil tries to do to intimidate you when you face a challenge, if you put on the armor of God, and that's a great study by the way, to go through the armor of God, and you'll find that it is based on the Roman armor of a Roman soldier, but it is symbolic of the different kinds of character qualities and ways that we protect ourselves spiritually, in our mind, our heart, our lifestyle, our walk, and other ways that we prepare ourselves by character qualities to stand against Satan. So if we put on the armor, he says, you'll stand. You can take your stand against the devil's schemes. In James chapter 4 and verse 7, James says, submit yourselves then to God. Resist the devil. He will flee from you. If you submit yourself to the Lord, then you can turn around and resist the devil and he will flee because you're going in God's strength with his armor, his power, his provision. God makes a promise to you that he will protect you as you face the challenges of life. Secondly, there's a promise of his presence who could gain at verse 5, middle of the verse, as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. And if the end of verse 9, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go. Moses is gone. And that might have been intimidating to Joshua, but God's not gone. God's still here. And who are we following? We're not following Moses. We're following God. You know, when all the props are knocked out from under us, everything we lean on and depend on for our security and comfort, when all that's knocked out from under us, God is still there. When everything that makes you feel like you've got your act together and you can handle stuff on your own, when all that's taken away from you, when all that's stripped away and all your props are moved away from under you, God is still there. He promises his presence and he makes that same promise to you. Hebrews chapter 13, favorite verses of many of you, I'm sure. Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have because God has said, never will I leave you, never will I forsake you. Just what he said to Joshua. So the writer of Hebrews goes on to conclude, so we say with confidence, the Lord is my helper. I will not be afraid. What can mere mortals do to me? What can anyone do to me in the face of the presence of my Lord that he is always with me? Understanding that he will never leave us, never forsake us. He's always with us leads us to courage. So he promises his protection. He promises his presence thirdly. He promises his power. Look again at verse five, end of the verse. Very end of the verse, he says, I will never leave you nor forsake you. He's already promised I'll be with you. That's his presence. But here he uses a different word. The word for leave has to do with growing weak. So basically, what God is saying is I will never grow weak as I am with you. I will never drop you. I will always be with you and I will never grow weak and sustaining you and upholding you and helping you. I'm sure Joshua felt weak. We all feel weak at times. Don't we? When we face challenges of life that we're not sure we can handle and we look at them and they seem so big and threatening and we feel weak and small in front of them. We all feel weak. Maybe you feel that way today. Ready to give up. God says, just lean on me and I will not drop you. I will not drop you. One of my favorite verses has always been Deuteronomy 33 in verse 27. I've gone back to that verse many times through the years. Deuteronomy 33 and verse 27 says this. So promise to Israel. Let's pull it up on the screen there so I can get it right in the NIV. Deuteronomy 33 verse 27. It's not there. Basically God says in that verse that underneath are the everlasting arms. Underneath are the everlasting arms. The eternal God is your refuge. Underneath are the everlasting arms. Isn't that a beautiful picture underneath are the everlasting arms. God's arms will never drop you because they are everlasting. They never tire. He will not drop you. I remember in December of 2008 when we got the phone call that our daughter Ruth had cancer. It was a gut kicking conversation. She had surgery on a mass in her back a few weeks earlier and they thought it was just a benign mass and come to find out it was a very rare form of bone cancer and it was just earth shattering for us to get that news. I was in the midst of planning a week-long master's class module at ABC and we had a guest lecturer for that module coming in Dr. Doug McLaughlin who was the pastor of a large church in Minneapolis and as he was having dinner with us one evening we were talking about Ruth and the challenges she was facing and he referenced this verse. I'll never forget one of the things he said about this verse in Deuteronomy. He said we may fall into the arms of God but we will never fall through them. You know sometimes you feel like your life is collapsing and you're falling. You may fall into his arms but you will never fall through them because his everlasting arms are always everlasting under underneath us and that's what he's saying here. I will never leave you for a second. I'll never drop you. I'll never grow weak in sustaining you in holding you up. He promises his power and then forth he promises his purpose. Look at verse 6. Be strong and courageous because you will lead these people to inherit the land. I swore to their ancestors to give them. I promised Abraham this land. I promised Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, all your ancestors. I promised this land. That's my purpose to give the nation this land. I will fulfill my purpose. I will carry out my purpose and my friend no matter what you're facing God will carry out this purpose in your life. He has a purpose and a plan for you and in general terms he tells us exactly what it is. In Romans 8 and verses 28 and 29 again favorite verses of many of you I'm sure and we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him who have been called according to his purpose. What is that purpose? What is the good that he's working toward in all things in our lives? Here it is verse 29 for God. Those God for new he also predestined this is the purpose the planning of that purpose and eternity past. What is the purpose to be conformed to the image of his son? The he the son Christ might be the first born among many brothers and sisters. You see God is developing us to be like Christ. That's his overall guiding controlling purpose for every believer's life. Now God's plan and purpose takes a different path for each of us but the overall goal of God's purpose for all of us is to be like Christ. To be conformed and shaped and molded into his image to be like him so no matter what God is doing in your life or allowing in your life right now no matter what challenge you may be facing God's purpose and bringing you to this point with that in front of you is to mold and shape you into the image of Christ. So he will accomplish that purpose. Trust him to do that. His purpose is great. Those are the promises of God. He promises you the same things. His protection, his presence, his power, his purpose. So what does that do to us? Well it steals our soul to meet the challenges that we face. The effect of God's promises is amazing. If you trust God's promises it will have an amazing effect on you. There are some commands along with these promises that God gives to Joshua and these commands basically are you trust my promises then be this. Be this. Don't do this. These commands are the result of trusting God's promises the effect of trusting God's promises. Notice therefore of them again the first one is be strong. Be strong. Verse six. He says be strong. Verse seven. He says be strong. Verse nine. He says be strong. You get the point? God wants Joshua to be strong. He says it three times. Be strong. And the Hebrew word literally means strength in the hands. So it has the idea of strength of grip that firm, confident, good grip secure having confidence as you approach the challenge in your life that you're facing. You can do that with a strong hand with strength. Be strong. And then he says secondly be courageous. Again verse six. Verse seven. Verse nine. Actually in verse seven he says be strong and very courageous. Three times again he says be courageous. The idea here is to be bold. It has to do with strength in the legs. So firm grip, confidence, secure as you face whatever challenge it is but also the willingness to step confidently forward into it to not have knees shaking and an unwilling to take that step but to move forward with confidence and boldness courage. Be strong. Be courageous. And then thirdly he says do not be terrified. Look at verse nine. He says have not I commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid. And the word afraid is a strong word there. Terrify the word literally means to be overcome with sudden fear and awe at what you're facing. Literally to be overwhelmed by the circumstances and not knowing what to do. So a documentary recently of the crash of the United or the US Air flight from New York by Captain Sullenberg that was going to Charlotte and they crash landed on the Hudson River. Amazing story. I saw a documentary. I'd seen the movie on Sully but I saw the documentary on the people that were in the plane recently. Amazing stories of the folks who were on that plane. How they came to be on that plane. Some of them not supposed to be there. And of course everybody lived and so here's a plane crash where everybody's able to tell the story of what they were feeling as they were going down. It's an amazing story. And so they they tell all these stories of these people. There was one couple that had two children and they got separated on the flight. The father had a daughter toward the back of the flight and she had a baby up toward the front. And the father who had the daughter who in the plane hit the Hudson the tail started going into the water and water started coming in from the back. He was near the back of the plane. So the stewardess back there figured out what was going on and she's trying to push everybody forward. They'd gotten the doors. They merged the exits over the wings open and people were starting to get out. But people were trying to go to the back and she's trying to get them to move forward. He froze. He froze with fear. He's got this little girl in his arms. He's out in the aisle. People behind him are pushing to try to get around him and get through and he's just frozen. He's got this blank look on his face. And he said it was like he didn't even realize what was happening around him. He was paralyzed with fear. Eventually the stewardess got up there and just shoved him and he kind of came to and went on. But that's the kind of fear we're talking about here. To be overcome with the circumstances that you're in and to panic. To be paralyzed with fear. We do that sometimes when we're facing difficulties that we don't know how to handle. And what God is saying, if you will believe my promises, I will protect you. I am present with you. My powers with you. I have a purpose to work out in this. If you believe that and trust me, then you can overcome that paralyzing fear. Don't be terrified. So be strong. Be courageous. Don't be terrified. And then thirdly says, don't be discouraged. You see it there in verse 9? Do not be afraid. Do not be discouraged. For the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go. Do not be discouraged. The word means to be broken or shattered inside. It may be because of fear. Maybe because of panic. It may be because you're demoralized by a past defeat. And so you're so discouraged. You don't think you can pick yourself up and go again. Because look at me. I'll just fail again. I'll just make a mess in my life again. And so you're discouraged by that. It could be that that discouragement comes because of frustration. Frustration because of the circumstance you're in. You don't know why you should be there. And you don't think it's fair. And all of that can discourage you to the point that you're paralyzed and not able to do what God wants you to do. But if you trust his promises, you see, the effect of trusting his promises is you don't have to be discouraged. You can move forward and not let your past drag you down. It's all rooted in trusting God to keep his promises. You know what our problem is for the most part? I'm speaking of myself. Usually when I'm up here preaching to myself and I hope somebody else kind of experiences the same things I do. You know, my problem is most of the time my God is too small. I mean, he's not really that small. But I don't see him as big as he is because I don't really trust his promises. I don't really believe he'll do what he said he will do. And so I'm thinking my God is too small to face all these issues. There's a couple of verses in Psalms that I like to think about from time to time when I begin to think that God is small and not able to handle what I what I have in front of me. I love the way these verses paint such a beautiful picture of how big our God is. Psalm 113 verses 5 and 6, who is like the Lord our God, the one who sits and thrown on high. Who here it is, who stoops down to look on the heavens and the earth. Now one thing we've learned in recent years from the advances made in astronomy, especially with the Hubble telescope and others, is how huge our universe is. How unbelievably expansive our universe is. Even our galaxy and then the billions of galaxies beyond that, each of whom have billions of stars. It's just mind-blowing how big the universe is and God has to stoop down to find it. Where is it? Oh, there's the universe. That's how big God is. Now obviously he doesn't have to stoop down to find. He knows all things and it's all in his presence. But the picture is to help us understand how big our God is. He's that big. You can trust him. He can handle whatever you're facing. If you will trust his promises, you will live the effect of those promises. So what God is saying to us is we face incredible challenges like Joshua is face them square on, head on, eye to eye, face the reality of that challenge and then trust my promises. And then finally this one, strengthen yourself in the Word, strengthen your self through the Word of God. Now that can sound awful trite. Oh okay, we're going to get another lecture on New Year, start reading your Bible. The can sound awful trite, I know. But I'm not talking about the trite just okay. Just get to read in your Bible again. You know, you kind of fell on that last year. I know what I'm talking about. I'm talking about reading the Bible. Yes, but I'm talking about more than just trying to read for checking it off a checklist or I want to read a chapter of a day or a page of day or a Bible in a year. I want to get this plan going. If I miss a day, I'll make it up tomorrow and I'll go twice as fast to get it done. And I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about letting the Word of God soak into your soul. I'm talking about a commitment to let the Word of God reach deeply into your heart, into your life, into your mind of letting God really search you through his Word. I'm convinced we don't do a lot of that. And for that reason, we are left hollow on the inside and defenseless against the challenges that we face. We don't have the inner strength and fortitude. So here's what God tells Joshua. Look at it in verse seven. 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. Keep this book of the law always on your lips. 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. There's a lot in those two verses. Let me try to summarize it for you. He says three things basically about how to strengthen yourself through the Word. First of all, desire it. Desire the Word of God. You see in verse seven, those words, be careful. It's easy just kind of slide over that to the words and obey, be careful to obey. But the word careful here has to do with the attitude toward which we approach the word of God. It's an earnest, eager attitude. It's approaching the word of God with all your heart, with a desire and a delight in the word of God. It's the kind of heart and delight in the word of God that is described in Psalm 119. Let me just read a few verses. That great with just the 176 verse Psalm, all of verses talk about the Word of God. And so many times in that chapter, he talks about his eagerness, his delight, his desire to be in the Word. Let me just read a few for you. Verse 16, I delight in your decrees. I will not neglect your Word. Verse 20, my soul is consumed with longing for your laws at all times. Verse 24, your statutes are my delight. They are my counselors. Verse 35, directly in the path of your commands for there I find delight. Verse 40, how long for your precepts in your righteousness preserve my life. Verse 44, I will always obey your law forever and ever. Wow, do you go through that chapter and there's so many verses like that about how I love the Word. I delight. My soul is consumed with longing for the Word of God. How many of us really feel that way? That we really desire God's Word to be a part of our lives that much. You say, well John, how can I get there? How can I get to where I really want the Bible that much? Well, it's kind of like developing an appetite because here's what Jeremiah said about it. Jeremiah 15, verse 16, Jeremiah said, when your words came, I ate them. They were my joy and my hearts delight for I bear your name, Lord God Almighty. If you read that in the context, Jeremiah 15 is what what writers on Jeremiah call one of his confessions. The confessions of Jeremiah, several chapters in his book, he just pours out his heart and talks to God about how disgusted he is with the ministry and he wants to get out. And he faced a lot of opposition. And Jeremiah 15 is one of those chapters where he's wanting to quit. He's so discouraged. He wants to quit and he's telling God I've had enough. I want to quit. And then he says, your words came and I ate them. They were my joy in my hearts delight. He had developed an appetite for the word of God. It's kind of like developing an appetite for food. In order to develop an appetite for things you may not enjoy, you have to eat them. When I was a kid, there were lots of things I just didn't like to eat as most kids probably. I didn't, there were some fruits I didn't like. I didn't like pineapple. I didn't like watermelon. I didn't like any kind of melon. I just didn't like it. It didn't taste good to me. Now when I became an adult, I was placed in settings, particularly at wedding receptions, where you had to eat some stuff like that. And so I did it. I ate it. And my wife has always loved those things. And so I began to develop an appetite. I forced myself to eat it. And now, I like those things. I've developed an appetite for them. Now, I'll be the first to admit there's some things I've never developed an appetite for that I do not think God intended human beings to eat. Like Brussels sprouts. I don't think God never intended anybody to eat those foul smelling things. They're just rotten. And so there's some things I've never developed. But if you eat something, then you develop an appetite for it. So if you start eating the word of God, if you start reading it with the proper spirit and heart and asking God to give you something from his word to touch your heart and change your mind, you'll start finding yourself developing an appetite for the Bible. Desire it. Desire it. Then secondly, obey it. I don't need to say a whole lot there. I mean, he says in verse seven, be careful to obey all the law of Moses. Don't turn from it to the right or to the left. So there are no exceptions. It's not like we can choose what we want to obey. I think we understand obedience pretty well, or at least that we should be obeying the Bible. But the important thing here is we can't pick and choose. Obey all of it. Don't turn from the left to the right. Don't just say, okay, this sounds pretty good and pretty easy. I think I can do this. This fits me. I'll obey this. But when something goes against your grain, when something goes against your own fleshly desires, let's not read that part and let's not obey that part. Obey all of it, he says. All of it. So desire it. Obey it. And then he says ponder it. Ponder it. Verse eight, keep this book of the law always on your lips. Meditate on it day and night so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. That word meditate throws us. Doesn't it? We're so used to in our culture thinking of Eastern meditation, you know, sitting with your legs crossed and your hands on your knees and circles and chanting some mantra and thinking nothing. Meditating. But that's not. And that's kind of thrown us from the real meaning of the biblical word. Biblical meditation. The word actually is very interesting. The word has to do with a moon to moon like a dove or even it was used in the Old Testament of growling like a lion. It's kind of an unuttered, grown or sound. When it's used in connection with speech, it has to do with kind of speaking to yourself under your breath about whatever you're thinking. And it is used that way here because he says keep this book of the law always on your lips. Meditate on it day and night. So the idea here is to speak it. I think a good English word for what we're talking about is the word mutter. Do you do any muttering? I do. You know, you talked to yourself some John, why in the world did you do that? You weren't thinking you're so crazy. Why would that happen now? Do you talk to yourself that way? You mutter? Okay, I think all of us do. Some of you muttering ways that probably I couldn't repeat up here in the pulpit. Hopefully not, but some of you may. But we all kind of mutter to ourselves when things happen. What he's saying here is develop the kind of mindset that when you're looking at things in your life, you start muttering biblically. You start repeating verses of scripture or thoughts from the word about what's happening or how you're thinking about things. That's really meditation on the word. Meditating on the words not just sitting around in some position thinking nothing. It is thinking through life's challenges with the word of God. That's what meditation is. I believe one of the greatest American heroines was a woman by the name of Harriet Tubman. Harriet Tubman was born into slavery in the 1820s. Was actually nearly killed one time when her master hurled a metal object at her. She staged a daring escape in 1849 and then spent years rescuing hundreds out of slavery and leading them to safety. And that's what she's best known for. Her code name was Moses because she never lost anyone that she tried to get to freedom. During the Civil War, she became a secret agent for the Union Army. Actually went back into the South, a former slave, back into the South to spy on Confederate troop movements and report back to the unit of very courageous, heroic woman. She was also a devout follower of Christ. She spent a lot of time learning and memorizing and meditating on different scripture passages. You know what her favorite passage was? I was fascinated to read her story this week. Her favorite passage was Isaiah 163, hide the fugitives, do not betray the refugees. And she was always living that out and thinking that as she pondered different passages, she would turn them into prayers and as she told someone who wrote her biography and I quote, she said, I prayed all the time about my work everywhere. I was always talking to the Lord. When I went to the horse trough to wash my face and took up the water in my hands, I said, oh Lord, wash me, make me clean. When I took up the towel to wipe my face in hands, I cried, oh Lord, for Jesus sake, wipe away all my sins. When I took up the broom and began to sweep, I groaned, oh Lord, whatsoever sin there be in my heart, sweep it out, Lord, clear and clean. That's what we're talking about. That's exactly what the biblical idea of meditation is about, that we take what we learn from the Word of God and we mutter it all through the day. We talk to ourselves about what's happening through the lens and the perspective of the Word of God. That's biblical muttering. If you do that, if you desire it and then obey it and you meditate on it through the day and live it out and respond to situations, then yes, God will prosper you and make you successful. The Word for Successful here doesn't mean you have a big bank account. The Word