Jump

Last year my brother Joshua turned 13.  To commemorate the occasion, I wanted to leave him with a verse that really meant something.  So I did some research on Joshua’s biblical namesake.

The Biblical Joshua is such a fascinating figure.  He was Moses’ right-hand man, one of only two Israelite spies who didn’t doubt God’s promises, and thus one of the only people from his generation to make it to the promised land.  It’s easy to remember his incredible feats and faithful reliance on God, and forget about his human insecurities.  But I think it makes his story so much more powerful if we remember them. 

Joshua was not some super-Christian.  He wasn’t immune to the fears and failures that we all face every day.  In the book of Joshua, over and over again we hear God encouraging him, telling him to not be afraid, reminding him that his courage and strength should be found in God alone.  In fact, it could be said that before Joshua’s greatest feat – finally capturing Canaan for the Israelites after years and years of waiting – he faced his greatest fear.  God has spent a lifetime preparing Joshua for what he was about to do…and yet he was still afraid!

Fear, in itself, is neither abnormal nor unholy.  What matters is that you make the jump anyway.  True, abundant life is not found in the ride; it’s found in the jumps, the leaps of faith that we take that allow God to work uninhibited in us and through us.

Joshua 1:1-9

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 Mediterranean Sea in the west. 5 No one will be able to stand 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 ancestors 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 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. 9 Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.”