The making of a man of God Exodus 17:8-14
Surprised to see an empty seat at the Super Bowl stadium, a diehard fan asked the woman sitting next to him who’s it was. “It was my husband’s,” the woman explained, “But he died.” “I’m very sorry,” said the man. “You know, I’m really surprised that a friend or relative didn’t jump at the chance to accompany you to the game and take advantage of the seat.” “Beats me,” she said. “They were all stuck on going to the funeral.”
“Then came Amalek, and fought with Israel in Rephidim. And Moses said unto Joshua, choose us out men, and go out, fight with Amalek: tomorrow I will stand on the top of the hill with the rod of God in mine hand. So Joshua did as Moses had said to him, and fought with Amalek: and Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill. And it came to pass, when Moses held up his hand, that Israel prevailed: and when he let down his hand, Amalek prevailed. But Moses’ hands were heavy; and they took a stone, and put it under him, and he sat thereon; and Aaron and Hur stayed up his hands, the one on the one side, and the other on the other side; and his hands were steady until the going down of the sun. And Joshua discomfited Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword. And the LORD said unto Moses, write this for a memorial in a book, and rehearse it in the ears of Joshua: for I will utterly put out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven.”
Someone once said, “The two things that will affect your life in the next five years are the people you meet and the books you read.” And along those lines I think that’s why God gave us so many biographical studies in the Bible. He wants all of us to read about and meet the people who can change our lives. And I also think the purpose of our meeting them is so we can learn scriptural truths from both them and their successes or failures.
I mean, God could have just given us a box of rules which would have been rather boring but He gave us real life examples of what happens when we either obey or ignore His word. And I believe Joshua is a great example of the struggles each of us face in living in a non-Christian world where everybody’s philosophy is to ignore God and do your own thing. I mean, not only do we have to struggle with the non-believing world but we also face persecution from half-hearted believers as well. And Joshua experienced all this too.
The life of Joshua can probably be divided into three stages. He was born in slavery in Egypt where he spent the first forty years, then he spent forty years as Moses assistant in the desert and then after Moses died he became the leader of the nation for about twenty-five years. And during his life he certainly had his share of ups and downs but overall he had led a consistent spiritual life.
I heard someone say that God’s people are in it for the long-haul because God is involved with us in a long-term discipleship and training program. In other words, He’s been working in us so He can work through us. And as we study the life of Joshua you can’t help but see that God who began a good work in him continued it through to the day of completion.
We really don’t have too much background on Joshua in terms of his family or what his life was like in Egypt but we do know that he was one of the two million Jews who were delivered from slavery by God through Moses. And according to 1 Chronicles 7:27 Joshua was the eldest son or the first born of his family. When we hear this we think; big deal, but it was a big deal. Remember the final plaque God sent against Egypt was the death of the firstborn. Many of us have probably seen the movie “The Ten Commandments” and we assume that the Egyptians experienced the death of thousands of their children but if you read the scriptures closely you’ll notice that God didn’t place an age limit on the first born, so, there may have been those in their forties or fifties who died that night.
And since it was the parents who were responsible for killing the lamb and sprinkling the blood over the door posts we can assume that Joshua had come from a family of believers. I mean, if he didn’t then he would have died with the Egyptians. So, the exodus from Egypt would have been a turning point in his life in more ways than one; it meant he was free from the influences of paganism, he no longer lived in the country he was born in and he was free to have dreams and aspirations that a slave could never have. And he would also be conscious of the fact that God had spared his life and that would have given him a whole new purpose for living.
So, what I want to do here, is to try to lay a foundation for our understanding of who Joshua is, by pointing out a few references to him prior to his assuming the leadership of the nation and the events or situations that led to his spiritual development. And in the next little while we’ll look in detail at the life of Joshua in the book of Joshua.
I The first and maybe the most difficult lesson Joshua had to learn was submission to authority.
I realize that this is something we all have to learn but we have to keep in mind that Joshua had been born in slavery and he would have had to be submissive to the Egyptians from the day he was born. And since he was born there I’m not so sure he would have spent his days wanting to be free since he had never experienced any kind of freedom. I mean, ever since he could remember he would have seen his father coming home exhausted after working all day for nothing and then when he was old enough he would have to go work beside him.
When I was a kid in Cape Breton I remember meeting a lot of older men who had started working in the coal mines when they were anywhere from ten to thirteen years old. They might have gone to school until grade two or three and then went to the mines and for them this was normal. So, both his life and that of his parents were marked by submission to the Egyptians and to a certain degree they probably came to accept slavery as their lot in life.
And the fact that he learned to be submissive was evident in other areas of his life. According to Numbers 11:28 we’re told he was an “attendant of Moses from his youth.” In other words, just as he had to serve the Egyptians he willingly served Moses because he was content to serve someone who was serving the Lord. And we’re told he did this for the next forty years.
We don’t know what being his attendant meant, it could mean that he cooked his food, did his laundry, ran his errands and did whatever Moses told him to do. Whatever he did, we also notice that his service in the menial things didn’t go unnoticed because later in life Moses would entrust him with several other important responsibilities.
So, Joshua learned submission in Egypt, he perfected it in his service to Moses and he displayed it in his relationship to God. And as someone said, “He was one of the few who ever mastered playing second fiddle.” Leonard Bernstein who was the conductor of the New York Philharmonic said, ’The hardest instrument in the orchestra is to play is second fiddle.” And I think it was Ronald Reagan who had a quote on his desk that said, “It is amazing how much you can accomplish when it doesn’t matter who gets the credit.” And Joshua didn’t seem to suffer because he wasn’t in the forefront.
Listen, the first lesson in leadership is always following because no one ever started out in life by leading and we also know that God never leads His people with someone who has a rebellious spirit. As 1 Samuel 15:23 says, “Rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft.” And God would no more bless a rebellious believer than He would a witch.
There are five kinds of leadership that are described in the New Testament and they are government, business, church, marriage and the family.
About government Romans 13:1 says, "Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God.” And here Paul is speaking about respect for authority and keep in mind these words were written at a time when there was no respect for any religion from the government.
And then in business Colossians 3:22 and 4:1 tells us, "Servants, obey in all things your masters according to the flesh; not with eye service, as men pleasers; but in singleness of heart, fearing God.” And then 4:1 says, “Masters, give unto your servants that which is just and equal; knowing that ye also have a Master in heaven." And even though this is talking about those who have no rights whatsoever it also applies to us who at times have more rights than our employers.
And then in the church 1 Peter 5:1-3 says, "The elders which are among you I exhort, who am also an elder, and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed: feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly; not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind; neither as being lords over God’s heritage, but being ensamples to the flock.” And here Peter is addressing those who are in charge of the church and he tells them not only how to do what they’re told to do but in doing it to be examples to the rest of us. And that means that we all have to follow the example they set.
And then we read about marriage in Colossians 3:18-19 where it says, “Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as it is fit in the Lord. Husbands, love your wives, and be not bitter against them." And there’s a two fold admonition here, the wife is to be in submission and the husband is to love her.
And then Ephesians 6:1-4 addresses the whole family where it says, "Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right. Honor thy father and mother; (which is the first commandment with promise; that it may be well with thee, and thou mayest live long on the earth. And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord." And here children are commanded to be obedient to their parents while the parents are commanded not to provoke them.
Parents can provoke their children by overprotecting them and that’s when you refuse to allow them to grow up and never trust them to do anything on their own. And then there’s the issue of being overindulgent, and studies have proven that children who are given too much freedom tend to feel insecure and unloved. And the other side of this is excessive discipline. And there are some parents who have the idea that if discipline is good for them then give them all you can. There’s got to be a balance and the balance comes from understanding what the scripture teaches.
And the amazing part of even mentioning any of these areas are the excuses you hear from Christians who’ll say, “Well, you don’t understand, our government is an unsaved institution” but as I said, so was Rome but Paul told the believers of his day to be in submission. Or there are those who’ll say, “Well, if you knew my boss you might have a different opinion.” And I’d say, if you can’t be in submission than do the right thing and quit. And then there’s the authority structure of the church and we have to remember that this is God’s church and all of us will account for our attitude. The deacons have to submit to the congregation and the congregation has to submit to the board. No one here is doing there own thing. In the area of wives submitting there’s also the idea of submitting one to another. So, it’s not just the husband acting like he’s King Kong or his wife taking control of everything. And in the book of Ephesians we see that just as the children are to be in submission to the parents we also see that the parents are responsible to God for how they run the home. And all of us have to remind ourselves that the goal of every form of leadership is to serve. And I believe the home is where all of us learn the basics of leadership.
So, Joshua started out in life by serving the Egyptians and then he spent his life by serving God.
II The second stage of Joshua’s growth was to learn to depend on prayer.
The passage I read in Exodus 17 describes the first time Joshua is mentioned in scripture. During the wilderness wanderings Israel had experienced a merciless and cowardly attack by the Amalekites. Their attack is described in Deuteronomy 25:17 and 18 where it says, “Remember what Amalek did unto thee by the way, when ye were come forth out of Egypt; how he met thee by the way, and smote the hindmost of thee, even all that were feeble behind thee, when thou wast faint and weary; and he feared not God.”
The writer is referring to the first time Amalek attacked them and he was merciless as he attached from the rear and tried to kill everyone who was sick or weak as they were trailing behind the rest of the Jews. And now, it was happening again. And yet, here, something unusual happens when Moses put Joshua in charge of the army and then he climbs a hill. And then we see that when Moses held up his hands the battle went in Joshua’s favor and when his arms were too tired to hold up any longer the battle went against them. And when it was obvious that Moses couldn’t do it alone Aaron and Hur sat him on a stone and held up his arms until the battle was won.
I can imagine Joshua’s down in the heat of battle and when the Amalekites started winning and he would look up and see Moses’ hands by his side and he’d probably yell at the top of his lungs, “Get your hands up, I can’t do this all by myself.”
And the whole concept of holding up Moses hands reminds us of prayer. One man is reaching out to God while the other’s doing the fighting. I remember hearing Harry Bollback at the Word of Life missions conference in New York one year and he told about how he and another missionary were caught in the middle of a battle between two warring tribes in the jungles of Brazil. And he said, for hours they were pinned to the ground with arrows whizzing back and forth over their heads. At one point Harry’s friend looked at him and said, “Well, it’s a good thing this is happening today.” And Harry said, “Why’s that?” And his friend said, “Because today is Wednesday, and the people back home are praying for us.”
I can also imagine there were a few men on the battlefield with Joshua who would look up at Moses and think, what a waste of time we’d be better off if he came down here and grabbed a sword rather than just standing there with his hands in the air. You see, there’s never any shortage of people with a bad attitude no matter what you’re doing or where you are.
Back when I first got saved I had a friend who was going to Bible College and he was called to pastor a little church north of Toronto for the summer months. He didn’t know it when he went there but most of the men on the deacon board weren’t saved and that certainly led to a few awkward meetings. He said at one point they didn’t know if they could meet the budget and so he said, “Maybe we should take some time and pray about this.” And one of the men threw his pencil on the table and said, “Brother, has it come to this?” But, that’s the flesh! And the flesh sees prayer as a last resort where those who are in the spirit recognize it as the first place to start.
So here we have a picture of Moses as the prayer warrior being backed up by Joshua who is down in the heat of battle. Joshua couldn’t win without the support of Moses and Moses prayer support wouldn’t have done any good if Joshua wasn’t willing to fight the battle. This tells me, God can’t bless what we don’t do. We’ve got to pray and we’ve got to work. And both prayer and work are useless without the other. It’s like we say, faith without works is dead, but listen, works without faith is just as dead. I like the old saying that goes, “Much prayer, much blessing and little prayer, little blessing.”
It’s interesting to see that the Bible never gives us a specific command for how much time we should spend in prayer. The closest it comes to is when it says, “Pray without ceasing.” And the reason I believe there’s no command given is, if there was then we’d see prayer as an obligation to put in “X” amount of time rather than the privilege and opportunity we have to communicate with the living God.
The fact is; we live in a world where people find themselves too busy to pray. And the word “busy” is actually an acronym for, listen to this, “Being under Satan’s yolk”. And when a lot of people tell you how busy they are they usually just want to boost their egos by letting you know how important they are. Or they’re being too busy may mean they don’t have time for you. The sad part is, in the midst of all their busyness many people have no time for the things that are most important.
So, we need to realize that prayer takes discipline and discipline involves doing what you need to do even when you don’t feel like doing it. I heard someone say that we always find a reason not to have time to pray. In the mornings we’re too sleepy, during the day we’re too busy, and at night we’re too tired.
Listen, we all need the discipline of making the time to talk to God anytime and anywhere. We don’t have to be kneeling by the side of our beds. In the Bible people are praying while they sitting, standing, laying down and every other position. You can pray when you’re working, washing the dishes, walking the dog or even when you’re listening to a message. (So, you see, coming here doesn’t have to be a total waste of time.)
Why do we pray? Listen to this, because prayer changes the mind of God. At one time God told Moses He was going to destroy all the people of Israel and start all over again and the scripture tells us that Moses prayed and God changed His mind. Isaiah came before King Hezekiah with a message from God that he would die but then it says that Hezekiah began to pray and the scriptures says that God changed his mind and extended his life for fifteen years. Listen, prayer can change the mind of God. Don’t listen to those theological idiots that tell you God has everything fixed in the universe because the scripture says God listens and acts according to what we say. Never underestimate the power we have in prayer.
I’m always amazed that the Creator of the universe invites us to come before His throne and share whatever is on our hearts. He’s never too busy and it’s never inconvenient for us to be there, He just wants to hear our voice. And I understand that. I call my daughter in Ontario not to find out about her health or her grades but just because I want to talk to her. So, listen, is it asking too much for us to talk to God?
As we study the lives of believers who were used by God through the ages one thing is common. Each of them had made spending time with God a priority in their lives. A hundred years ago a man by the name of C.J. Vaughn said, “If I wished to humble anyone, I should question him about his prayers. I know nothing to compare with the topic for its sorrowful confessions.” Listen, Joshua was used of God because he learned the secret of spending time in His presence.
So, we see Joshua had the proper attitude toward authority and then he had the proper attitude toward prayer. And then:
III The third stage of Joshua’s development came from him having a vision of how great God is.
In Exodus 24 it says when Moses was called by God to come to the top of Mount Sinai for forty days he was accompanied by Aaron and seventy of the elders of the nation and Joshua was one of these seventy. And then after they had a distant vision of God’s glory, it says the seventy remained behind while Moses and Joshua went further up the mountain. Then we’re told that Joshua spent six days there with Moses and then God called Moses to come closer by himself but left Joshua alone for forty days.
Now listen, he had forty days to spend there all by himself and what do you think he did? I think he focused on who God is and God burned into his heart a sense of His holiness.
Later, in Exodus 33 we see he was serving in the tabernacle with Moses when the pillar of the cloud descended and God spoke to Moses face to face. And even though Joshua wasn’t allowed to be part of these meetings the scriptures say, “Joshua the son of Nun, a young man would not depart from the tent.” In other words, he wanted to spend time close to the presence of God. No one had to convince him he had to be there because that’s where he wanted to be.
IV And then the fourth stage of his development was the test of his loyalty to God.
It’s one thing to stand for God when the unbelievers are against you but what do you do when the believers are? In Numbers 13 and 14 we have the story of those who were sent to spy out the land. And here Moses chose 12 men and he picked one from each tribe. They went as they were told but when they came back they all said the land was absolutely phenomenal but ten of them said the land was unconquerable. They said, it was full of giants and compared to these guys we all look like grasshoppers. All they could see were the obstacles. They might as well have said, “We’re nothing and God’s useless because the situation is hopeless.
But two of the twelve were Joshua and Caleb and listen to what they had to say. It’s in Numbers 14:6-9. “And Joshua the son of Nun, and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, which were of them that searched the land, rent their clothes: and they spake unto all the company of the children of Israel, saying, the land, which we passed through to search it, is an exceeding good land. (And then listen to this.) If the LORD delight in us, then He will bring us into this land, and give it us; a land which floweth with milk and honey. Only rebel not ye against the LORD, neither fear ye the people of the land; for they are bread for us: their defense is departed from them, and the LORD is with us: fear them not.”
Listen to them, they said, “They’re bread for us.” Maybe that’s where we get the expression, “It’s a piece of cake.” They were saying, don’t worry about how big these guys are but keep in mind how big your God is.
Joshua and Caleb were passionate about taking that land and it says that both of them tore their clothes when no one else wanted to go into the Promise Land. Tearing the clothes was symbolic of great grief and sorrow. And not only were these two upset about the situation but we see that Israel paid a 40 year price for not trusting God. And the interesting part is, nowhere do we see Joshua grumbling, complaining or creating trouble among the people.
So, we have two groups looking at the same situation and one of them responds in fear while the other in faith. And rather than being inspired or persuaded by Joshua and Caleb’s speech verse 10 says, “The congregation wanted to stone them to death.”
I was thinking about this the other night and I wondered what it was like when some of you were involved in the planning stages of building this building. Were there some here who balked at the idea of spending so much money and getting so far in debt? I’m sure there because there always is but thank God there were a few of you who had a vision for what God could do.
Well, I think this was one of the lowest points in Joshua’s life. He knew that God wanted them to go in and possess the land. He knew that God was able to give it to them and he wanted to do the will of God. He wanted to glorify Him and receive all the blessings that He wanted to give. And the people’s unbelief gave way to fear and the very ones he had laid his life on the line in battle wanted to kill him for doing the will of God. I think from an emotional standpoint it would be a lot tougher dealing with the opposition of the Israelites than having to deal with the Amalekites. At least you understood where the Amalekites were coming from.
Listen, Joshua had to learn some tough lessons. He learned submission to authority, dependence on prayer, and then his vision of God taught him about the greatness of God while the rebellion of the people taught him that right was right even if no one else is doing it. And now that he learned all this, he was ready to take the leadership of the nation.
V And finally, we see his commissioning.
It’s in Numbers 27:18-20. “And the LORD said unto Moses, take thee Joshua the son of Nun, a man in whom is the spirit, and lay thine hand upon him; and set him before Eleazar the priest, and before all the congregation; and give him a charge in their sight. And thou shalt put some of thine honor upon him, that all the congregation of the children of Israel may be obedient.”
There are difficult things that happen in all our lives and sometimes we say to ourselves, “Someday, I’ll show them, someday they’ll be sorry.” And if Joshua ever felt that way about those who wanted to get rid of him he certainly didn’t show it at his commissioning. And maybe that was because all those who had rebelled against God back then, were dead. He and Caleb were the only two of the Israelites over the age of twenty from the time of the rebellion that entered the promised land.
And then we see that just before he died God commanded Moses to publicly ordain Joshua to take his place, so the Israelites would be obedient to him. And his main qualification for leadership was the presence of the Spirit of God. He was chosen by God Himself.
W. E. Sangster was a great Methodist preacher during the World War II and here’s something he wrote about the call of God on his life. It was found in his papers after his death. He said,
“This is the will of God for me. I did not chose it. I sought to escape it. But it has come. Something else has come too. A sense of certainty that God does not want me only for a preacher. He wants me also for a leader, a leader in Methodism.
I feel a commissioning to work under God for the revival of this branch of His church; careless of my own reputation; indifferent to the comments of older and jealous men. I am 36. If I am to serve God in this way, I must no longer shrink from the task but do it.
I have examined my heart for ambition. I am certain it is not there. I hate the criticism I shall invoke and the painful chatter of people. Obscurity, quiet browsing among books and the service of simple people is my taste – but, by the will of God, this is my task. God help me.”
This wasn’t written to make people think better of him but he was just thinking on paper.
I’ve read a few books on Joshua’s life that give the impression that we can learn from him the ten steps to maturity and as we study his life I’m sure we could come up with such a list. The problem is; the process of maturity took place over a period of 80 years. The first forty years he was learning submission from his life of slavery, the next forty years he was learning to serve in spite of the fact that as second fiddle his service often went unnoticed and when it was it was probably not appreciated. And when he was eighty Moses was told by God to ordain him to serve as the leader of Israel.
Listen, he was doing God’s will when he was working as a slave, when he was washing Moses clothes, when he leading the army and when he was the head of the nation. He didn’t need a title, all he needed was to know the will of God and then he did it.
Conclusion
I see several lessons we can learn from God’s preparation of Joshua.
1. Joshua learned that God gives authority to those who respect authority. I believe God loves servants because at heart God Himself is a servant. Listen, Jesus said in Matthew 11:28-30. "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart; and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light." If we’re acting proud and cocky then we’re acting like we’re better than God.
2. Joshua also learned from Moses who stretched out his arms over a battlefield that all our efforts are useless without prayer. And as he prayed he saw the power of God. And by God’s power the Jordon River was separated, by God’s strength the walls of Jericho fell down and by God’s wisdom Joshua had the strategies to defeat his enemies and lead the people.
3. Joshua’s time spent in the presence of God prepared him for the time he would spend in front of the people. This tells us that maturity in the things of God takes both time and discipline. There was a couple of articles on the internet about children who were preachers. One of them was about six and the other was eleven. I watched a few minutes of both and these little guys were really good when it came to preaching but I also noticed that both of them were under the constant eye of one of their parents and that told me who really was in control.
The fact is, anybody can preach but the only message that’s ever going to change lives comes from a heart that’s been changed. And here we can see that Joshua’s time in the presence of God laid the foundation for what he would say and do with the people he was called to lead.
4. Joshua’s experience as a spy for the nation of Israel taught him two things. Number one is, the majority isn’t always right and number two is, all of your enemies are not always Amalekites. In other words, just because your right doesn’t mean you’ll always be popular.
5. Moses death showed Joshua that no one is ever indispensable. I like how Tony Campolo put it when he said, "If you ever start to feel proud, just remember that soon after your body has been lowered into the grave, your family & friends will be eating potato salad & telling jokes, & you’ll be history."
Each of the lessons Joshua learned prepared him for the next one. And all of us are constantly learning and if we aren’t learning then we’re already dead. It just means that we forgot to lay down.
Chuck Swindoll tells this story in one of his books...
An Indian brave found an egg that had been laid by an eagle. Not being able to return the egg to an eagle’s nest, the next best thing to do was to put it in the nest of a prairie chicken. The result was predictable. The hen sat on this eagle’s egg, along with her own eggs, not noticing anything very different because of one additional egg. By and by the little eaglet was hatched alongside the prairie chickens.
All his life, the young eagle, thinking he was a prairie chicken, did what the prairie chickens do. He scratched in the dirt for seeds and insects to eat. He clucked and cackled. And he flew in a brief thrashing of wings and flurry of feathers no more than a few feet off the ground because that’s how prairie chickens were supposed to fly.
Years passed. And the young eagle grew to be a very old bird. One day, he saw a magnificent shape far above him in the cloudless sky. Hanging with graceful majesty on the powerful wind currents, it soared with scarcely a beat of its strong golden wings. "What a beautiful bird!" said the...eagle to a neighboring prairie chicken. "What is it?"
"That’s an eagle--the chief of the birds," the neighbor clucked. "But don’t give it a second thought. You could never be like him." So the misplaced eagle never gave it another thought. And it died thinking it was a prairie chicken.
I think all us can do a lot more than we’re doing, we’ve got to ask God what He wants us to do, and then do it.
