FACING THE FUTURE
Years ago there was a TV program I was reminded of the other day called "Early Edition." I only saw it once or twice but if I remember the basic storyline centered around a young man who was given tomorrow’s newspaper today. In other words, he was able to know what was going to happen a day before it actually happened. Now let me ask you. If you were able to know what was going to happen before it happened, how would you use that knowledge? Would you use it to get rich? If you knew the stock market or tomorrows lottery ticket numbers would you use that information just to make money? Would you use it to help those in need? If you knew that someone was going to be in trouble or would die would you rush to help them? What would you do if you knew what was would happen tomorrow?
Human beings have an unquenchable thirst to know about the future. We will do anything to find out what’s going to happen next. People will pay good money for palm reading, fortune telling, tea leaves, fortune cookies, crystal balls, astrology. None of this stuff works. Predicting the future is big business. Books like Megatrends and Megatrends 2000 are best sellers. Many magazines seek to forecast the future – economically and culturally.
Eccl 8:7 Since no man knows the future, who can tell him what is to come?
Years ago Naomi and I were travelling on the 401 and I lost control of the car on the icy highway. It was a terrible feeling – we were completely out of control. Sometimes it seems the future is like that – you feel like you are out of control and unable to deal with what will happen next. Nobody knows what the future holds except God. What does He say about the future? To Face the Future there are 3 things that you should NOT do:
a. DON’T PRESUME ABOUT TOMORROW!
Prov. 27:1 Do not boast about tomorrow, for you don’t know what a day may bring forth.
You can’t brag about what you’re going to do next year, you don’t even know if you’re going to have tomorrow. Remember the man Jesus talked about in Luke 12:18 who said to himself "You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry". Each of us are only a heartbeat away from eternity.
b. DON’T PANIC ABOUT TOMORROW!
Matthew 6:34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself
Live one day at a time. Worry is an attempt to control the future and it doesn’t work. Worrying is stewing without doing. It is living tomorrow before it comes. The future doesn’t come to us all at once but in bite sized, 24 hour segments called days. We are to live one day at a time. You can plan for the future, but you can’t live there. You can only live today. Yard by yard, life is hard, but inch by inch life’s a cinch.
c. DON’T PROCRASTINATE ABOUT TOMORROW!
Eccl. 11:4 Whoever watches the wind will not plant; whoever looks at the clouds will not reap!
What has God told you to do this year that you haven’t done yet? The year is almost over! Do it now! Don’t wait! Perfectionism is often the root of most procrastination. You set such a high standard that you never get started.
Procrastination is my sin, it only brings me sorrow
I know I ought to change my life, In fact I will -- tomorrow
These three are the wrong way to face the future. What does God say is the right way to face the future? In Joshua 1 God is about too lead Israel into a very uncertain future. Joshua knows that the moment he leads them across the Jordan river he’s going to face many enemy nations, all of them bigger than him. They will be in a continuous battle for the next several years. Facing this very uncertain future, God’s pep talk to Joshua is clear:
Josh 1:1 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." 10 So Joshua ordered the officers of the people: 11 "Go through the camp and tell the people, `Get your supplies ready. Three days from now you will cross the Jordan here to go in and take possession of the land the LORD your God is giving you for your own.’"
How do we face the future with courage? If you don’t know what the future holds remember that you do know the One who holds the future. To face the future you must do 3 things:
1. SET UP A PLAN – VS 1-6
God plans, He doesn’t just do things spontaneously, He has a plan. Likewise, you must learn to plan. Some people think they can just move through life passively, drift through it, and whatever God wants is fine. God says you ought to plan. He told Joshua:
"…get ready to cross the Jordan River into the land I am about to give …"
God had a plan – He knew what He was about to do. A survey done a while back discovered that 27% of all the people in America have never given any thought to the future. 60% of people give some thought - usually about finances. 10% have given serious thought to the future – these are the high achievers. However, only 3% of the population has written down goals. They are the super achievers. Those with written goals outperformed High Achievers 10 to 1.
Successful people set up a plan. They get ready and make the most of their time and life and energy. Do you do that or do you just drift through life?
God starts here by saying to Joshua "Moses my servant is dead". One of the ways you prepare for the future is by letting go of the past. Joshua and Moses had been close, they had been together for years. But this was a new day. Moses was dead but God wasn’t dead and He had a plan for his children.
I heard about a youth pastor that had taken over a very successful youth ministry from the previous youth pastor. At his first youth meeting he held a memorial service for the previous ministry. It was his way of saying that the past, as wonderful as it had been, was over. It was time for a fresh start.
Sometimes we have to let go of the past in order to possess the future. Maybe there’s been a death and you’re still holding on to that. Somebody walked out of your life or something happened and you are still living in yesterday. God says to let go of the past. Moses is dead – but God still has a plan for your life. So how do you know your plans are God’s plans?
Prov 20:18 Make plans by seeking advice; if you wage war, obtain guidance.
2. STAY IN THE WORD – VS 7-9
Guidance is essential. Guidance from other Christians is wise in setting up a plan but ultimately our guidance must be from God. God says to Joshua "Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left". In other words don’t get sidetracked. A lot of people start off with a plan but then they get sidetracked.
1 Tim 1:3 As I urged you when I went into Macedonia, stay there in Ephesus so that you may command certain men not to teach false doctrines any longer 4 nor to devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies. These promote controversies rather than God’s work -- which is by faith.
It was the final hole of the 1961 Masters tournament, and golf legend Arnold Palmer had a one-stroke lead and had just hit a very satisfying tee shot. He felt he was in pretty good shape. As he approached his ball, he saw an old friend standing at the edge of the gallery. The friend motioned him over, stuck out his hand and said “Congratulations.” Arnold later said, “I took his hand and shook it, but as soon as I did, I knew I had lost my focus.” On his next two shots, he hit the ball into a sand trap, then put it over the edge of the green. He missed the putt and lost the Master’s because he had first lost his focus.
Arnold Palmer was not on that golf course that day to renew old acquaintances. He was not there to accept congratulations. He was there for one purpose and one purpose only -- to put the ball in the hole. We are here for one purpose and one purpose only -- to live for the Lord. If we live, we live for the Lord. If we die, we die for the Lord. And if we ever lose focus on that purpose then we, like Arnold Palmer, are in serious trouble.
Why do some people who start out so good in the Christian life get sidetracked? They didn’t stay in the Bible every day. Like steering a car we need constant guidance. Coming to church every week is good but not enough. That’s like eating one meal a week. It is not healthy to fast six days and then on the seventh day pig out. You’d have spiritual indigestion! You need to read the Bible everyday. Set up a plan and stay in the word or you’re going to get sidetracked.
God says "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".
a. Don’t let it depart from your mouth - in other words talk about it. Get into a small group so you can discuss what the verses mean and how they apply to your life. If you’re not in a small group who do you talk about the Bible with? If you don’t talk about it with anybody, you’re probably not getting the real truths of it for your life. You need to talk about it with people.
b. Meditate on it day and night - that means seriously think about it. Meditation means thought digestion – rolling it around in your mind. If you know how to worry, you already know how to meditate. Worry is negative meditation. When you get a verse of the Bible and think about it over and over you begin to understand it and it becomes more meaningful in your life.
c. Do it - practice what it says. Be a living Bible. Someone once said that "A Bible that is coming apart is usually owned by somebody that’s not." This book will keep you from sin or sin will keep you from this book.
Maybe you are saying "I’m too busy to study the Bible daily". Joshua was leading a couple million people, but he made time to set out plans and stay in the word every day.
Prov 16:1 To man belong the plans of the heart, but from the LORD comes the reply of the tongue.
This means that it is good to plan but God always has the last word. You always want to get the last word from God before you go make the decision. if you’re not reading the Bible everyday and thinking about it, meditating on it and talking about it, you might miss that word.
3. STEP OUT IN FAITH – VS 10-11
God told Joshua three times in this chapter to be strong and courageous. Joshua stepped out and ordered the people "Get your supplies ready. Three days from now you will cross the Jordan".
Faith is not just believing something, mental assent. Faith is action. You can believe a plane is safe to fly, but you don’t have faith in it unless you get on board. You can know all about parachutes but faith is jumping out of the plane with one!
Hope is hearing the melody of the future. Faith is to dance to it. -- Rubem Alves
Joshua 1:9 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.
There are 2 things the devil will throw against you when you try to step out in faith. They are fear and discouragement. Fear keeps you from getting started. Discouragement keeps you from finishing -- you get going but then want to give up. Both of these are tools of the devil. He will try to get you to miss God’s best for you in the future.
Don’t be afraid. Courage is not the absence of fear but the ability to move ahead in spite of your fear. If you’re not afraid then you don’t need courage. To get rid of fear you move against it. You do the thing you fear the most.
As a kid I remember not liking coming home to a dark house. After all, couldn’t there be someone hiding in there ready to kill me? I remember coming home one night. I was afraid to go into the house. I remember thinking that fear was silly so I walked through the entire house in the dark taunting the monsters hiding there to come and get me. Nothing happened. I faced the fear and it went away.
According to most studies, people’s number one fear is public speaking. Number two is death. Does that seem right to you? That means that to the average person, if you have to go to a funeral, you’re better off in the casket than doing the message?
It is fear that keeps you in the desert. The actual number of days it would have taken to walk from Egypt to the Jordan river was just a couple of weeks. However, it had taken them 40 years! It was fear and lack of faith that had kept them wandering around in the desert. Now finally they were ready to face their fears.
Joshua 3:13 And as soon as the priests who carry the ark of the LORD -- the Lord of all the earth -- set foot in the Jordan, its waters flowing downstream will be cut off and stand up in a heap."
At this point the Jordan river was at flood stage. Usually it was just a big creek but now it was a raging river. Stepping into that swollen river would have taken faith. Add to this the fact that the water did not immediately stop flowing. Look at what the Bible says:
Joshua 3:16 the water from upstream stopped flowing. It piled up in a heap a great distance away, at a town called Adam in the vicinity of Zarethan
Seventeen miles north, up the Jordan river, God dammed up the water. The moment they stepped in, He dammed it up. But all the water 17 miles down had to rush out first. They didn’t know He had stopped it up immediately. It took some time for that to flow down and for the water to go down.
What’s the point? The first step is always the hardest. That’s the step that requires the most faith. God says, "You lay it on the line and watch Me bail you out!" What is your Jordan river? What is it that looks insurmountable, impossible? Something you can’t face financially, physically, health-wise, relationally, emotionally, spiritually? What is your Jordan River? Where do you need to step out in faith? What is it that’s keeping you in the desert?
The second thing is discouragement. Joshua would face many victories as well as defeats along the way. Crossing the Jordan was the easy part. Now Israel would be at war with several different nations for a number of years. They would grow tired of the struggle. I am sure in the future you will face some discouragement as well, we all do.
How do you deal with discouragement? When you want to quit in the middle of a race what keeps you running? You remember the finish line.
Perhaps God wants to say to you this morning "Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go".
Ruthanna Metzgar was a professional singer who was invited to sing at the wedding of a very wealthy man. The wedding and reception was on the top 2 floors of Seattle’s Columbia tower. She and her husband Roy were excited about attending. After the wedding the guest headed up a set of stairs to the hall where the reception would be. At the door was a man greeting people and checking to see if their name was on the guest list. When she arrived at the door she announced her name and the man said he could not find her on the list. "But I just sang at the wedding" she replied. The man looked again and said "I’m sorry but if your name is not on the list you can’t get into this reception. A waiter came and escorted the couple past the tables full of food, ice sculptures and delicious deserts to a service elevator and then pressed the G for parking garage. On the way home the husband asked what had happened and she said "when the invitation came by mail I was busy and forgot to send back the RSVP. I just figured that since I was singing at the wedding I could go to the reception".
I can’t control the future, but God can. I don’t have to procrastinate, presume, or panic.
Set up a plan - what do I want and what does God want me to do with my life? Pray about it. Stay in the word - get directions on a daily basis for God’s plan. Give Him the last word. Step out in faith - when you come up on insurmountable problem watch God part the waters in front of you. God holds your future. Face it in faith – be strong and courageous!
Often discouragement comes from others around us who tell us we will fail or remind us of past weaknesses. Roosevelt said this about discouragement: "It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doers of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, and comes short again and again because there is no effort without error and shortcomings; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat."
