Walking into Victory
Joshua 3:4,5 “for ye have not passed this way heretofore. …Sanctify yourselves: for tomorrow the LORD will do wonders among you.”
REFLECTION: As we enter a New Year, I am reminded about the wonderful opportunities and challenges that await us. Opportunities for love and laughter, testing and tears, lessons and “blessings” and a thousand more beside. In Joshua 3 God gives the people directions through Joshua for crossing into the promised land. God records clearly the warning to pay attention and follow the Ark (Representing His Presence) because ...“Ye have not passed this way heretofore.”
DIRECTION: The previous generation in Israel took their eyes and hearts off of God and so couldn’t claim the inheritance that God had offered them. I fear that we may miss so very much of what God has planned for us if we don’t learn the lessons of the past. You see God wants only our best. He reminded Israel (and us) of this when He said: "For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end." (Jer 29:11)
The truth is that God has always had an “expected” or “desired end” in view for his people. Let’s pause on the ‘brink’ of this year as we recognize things that may keep us from focusing on God and receiving his “expected end”.
1. WE MAY MISS GOD’S DESIRES BECAUSE OF OUR DESIRES.
It’s amazing but true, that some are really not interested in what God wants for them. They have their life “planned out” and have not left much time or thought for God. Ancient Israel was plagued by the “Mixed Multitude” that “DESIRED” to go back to Egypt.
(Mat 6:24) "No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon."
Our Desires will distract us from God’s when they are based on:
A. FAITHLESSNESS
1) Some (Like the 2 1/2 tribes who wanted to stay on the wrong side of the river) have trouble letting go of their “best interests” and trusting God.
2) They can’t really trust God to take better care of them than they are able to do themselves.
B. FOLLY (Ultimately the root of faithlessness)
1) Unable to understand the value of God’s ways over our own.
(Prov 12:15) "The way of a fool is right in his own eyes: but he that hearkeneth unto counsel is wise." Right: yaw-shawr'--convenient,
(Prov 15:5) "A fool despiseth his father's instruction: but he that regardeth reproof is prudent."
(Prov 17:16) "Wherefore is there a price in the hand of a fool to get wisdom, seeing he hath no heart to it?"
C. FEAR (This is related to Faith as well as Folly.)
1) Some are afraid they will “Miss out” if they truly follow Christ.
(2 Pet 1:3) "According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue:"
(Prov 29:25) "The fear of man bringeth a snare: but whoso putteth his trust in the LORD shall be safe."
It is a wonderful truth to realize that God is far more interested in our genuine fulfillment than we are! He is also the ONLY ONE who knows exactly what will bring us lasting joy. We sometimes THINK that we know just what will do the trick, but how many of us have been disappointed by that toy or relationship that we felt would fulfill us? Yes many will miss God’s best opportunities because they are too wrapped up in their own desires and agendas.
2. WE MAY MISS GOD’S DESIRES BECAUSE OF OUR DISTRACTIONS.
Mk. 4:18-19 “And these are they which are sown among thorns; such as hear the word, And the cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other things entering in, choke the word, and it becometh unfruitful.”
These may come in the form of:
A. THE NATURAL “cares of this world. “
1) Family, Future, Fulfillment, Fun
B. THE REASONABLE “deceitfulness of riches”
1) Riches are deceitful because they “promise” what they cannot fulfill.
2) The desire to accumulate can soon overpowers us.
C. THE BEAUTIFUL “lusts of other things entering in.”
1) These are not defined for us. They may be anything that draws us away. (Power, etc)
2) Many of the religious people of Jesus’ day were so wrapped up in their own lives and goals that the missed who Jesus was. Jesus chided the scribes who were “professional” Bible students: John 5:39,40
The problem with Distractions is that many well meaning people get sidetracked by them. The truth is that we cannot focus on more than one thing at a time. That’s why Jesus said: “seek ye first the kingdom of God…” Mt. 6:33
3. WE MAY MISS GOD’S DESIRES BECAUSE OF OUR DISSAPPOINTMENTS.
A. YOU CAN’T FACE THE FUTURE WHILE FOCUSING ON THE PAST.
B. MANY HAVE TROUBLE MOVING AHEAD BECAUSE OF WHAT IS BEHIND THEM.
1) Unconfessed Sin: Confess and Forsake. (1 John 1:9; Pr. 28:13)
2) Unresolved Conflicts: Clear you Conscience and seek forgiveness. (Mat 18:15-17)
3) Past accomplishments that keep us from responding in the future.
“this is not your rest.” Micah 2:10
4) Past Disappointments may keep us from Forgiving God and Trusting Him in the future.
Paul wisely reminds us: "Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I oward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus." (Phil 3:13,14)
APPLICATION: Let’s enter into this New Year with our eyes and hearts open for the opportunities God has planned for us.
1. Is your Desire God’s Desire? (Ps. 37:4,5) “Delight thyself,… Commit thy way”
2. Have you become sidetracked by Distractions? (Mt. 6:33)
3. Have you become Distanced from God through Disappointments? (Phil. 3:13,14)
Another year is dawning; dear Father, let it be,
In working or in waiting, another year with thee.
Another year of progress, another year of praise,
Another year of proving, Thy presence all the days.
Another year of service, of witness for Thy love; A
nother year of training for holier work above.
Another year is dawning; dear Father, let it be,
on earth, or else in heaven, another year for Thee.
Frances Ridley Havergal (1836-1879)
DESIRES:
If a man could have half his wishes, he would double his troubles. Benjamin Franklin
Man finds it hard to get what he wants because he does not want the best; God finds it hard to give because he would give the best and man will not take it. George Macdonald (1824-1905)
A young woman quickly signed for a library book, the title page of which read:
HOW-- To Reach Men; To Hold Men; To Win Men A Practical Manual
When she got home and examined the fine print at the bottom of the page, she read: A Manual of Useful Information on How to Build a Men's Bible Class.
DISSAPPOINTMENTS:
Disappointments that come not by our own fault, they are the trials or corrections of heaven; and it is our own fault if they prove not to our advantage. William Penn (1644-1718)
Out of every disappointment there is treasure. Satan whispers, "All is lost." God says, "Much can be gained." Frances J. Roberts
There are no disappointments to those whose wills are buried in the will of God.
Frederick William Faber (1814-1863)
Too many people miss the silver lining because they're expecting gold. -- Maurice Scitter
Two paraplegics were in the news recently. One was Kenneth Wright, a high school football star and later, an avid wrestler, boxer, hunter, and skin diver. A broken neck sustained in a wrestling match in 1979 left him paralyzed from the chest down. He underwent therapy, and his doctors were hopeful that one day he would be able to walk with the help of braces and crutches. But, apparently, the former athlete could not reconcile himself to his physical disability. He prevailed upon two of his best friends to take him in his wheelchair to a wooded area, where they left him alone with a twelve-gauge shotgun. After they left, he held the shotgun to his abdomen and pulled the trigger. Kenneth Wright, twenty-four, committed suicide.
The second paraplegic in the news was Jim McGowan. Thirty years ago, at the age of nineteen, Jim was stabbed and left paralyzed from the middle of his chest down. He is now confined to a wheelchair. But he made the news recently when he made a successful parachute jump, landing on his target in the middle of Lake Wallenpaupack in the Poconos. Newspeople learned a number of things about Jim. He lives alone, cooks his meals, washes his clothes, and cleans his house. He drives himself in his specially equipped automobile. He has written three books, and he did the photography for our country's first book on the history of wheelchair sports.
Two men with handicaps: one chose life and the other one didn't. As Robert Frost wrote: "Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, and I took the one less traveled by--and that has made all the difference.
