Joshua 24:1-24: Thanks A lot. I Trust You.

Presented to The Salvation Army's Alberni Valley Ministries, 10 February 2018 by Michael Ramsay

  

I recently read an interview with David Suzuki where he was asked –among other things- about political reform; how to give power to the people rather than politicians and their parties. He had what I thought was a very interesting answer. He said, ‘The solution to me is we need a system where politicians are drawn from a hat, the same way we need to set up our juries.' It has some merit. The word ‘democracy’ from the Greek roots ‘power’ and ‘people’ has come to mean ‘power to the people’ and way of drawing lots for political representation would give power to the people rather than the political parties. And actually, now that I remember it, that is the way that the first Greek democracies actually did operate, through the casting of lots. I thought it was very interesting that I read this while we have been studying Joshua.

 It reminded me of the way government was run in the Book and the time of Joshua in the Bible and throughout the Old Testament at least until the time of King David.

Susan, last week, spoke about the allotment of the land in Joshua. Much of that was shown by casting lots. When we read about Achan in Bible study on Tuesday and the way his tribe, clan, family, and self was revealed to have disobeyed God was through the casting of lots.

In the Bible lots aren’t cast to give power to the people as David Suzuki suggested; lots are cast to discern the will of God. In the New Testament, even God’s choice of Matthias, the disciple to replace Judas, is revealed through the casting of lots.

Probably the most famous lots in the Bible actually have names? Do we know what they are called? Urim and Thummim. These were kept in the High Priest’s ephod? We don’t know exactly how these worked but we do know that that is often how they would seek God’s direction. The people would consecrate themselves, intentionally avoid ‘bad’ or various non-holy things; pray and ask God what to do. They would then wait for His answer to be revealed through the casting of these lots. God did reserve the right not to answer them too, like was the case with King Saul before he went to a medium and other times. But when they approached the Lord in a sincere, holy and pure manner that was one way in which the Lord answered them.

As we know, there are a few basic themes in the Bible that the different authors, books, letters/epistles, etc. keep coming back to over and over again over years, decades, centuries, millennia, and varied geography, location, and situation. One of these basic themes is that we should put our trust in God rather than in ourselves or anyone or anything else.

Those of us who have been coming to Bible study have noticed quite a few similarities between what God did for Joshua and what God did with Moses. One of the most dramatic examples was probably the parting of the Red Sea (or the Sea of Reeds) and then the parting of the Jordan River. God parted to Jordan River to show that He could be trusted to take care of them in the same way He parted the Red Sea when it seemed like there was no way out. Like the people under Moses could trust God so could the people with Joshua.

This idea that we don’t need to turn to ourselves to solve our problems but that we can actually rely on God comes up again and again in both Moses’ and Joshua’s stories and even continues on as a central theme in the book of Judges, the next book in our Bible. Who do we trust? Do we trust God or do we trust ourselves? That is the choice set before us in our text today.

Again we can think of Moses at the edge of the Promised Land when the spies come back reporting on the land – the vast majority of the spies are terrified of the inhabitants of the land. There is now a choice to make. The people must decide whether to follow God into the Promised Land or whether to listen to the majority of the spies and the people not follow God. It is a very long story with many twists and turns but the Coles Notes version is this: The people choose not to follow God into the Promised Land but instead they actually try to invade it without following God and without God’s help and even eventually against His will. This did not go very well. Even if we are doing something that God wants done, if we do it without Him and against Him it will not succeed because He loves us and He wants to be with us. Christianity isn’t a set of rules or a ‘to do list’ it is a deferential relationship to and with our Lord. We can trust Him; we should trust Him, he loves us and can see us through the storms of life.

For those of us who have been reading through Joshua together, this should remind us of Ai. Susan preached on this a couple of weeks ago. That first assault on that very small foe ended in a heart-melting defeat because the people were attacking the city all on their own, without consulting (and even disobeying) God.

It is only when they consecrated themselves and came before the Lord seeking His direction and guidance that they took the city of Ai. And we see this played out over and over again in the Bible and in Joshua. And we see this played out over and over again in our world and in our lives. When we try to do things on our own, when we try to (as the refrain in the book of Judges says) ‘do what is right in our own eyes’, when we put our trust in the wisdom and ability of ourselves or anyone else but God, it does not work out well.

Conversely when we trust in the Lord, we will not be disappointed. The Lord is trustworthy. The Lord will take care of us. I handed out some verses to people in the congregation; I will ask you to read them out now:

• ·         Psalm 20:7: Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the LORD our God.
• ·         Psalm 31:14: But I trust in you, LORD; I say, “You are my God.”
• ·         Psalm 56:3: When I am afraid, I put my trust in You.
• ·         Psalm 84:12: LORD Almighty, blessed is the one who trusts in you.
• ·         Proverbs 3:5-6: Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to Him, and He will make your paths straight.
• ·         Proverbs 28:26: Those who trust in themselves are fools, but those who walk in wisdom are kept safe.
• ·         Proverbs 11:28: Those who trust in their riches will fall, but the righteous will thrive like a green leaf.
• ·         Psalm 121:1-2: I lift up my eyes to the mountains— where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth.

Ecclesiastes 9:11 “…The race is not to the swift or the battle to the strong, nor does food come to the wise or wealth to the brilliant or favor to the learned…” for, 1 Samuel 17:47, “…the Battle belongs to the Lord”, Luke 1:37, "For nothing will be impossible with God", Matthew 19:26, “…with God all things are possible.”

We can trust the Lord. He is with us in the very midst of our struggles just like He was with the Israelites in and out of Egypt and into the Promised Land and beyond.

This week, I have had the chance to pray with and anoint a friend who was being tortured with some terrible dreams. The Lord is with her and He can and is delivering her from and through this. We can trust Him.

This week, a friend of mine called me frustrated by life, closemindedness in the world and society, and looking for some escape from the struggles all around and searching for meaning. We talked about how as we seek first God all else that we actually need will be added unto us – Matthew 6:33. We talked about how life is a process not a circumstance and the act of seeking God is finding Him. The means is the end. We can trust God. Life may not be easy bur we can trust Him in and with it.

This week I spoke with a friend who told me of the many people being shut out of the safety and security they have known for a long time. I heard of extended grieving and temptation to trepidation. But the Lord will prevail. He is bringing them through. We can trust the Lord.

This week I spoke with a friend who is concerned about the safety and the life of his child; he is concerned with his health and safety and custodial issues and the much more that is tied up with all of that. We spoke very much about how even in all of this we can trust God. No matter what happens, we can trust God to bring us through. This, I think, is the central theme of Joshua, a central theme of the Bible, and this, I think, is the key to navigating all the challenges that life sends our way. We can trust the Lord.

This week, yesterday, I went to the funeral of a friend. My friend died of due to his drug addiction. He had struggled against drugs the vast majority of his life. When I knew him well, he was walking with God and seeking God and even then was being attacked by the Enemy through addiction. I have seen many people delivered from the addiction but my friend lost his life to it. My friend has passed on to eternity now but I do not believe that the Enemy has won; because death has been defeated between the cross and the empty tomb and I know my friend loved the Lord and I know that the Lord never leave us nor forsake us. The Lord is with us, even in the very midst of our struggles.

I know that there are some serious challenges that people here today are facing and I want you to know that you do not need to face them on your own. The Lord is able, He is more than able to accomplish what concerns us today; He is able, more than able to handle anything that comes our way.

Let us pray.
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Robert B. Coote, The Book of Joshua (NIB II: Nashville, Tenn.: Abingdon Press, 1998)
Leon Morris, The Expositor's Bible Commentary, Pradis CD-ROM:Hebrews/Exposition of Hebrews/VIII. Faith (11:1-40)/F. The Faith of the Exodus Generation (11:29-31), Book Version: 4.0.2 
Dale Ralph Davis, Joshua (Glascow: Christian Focus Publications, 2000)
Trent C. Butler, Joshua 13-24 (WBC 7B: Grand Rapids, Mi.: Zondervan, 2-14)

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