Moving Into Your Promised Land

Joshua 24:7

“Then you lived in the wilderness for a long time.”

I entered in a ride called the dirty dozen.  It was a mountain bike ride in Warda, TX.  You could either sign up to ride for 6 hours or 12 hours straight.  I chose the 6 hour ride.  The course took about 1 hour to complete.  You then proceeded to do laps until they blew the horn and the 6 hours was up.  Needless to say, I was whipped but I finished strong much to my amazement.  The last lap was the most fun and but also the hardest, because I was tired from the previous 6 laps.  No big trophies that day just a smile and huge accomplishment.  Most people don’t realize how much they can endure when they put their mind to it. 

The Israelites were in the desert for “a long time.”  I am sure they often felt the same way I did on my long ride, this next lap is going to suck big time!  God has a way of dragging us into the deserts of life to teach us to rely on something we previously did not know was there, Him.  After that ride, I no longer felt like there was a ceiling to the time on the bike because I had just finished something I did not think I could.  I expressed my doubts to my friends about my weakness but they just kept saying that I could do it.  They were right. 

Joshua, once again, asked the whole assembly if they would trust in the Lord and follow all of His laws and commandments. He does this four times and four times the Israelites reply “Yes we will serve the Lord”. Verse 23 is Joshua’s final plead to the Israelites it reads, “Now then, throw away the foreign gods that are among you and yield your hearts to the Lord, God of Israel.” Sad to say Joshua knew that some of the Israelites had already been unfaithful to the Lord here. Never the less, he presses them again to get rid of all the gods of people they just conquered.

While in the desert of your life, you may have clung to some not so good things. Habits, friends, or some addiction to social media or other devices. Standing on the verge of moving into your promised land, you must get rid of all that. Those things are little gods that you have put in place of God. Joshua’s call to rid yourself of them is calling you out! Throw them away! Start a new life right now by completely surrendering to all to the Lord Jesus and enter the promised land.

There might be someone speaking the same thing in your life today.  Just when it gets hard we get reminded that God is behind it all.  Today, realize, even though the deserts of life are long, there is always God with a promise that you can fall back on.  “Read the bible, you may not understand all that is in it but it surely understands you”.  Pray today that God will reveal himself to you by his Word.  We may spend a lot of time in the desert, but we don’t have to stay there.  God has plans for you just like the Israelites, it may take some time in the desert but He is preparing a place for you and His timing is perfect.  

Prayer: Father, we all have been through the wilderness of life. It has seemed long and tiring but we are still here pressing on. I pray that we see your hand at work around us. I pray that we get rid of all of those foreign gods we have collected along the way. I pray that we trust in you for our strength. I pray that we dig deep into our own hurt locker, realize you are still there, and that we can still move forward with you. I pray that we don’t get dismayed by the wilderness but that we embrace it and learn from it. In Jesus name, amen.