Moving-courage continues step by step.

As soon as Adoni-zedek, king of Jerusalem, heard how Joshua had captured Ai and had devoted it to destruction, doing to Ai and its king as he had done to Jericho and its king, and how the inhabitants of Gibeon had made peace with Israel and were among them, he feared greatly, because Gibeon was a great city, like one of the royal cities, and because it was greater than Ai, and all its men were warriors. (Joshua 10:1-2 ESV)

Joshua and the Israelites learned a difficult lesson with the people of Gibeon.  They paid attention to the lies of the people in front of them instead of turning to God for wisdom.  This put them in a lose-lose situation where they needed to choose between the lesser of two evils.  This decision will cause them problems for many years to come.  But the battles were not over.  There would be many more to fight.

So Adoni-zedek king of Jerusalem sent to Hoham king of Hebron, to Piram king of Jarmuth, to Japhia king of Lachish, and to Debir king of Eglon, saying, "Come up to me and help me, and let us strike Gibeon. For it has made peace with Joshua and with the people of Israel." Then the five kings of the Amorites, the king of Jerusalem, the king of Hebron, the king of Jarmuth, the king of Lachish, and the king of Eglon, gathered their forces and went up with all their armies and encamped against Gibeon and made war against it. And the men of Gibeon sent to Joshua at the camp in Gilgal, saying, "Do not relax your hand from your servants. Come up to us quickly and save us and help us, for all the kings of the Amorites who dwell in the hill country are gathered against us." (Joshua 10:3-6 ESV)

Joshua and the Israelites were going to find themselves at war again, sooner rather than later.  Not only that, they had just messed-up big time. So, they had a decision to make.  Were they going to quit, pack up, and go back to the wilderness?  Or were they going to move ahead and fight the next battle?  The right answer, of course, is simple: what does the LORD want them to do?

So Joshua went up from Gilgal, he and all the people of war with him, and all the mighty men of valor. And the LORD said to Joshua, "Do not fear them, for I have given them into your hands. Not a man of them shall stand before you." (Joshua 10:7-8 ESV)

We face battles every day.  We fight for our minds, our hearts, our marriages, our families, our friends, our neighbors, and even our enemies.  We fight for them and against the enemy.  When we do, we are fighting with (not against or for) God.  These battles don’t go away just because we lose a battle or blow it in some way.  They still seek us out.  This is when we, like Joshua, need to be strong and courageous.  We need to draw near to God as God draws near to us.  We need to move forward on God’s command.  Then, and only then, will we win.

And Joshua captured all these kings and their land at one time, because the LORD God of Israel fought for Israel. Then Joshua returned, and all Israel with him, to the camp at Gilgal. (Joshua 10:42-43 ESV)

How about you?  Do you move with God, step by step?

Moving-courage lives out faith.

When we are faced with God-World type decisions, it can be difficult.  We may not know where God is in the situation.  We may need to go through a rather lengthy process that takes our faith in God and applies it to the details of our real lives.  Once that process is complete, though, the choice should be clear.  We choose God’s plan.  We choose God’s ways.  We choose God.

Joshua and the Israelite leaders faced people who were lying to their face.  These people were evil in God’s sight, and were working a scam to get Joshua and the other leaders to make a deal with them.  Their plan worked.

So the men took some of their provisions, but did not ask counsel from the LORD. (Joshua 9:14 ESV)

They did not make their faith real.  They took the time to investigate the claims of the people in front of them.  They even remembered what the LORD had told them earlier in their lives.  They did not, however, take the time to ask the LORD for wisdom and direction.  In other words, they considered the World and Scripture, but they did not pray.  The result was that they were deceived.  Then they made a very costly mistake.

And Joshua made peace with them and made a covenant with them, to let them live, and the leaders of the congregation swore to them. (Joshua 9:15 ESV)

They made a covenant commitment with a group of people they were supposed to wipe out.  Now they are caught in a lose-lose situation.  If they wipe the people out, they are going against their own commitment before God.  They will be sinning for breaking their covenant.  If they let the people live, they will be rebelling against the LORD’s instructions.  They will be sinning by rebelling against God.  They created this lose-lose situation by not turning to God in the first place.  The result will be what the LORD warned them about all the way back in Moses’ day.

But if you do not drive out the inhabitants of the land from before you, then those of them whom you let remain shall be as barbs in your eyes and thorns in your sides, and they shall trouble you in the land where you dwell. And I will do to you as I thought to do to them." (Numbers 33:55-56 ESV)

How about you?  Do you remember the things God has said in the past that are now preserved for us in the pages of Scripture?  Do you compare the decisions you need to make to God’s Word?  Before following through on your decision, to you take the time to ask God for wisdom and direction through prayer? Do you live out your faith in the details of your life?

Moving-courage makes faith real.

Joshua and the leaders of Israel are encountering God – human beings made in His image.  They are also encountering the world – people who are consistently choosing evil over good.  They will need the courage from God to know the difference.

And [the Gibeonites] went to Joshua in the camp at Gilgal and said to him and to the men of Israel, "We have come from a distant country, so now make a covenant with us." But the men of Israel said to the Hivites, "Perhaps you live among us; then how can we make a covenant with you?" (Joshua 9:6-7 ESV)

The Gibeonites were lying to their face.  They were neighbors.  They lived right down the road, so to speak.  They knew that the Israelites were going to destroy them, so they cooked up a plan to trick the Israelites into a treaty.  The first part of the plan was to convince Israel that they lived far, far away.

They said to Joshua, "We are your servants." And Joshua said to them, "Who are you? And where do you come from?" They said to him, "From a very distant country your servants have come, because of the name of the LORD your God. For we have heard a report of him, and all that he did in Egypt, and all that he did to the two kings of the Amorites who were beyond the Jordan, to Sihon the king of Heshbon, and to Og king of Bashan, who lived in Ashtaroth. So our elders and all the inhabitants of our country said to us, 'Take provisions in your hand for the journey and go to meet them and say to them, "We are your servants. Come now, make a covenant with us."' Here is our bread. It was still warm when we took it from our houses as our food for the journey on the day we set out to come to you, but now, behold, it is dry and crumbly. These wineskins were new when we filled them, and behold, they have burst. And these garments and sandals of ours are worn out from the very long journey." (Joshua 9:8-13 ESV)

Joshua and the Israelite leaders had a decision to make.  They have encountered a God-world mix.  Now they need to decide how to walk together with God.  Where is God in all this?

How about you?  Do you encounter God-world mixes in your “real life.”  How do you decide where God is in all this?  How do you make faith real?

Moving-courage encounters God…and the world.

When we go out into the “real world,” we will encounter people – all sorts of people.  Sometimes we try to decide if they are “good people” or “bad people.”  The problem with that strategy is that each person has a mixture of thoughts going through the mind.  We each decide which ones to hold on to and which ones to throw away.  We decide which ones to act upon and which ones to avoid.  In other words, there is a mix of good and bad in each of us.

That’s why it’s so important that we turn to God’s Word to discern what is good.  Joshua and the Israelites didn’t have nearly as much Scripture in their day as we do today.  But they did have the following passage:

And the LORD spoke to Moses in the plains of Moab by the Jordan at Jericho, saying, "Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, When you pass over the Jordan into the land of Canaan, then you shall drive out all the inhabitants of the land from before you and destroy all their figured stones and destroy all their metal images and demolish all their high places. And you shall take possession of the land and settle in it, for I have given the land to you to possess it. (Numbers 33:50-53 ESV)

Joshua and the Israelites knew that they were supposed to remove all the current inhabitants of the land that was promised to them.  They were going to encounter lots of people who were designed for good, but were choosing evil.  When the Israelites encounter these people, their instructions are clear: wipe them out.  But, when the Moabites show up, Joshua and the Israelites did not obey right away.  They stopped to listen to people of “the world.”

And they went to Joshua in the camp at Gilgal and said to him and to the men of Israel, "We have come from a distant country, so now make a covenant with us." (Joshua 9:6 ESV)

How about you?  When you encounter people, do you look for the part of them that is walking with God?  Do you pay attention to the part that is of this world?  What do you encounter when you move through your day?

Courage that Moves

We left Joshua and the Israelites last week after one loss and one win.  They lost because of rebellion in the Israelite camp.  They won when the rebellion was removed and Israel became Holy again – walking together with God.

As soon as all the kings who were beyond the Jordan in the hill country and in the lowland all along the coast of the Great Sea toward Lebanon, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, heard of this, they gathered together as one to fight against Joshua and Israel. (Joshua 9:1-2 ESV)

Joshua and the Israelites have a difficult job to do.  God has pronounced judgement on the people living in the promised land.  Their words and actions are so bad that God has decided to wipe them out and start over.  (Remember, God has done this before in Noah’s day.)

And the LORD spoke to Moses in the plains of Moab by the Jordan at Jericho, saying, "Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, When you pass over the Jordan into the land of Canaan, then you shall drive out all the inhabitants of the land from before you and destroy all their figured stones and destroy all their metal images and demolish all their high places. And you shall take possession of the land and settle in it, for I have given the land to you to possess it. (Numbers 33:50-53 ESV)

While God has promised never to wipe out all creatures with a flood, He still reserved the right to wipe out individuals and groups who are so rebellious that they are hurting others and are not going to return to God.  This is the case with the inhabitants of the promised land.  They needed to be stopped and removed.  Joshua and the Israelites would need to go into battle…a lot. They needed courage that would sustain them over a long period of time, moving from place to place.  They needed courage that moves.

How about you?  Do you need reminders that God is with you as you go from place to place throughout your days, weeks, months, and years?  Do you need courage that moves?