“Get ready to cross the Jordan River in the land I am about to give you.” (Joshua 1:2 NIV)
‘Get ready’ is an interesting instruction from God. What could the Israelites possibly do to prepare to cross a river that only God could part. There was no bridge to build, no ferry to assemble. God alone would heap up the river on their behalf. All that was required of them was the faith to walk across the riverbed into a new land.
Perhaps that’s what God meant by ‘get ready’ – prepare your spirit. The Israelites had just lost Moses and maybe it felt a bit premature? They grieved hard for thirty days, until the time of muring was over. Maybe ‘get ready’ meant it’s time to move on, leave your grief in the past and set your hearts on what God was going to do next.
This is the most hopeful thing I’ve read in a while. Mourning lasts for a season, but there comes point that God asks us to leave our losses in the past and gear up for what He’s about to take hold of on our behalf.
The next steps for the Israelites would require strength and courage; two qualities that run scarce in times of great grief. God asked them to rally themselves there, still in Moab. He hope they’d prepare themselves for the tasks ahead. He reminded them that they were not alone or forsaken, but accompanied and secure.
“No one will be able to stand against you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, I will be with you: I will never leave you or forsake you.”
(Joshua 1:5 NIV)
I’ve said it before and I’ll probably keep repeating it the rest of my life: the great lie of grief is that you are alone in it, but the truth is, God is close to the broken-hearted. (Psalm 34:18 NIV)
Moses went home early and the people of God learned to lean into the promise and presence of God whole new ways. They had to in order to step into the divinely-ordained future. I can’t help but wonder if God didn’t pull Moses from the scene on purposes. See, the new generation of Israelites had spend the whole of their nomadic lives leaning on Moses, depending on his divine relationship to lead them through the wilderness. Perhaps, in order to overtake and occupy a new territory, they required a more intimate relationship themselves? Perhaps Moses, who had set out as a leader, had somehow become a crutch, unintentionally obstructing his people from a more personal relationship with their Creator-Sustainer? His removal from their narrative created a vacuum that only God could fill.
Now I’m thinking of my mom and her thirty-five years of spiritual leadership over my life. There have been so many times since she passed that I’ve longed to call and ask for insight. I still know her number by heart, but the phone line belongs to another now. When I need spiritual direction, I go right to the Source. I’ve been forced to grow up in the Lord a lot since Mom climbed her last mountain. I’m beginning to believe it’s what God intended all along.
“Do not be afraid, do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.” (Joshua 1:9 NIV)
Lord, we don’t like change and we certainly resent it when crutches are removed. Give us the courage to get ready for whatever comes next, knowing that You are good and Your plans for Your children are Kingdom in nature. Help us set our sorrow behind as we choose step out into Your desired future for Your family. Amen.