Waste Not
Within three days…Joshua 1:11
After the death of Moses, the LORD put Joshua in charge of taking the land of promise, Joshua 1:1-11. Three things God says to Joshua in this passage stand out. Verse 6: Be strong and of good courage, for to this people you shall divide as an inheritance the land which I swore to their fathers to give them, Verse 7: Only be strong and very courageous, that you may observe to do according to all the law which Moses My servant commanded you; do not turn from it to the right hand or the left, that you may prosper wherever you go.…Verse 11: within three days you will cross over this Jordan, to go in to possess the land which the LORD your God is giving you to possess.
Timely words. May God grant you to be strong and courageous as you hold on to His promises. May your feelings of anxiety be thwarted by His peace. While others live in fear, perhaps even burdened with doubts, may you stand in the grace God has given you. As God gave instructions to Joshua who passed it on to his men, may you pass on to others what God has instructed you.
God responds to those who are angry, sad, with fallen countenance, see Genesis 4. God does not want us to give into our anger nor our anxieties nor our doubts, but to stand on His promises. Men of faith are to be men of courage, like Rahab, who kept her word to protect God’s messengers. Men who have put on the armor of God to stand against all that comes his way. Men who say, today is the day the Lord has made, I shall rejoice in it.
The fruit of the Spirit comes easy to the men and women who have put their trust in Jesus. The yoke of Jesus is easy and light to the one who is in Christ. Feelings can be infectious. While others, in their sadness, make others sad, we in our joy will make others joyful. In the words of Joshua, “prepare provisions for yourselves, for within three days you will cross over this Jordan, to go in to possess the land which the LORD your God is giving you to possess.” Joshua 1:11. Those three days passed quickly for them. As do our remaining days. Let us waste none of them.
