(c) Eva Marie Everson
Questions 22, 23, & 24: The LORD said to Moses, “How long will these people treat me with contempt? How long will they refuse to believe in me, in spite of all the miraculous signs I have performed among them?” (Numbers 14:12).“Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go” (Joshua 1:9).
The Path of Silence:So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand (Isaiah 41:10).
The Path of Memory: Take time to write your thoughts about your daily journey or a memory.
The Path of Questioning: Read Numbers 14:1–12; Joshua 1:1–9.
Joshua. The name conjures up visions of strength and courage. Wisdom and knowledge. Faith and determination. But who was this hero, really, this character giant of the Old Testament?
The Bible is full of what we need to know about Moses’s young aide.[i] Joshua’s father named him Hoshea, which means salvation and deliverer. This is a name you may be familiar with, but for another reason. When Jesus and the disciples went into Jerusalem on what we now call Palm Sunday (the Sunday before the crucifixion), the people, having heard He was coming, went out to meet Him along the way. They waved palm branches toward him and shouted, “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!”
This word, hosanna, which means “save,” can be found only once in the Old Testament as hoshiya na,[ii] which means “save now.” LORD, save us! the psalmist wrote in Psalm 118. LORD, grant us success! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the LORD. From the house of the Lord we bless you. The LORD is God, and he has made his light shine on us. With boughs in hand, join in the festal procession up to the horns of the altar.
Ah, do you see the connection? Hoshea … Hoshiya na … Hosanna.
Hoshea was the son of Nun of the tribe of Ephraim. Ephraim, who was the son of Genesis’s Joseph, who became vizier of Egypt and the salvation of his father Jacob as well as of his brothers and their families. In time, Moses changed Hoshea’s name to Yehowshuwa, which we have translated to Joshua. Yehowshuwa, which should also sound familiar, means “Jehovah is salvation.”
Yehowshuwa … Yeshua, the name by which Jesus was called during His time with us.
Perhaps Moses changed Hoshea’s name to Yehowshuwa because he wanted the young man to remember always that he was not the savior of God’s chosen people but rather the vessel God would use to bring about His purposes. And if Moses didn’t understand this principle at the deepest, most intimate level, no one did.
To be the young aide of the great leader of the exodus must have been—could have been—a heady experience, but we see none of that in the character of Joshua. What we see is a man of great faith, even in the midst of conflict. Even in a time when everything seemed contrary to God’s word and His promise. When Moses sent twelve spies (one from each tribe) into the Promised Land to “see what the land is like and whether the people who live there are strong or weak, few or many,”[iii] Joshua was one of those handpicked emissaries. Out of the twelve, only he and the Judahite Caleb returned with a good report. They said, “Tova ha’aretz meod meod,” which means the land is very, very good.[iv] They had a faith that, yes, saw the giants in the land, but they also knew God was greater than anything the world could throw at them. Who is greater, the giant or his Creator?
Twelve went in and twelve came out, ten with a bad report—“Oh, yes, the land is good, the fruit is delicious, but the people are huge, the cities are fortified, and we are like grasshoppers, not only to them, but to ourselves”—and two with a good report.
“No,” Caleb said. “We should go up and take possession of the land for we can certainly do it.”[v]
The people heard these conflicting statements and, as human nature so often dictates, they chose to believe the majority, whose testimony went against everything God had said to them about where they were going and how they would become victorious once they arrived. They wept. They grumbled. They plotted against Moses to find another leader who would take them back to Egypt. Back to captivity. Back to enslavement. They even plotted to stone Moses, his brother Aaron, Joshua, and Caleb.
And then God showed up, much like a father who has come home at the end of a long day at work but who has been called by Mother, letting him know that their children have misbehaved. “How long will these people treat me with contempt? How long will they refuse to believe in me, in spite of all the miraculous signs I have performed among them?”[vi] He asked.
God then determined He would do away with those who had not trusted in Him. They had only believed when things were going their way, but they tended to fall away from faith when the path became difficult. Filled with complications. Dotted by circumstances that did not fit into their version of the way the story should go.
Are we any different?
But Moses intervened. “If you do that, Lord,” he said, “then the nations around us will say that you are a God unable to see your promises to completion. You could not free your children from Egypt’s hand and deliver them into the land of promise, so you were forced to kill them in the desert.” And then, after that brave declaration—for surely it took the rawest courage to challenge the One True God—Moses added, “Remember your promises. Remember who you are. You are slow to anger. You abound in love. You forgive sin and rebellion.”[vii]
And with those words, God forgave the people of Israel. But not without consequence. The whole lot of them, other than Caleb and Joshua, the two who focused on the gift rather than the complications to acquire that gift—would wander in the desert for forty years and would die within its dust and barren landscape. Their children and their children’s children would enter the land, conquer it, and dwell there. They would see the promise fulfilled, but those who had chosen not to trust God would not.
Does this seem harsh? This punishment too severe? No. In exchange for all God has done for us, for all He is doing for us, and for all He has in store for us, He expects so little. Trusting Him with all we are, with who we are, and with all we do, is a small price to pay. Would a loving Father lead His children out of slavery to watch them die? Would He promise them “a land flowing with milk and honey”[viii] only to have the inhabitants of that land kill them before they can enjoy the richness that land produces? Would a faithful God who had displayed His power and glory time and time and time again suddenly become impotent? No. But out of the twelve spies, only Caleb and Joshua trusted, and only Caleb and Joshua would see the promise fulfilled.
Joshua’s role with Moses went beyond spying. Moses trusted Joshua, which is one of the highest forms of praise a leader can bestow. When the Amalekites[ix] heard that the newly freed Hebrews were camped at the Rephidim, they attacked the Israelites. Moses chose Joshua not only to pick the men who would form the army to fight these natural-born enemies of Israel but also to lead them into battle.
It was Joshua who climbed Horeb with Moses, the same mountain or mountain range where God first revealed Himself to Moses, to wait for God’s instructions. His laws and commands given to assure that the people, these former slaves, knew how to live in society and worship in holiness. Joshua was there when the glory of the Lord came down as a cloud resting at the top of the mountain—he witnessed its magnificence and power—and he was there when, forty days later, Moses returned to discover the people, still influenced by Egypt, had formed a golden calf to worship.
Joshua was the custodian of the “tent of meeting,” where the Lord talked with Moses face-to-face as “one speaks to a friend.”[x] Even when Moses left the tent to return to camp, Joshua remained stationed there. Protecting it.
And it was to Joshua that Moses passed his leadership. His mantle.
Now Joshua son of Nun was filled with the spirit of wisdom because Moses had laid his hands on him. So the Israelites listened to him and did what the LORD had commanded Moses.[xi] And what had God commanded? Moses, now 120 years old, was clear in his address to the people when he said, “In the towns the LORD is giving you, you are to destroy every living thing. Completely. If you do not, the people who live there will persuade you to worship their gods and this would be a detestable sin in God’s eyes.”[xii]
This is difficult for our modern eyes to read and certainly difficult to understand or comprehend. Why would a loving God require such a thing? For one (and most importantly), our God is a jealous God[xiii] and will have no other gods set before Him in our hearts. For another, Moses alone was proof of what happens when one little baby boy survives. He grows up, rises up, and demands freedom for his people.
One little baby … one small thing … one tiny idol … one miniscule sin.
Joshua was now in charge of making victory certain. Joshua carried Moses’s role and responsibility, and God’s determination to save His people, to bring them into the land of promise. “Get ready,” God told him. “No one will be able to stand against you. Wherever you set your foot, I will give you that place. I was with Moses, and I will be with you. I will never leave you. I will never forsake you.”[xiv]
These were God’s promises to Joshua. But Joshua had a role to play as well.
“Be strong and courageous,” God told him, not once but three times, and one of those times with an absolute question: Have I not commanded you? This was not a suggestion; this was an order given by the Commander of the Army to His top general. Moses had said the same before Joshua left him to lead the people. “Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you,” God continued. “Do not turn from it, not even a little. Keep the words of it in your mouth. Meditate on it constantly. Do not be terrified. Do not be discouraged. I will be with you wherever you go.”[xv] This is vital because no other way can we be strong and courageous. Without God’s faithful promises, His commands, His guidance, we become weak and frightened by life’s challenges.
Joshua led the people from the desert across the Jordan River. With the help of God, this new country of people defeated and took possession of Jericho, Ai, Jerusalem, Hebron, Jarmuth, Lachish, Eglon, and Gibeon—a location where Joshua, needing more daylight to complete the battle, asked God to hold the sun still.[xvi]
And God granted that request.
From this central campaign, Joshua turned to the south where he conquered the southern cities and then turned north to defeat the northern kings, including Jabin, King of Hazor, an impressive, fortified city he burned to the ground. The evidence of this victory, this rising up of strength and courage, remains for us to view today in the form of ash clinging to ancient stones.
Then, when he had done all God needed him to do, Joshua called the leaders to him and said, “Be strong. Be careful to obey the law of God. Don’t turn away from it even a little. Do not associate with the people of the nations that still stand. Do not bow down or serve their gods. Hold fast, instead, to God, the One who has delivered us and fought for us. Be careful—very careful—to love Him. Always.”[xvii]
Then … After these things, Joshua son of Nun the servant of the LORD, died at the age of one hundred and ten. And they buried him in the land of his inheritance.[xviii]
Joshua. A man of strength and courage. Wisdom and knowledge. Faith and determination. And a man with the Word of God always in his mouth. Had God not commanded him to live thusly?
Does God not ask the same of us?
***
Now it’s your turn to journal on The Path of Questioning. Noting the words I have underlined, plus any words you may have underlined as well, along with the question God asked Moses and Joshua—and now asks you—write your answer to Him.
Circle toward the labyrinth’s center with The Path of Prayer. Then, sit quietly for a few moments with God before returning to life as you know it.
Questions 25 & 26: The Lord turned to him and said, “Go in the strength you have and save Israel out of Midian’s hand. Am I not sending you?” (Judges 6:14). Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?” And I said, “Here am I. Send me!” (Isaiah 6:8).
The Path of Silence:But the LORD said to Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or his height … the LORD does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart” (1 Samuel 16:7).
The Path of Memory: (Take time to write your thoughts, about your daily journey, etc.)
The Path of Questioning: Read Judges 6:1–22; Isaiah 6:1–8.
We have wandered near a portion of the path where we must wonder.
Can God take the mangled issues within my family, the twisting and gnarling among the branches of our family tree, and bring something remotely good from it? Can God—will God—tolerate even the slightest wandering of my ways from the Vine that is Christ Jesus? Can He love and forgive even after my mistakes, mistakes so great I cannot see beyond them? And if I cannot, can He? Can God then use me, especially if I am weak and unsure and unholy by my very nature?
It is easy, isn’t it, to look at our failures and see no redeeming qualities within us that God could possibly use. Our lives are a mess. There is discord within our families. We are afraid more than we are brave. We are beaten down by life and its circumstances. We are, quite simply, the unholy trying to stand up within the presence of the Most Holy and not even fit to kneel in His presence. We have taken all that we know, all that God has told us, and have chosen, far too often, to walk the other way. Look the other way.
And yet, ironically, God does not sit upon a throne of condemnation with a plan of “no way.” Rather, He sits upon a throne of mercy. Of grace. And He holds in His hand the plan of “the way.” His way.
When God led the children of Israel—the former Hebrew slaves—out of Egypt and toward the Promised Land, He gave strict instructions for obeying Him that came with promises of blessings and achievements almost too great for them to fathom. But those instructions also came with warnings. If you do … then I will … but if you do not … then this will happen.
In other words, step outside of the Grace Umbrella, and you will find yourselves soaking wet. Or, as the old sayings go: if you play with fire, you will get burned. If you go into the ring, you will have to fight the bull.
God had told the Israelites they would “sow much seed in the field but harvest little, because locusts will devour it.”[xix] He went on to warn them saying, “Swarms of locusts will take over all your trees and the crops of your land.”[xx]
And this is exactly what happened in the time of a young man from the tribe of Manasseh named Gideon, son of Joash the Abiezrite.[xxi] Israel was now firmly established in the Promised Land, but without doing as God commanded them (they had not destroyed everything but rather had allowed some to live among them). They continually returned to their old habits. When dwelling among idols and their worshippers; blending faith in God with faith in gods isn’t too much of a stretch.
The book of Judges tells us of a number of these times. Israel turned toward other idols—such as the Baals and Asherah—and when they did, when they stepped from under God’s Grace Umbrella, they became enslaved again to other peoples. Ruled by those who were anything but kind. But when the people saw the error of their ways and they cried out to God, God again saw and heard and forgave. He raised up strong men (and one woman) to lead the people to victory against their oppressors—first Othniel, then Ehud, then Deborah. Forty years after Deborah, however, the people reverted to their bad habits once again, and in playing with such fire, they became burned at the hands of the Midianites, a tribe of people you may be familiar with.
But, if not …
When Abraham’s wife, Sarah—the mother of Isaac—died, the one God called “the father of many nations” went on to marry again. His wife, Keturah, gave birth to six sons, one of whom he named Midian. Midian settled in the land where Moses would one day take refuge. Where he would marry, become a father, tend his father-in-law’s flocks, and where, in a redefining burning-bush moment, he received a directive from the Great I Am.
The Midianites, as a whole, were a people unfriendly to the Israelites, despite the fact that they were “family” in that Abraham was their common “father.” But isn’t that the way of it? Too often, it is our own family members who cause us the greatest distress, who come against us, who oppose and oppress us. Midian often came against Israel, and in the time of Gideon (about 1200 BC), when the Israelites once again turned away from the commandments God had given to them, they fell into the subjugation of the Midianites. This oppression was so great, the Israelites retreated to mountain clefts and caves for dwelling. Whenever they planted their crops for food, the Midianites (along with other more-powerful people) came in and ruined the harvest, sparing nothing. They did not spare a living thing for Israel.[xxii] Neither sheep nor cattle nor donkeys survived. They came up with their livestock and their tents like swarms of locusts,[xxiii] the Word tell us. Just as God said it would be.
The Midianites ravaged and plundered and destroyed until the people of Israel, broken and destitute, cried out to God for help.
“The thief comes only to kill and steal and destroy,” Jesus would later tell His followers. This was true in 1200 BC, it was true when Jesus said it, and it is still true today. “But I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” [xxiv]
Jesus’ promise also continues to be true.
After seven years, a prophet came to the people and said, “I brought you out of captivity. I gave you success in taking the Promised Land. I said to you that you were not to worship the gods of the people but that you were to worship me and me alone. I am the LORD your God. But you did not listen.”[xxv]
If the biblical story of Gideon stopped here, we would be left to believe that God is not a God of forgiveness, that He does not hold grace and mercy in His hand, ready to measure it out to us in the abundance Jesus spoke of. We would be left to believe that once we mess up—and especially if we mess up time and again—we are left to the consequences of our actions without salvation from our own willful actions. But this is not the God we serve nor was it the God who had led the Israelites to freedom. His love and forgiveness stretch across the chasm of our disobedience. Where we can often be consistent in our faithLESSness toward Him, He is consistent in His faithFULness to us.
And so, as always, God had a plan, and the plan involved Gideon, who when we meet him in Scripture is threshing wheat in a winepress.
Wheat needs the open air of a threshing floor to carry away the chaff while winnowing the wheat. Gideon’s threshing wheat in a winepress tells us volumes about the overall condition of how desperate life had become. It is then that the angel of the LORD appears to Gideon with these unlikely words: The LORD is with you, mighty warrior.[xxvi]
Mighty warrior? Gideon? This man threshing wheat in a winepress? Was God being sarcastic or had He seen Gideon as only our heavenly Father can?
The same question rose in Gideon. He said, “If that is true that the Lord is with us, then why are all these terrible things happening? We have certainly heard about all the great and miraculous things He did during the time of Moses and all through the exodus, but it appears He has abandoned us.”[xxvii]
The angel of the Lord said the Lord was with Gideon. Gideon, in return, reminded God he was more than just one, that he was a part of the many, and the many felt they had been abandoned.
But this one thing I know is true, when we feel abandoned by God, it is not God who has moved away from us, but rather it is we who have moved away from God.
I imagine the angel smiled at Gideon then, that knowing kind of smile that said, “I’m sure if you think about it for a minute … ” But he also had more to tell this “mighty warrior.”
“Go in the strength you have and save Israel out of Midian’s hand. Am I not sending you?”[xxviii]
Go in the strength you have. Just as centuries later Jesus took a few loaves and fish and fed the multitudes, Gideon would only need what he currently had. It was up to God, not Gideon, to build upon that. All Gideon had to do was go.
And then comes the question: Am I not sending you?
This is more statement than question, and one I encourage you to write in your journal like this: I AM SENDING YOU. Now, circle the first two words: “I AM.” Then, circle the last word: “YOU.”
This is as personal to us today as it was to Gideon some 3,200 years ago. The Great I AM is sending you. Where He is sending you and what He is sending you to do is something you must figure out in prayer with God. His plan for you could be a mission field or it could be for you to teach Sunday school at your church. His plan could be as simple as sending you to the supermarket for a loaf of bread but where you will smile at that one person who needs a smile today more than they’ve ever needed it before. His may need you to support a ministry or a cause. He could call you to care for a loved one who is sick or dying. He could need you to attend a university to study a specialty that will change the lives of the masses, or He may ask you to drive to the local elementary school to pick up your sick neighbor’s children and bring them home.
I do not know the where or the what or the when, but I know the One who does. No matter how weak you think you are, no matter how few gifts you believe you have, God sees a mighty warrior when He looks at you. No sarcasm whatsoever.
***
He saw the same in Isaiah, a prophet who lived 400 years after Gideon and 800 years before Jesus. Isaiah’s story and the question(s) God posed to him show us the convictions of a ready heart.
Isaiah lived during a time of turmoil and social confusion as the strength of the Northern kingdom of Israel (now called Israel) declined while Assyria—a Mesopotamian kingdom known for its conquering power and domination—expanded. Isaiah, however, lived and prophesied in the Southern kingdom, Judah. The people had again become lackadaisical in their love for the Lord, in pursuing time with Him, in worship and prayer. More important to them were the “good things in life”—spacious homes, ripe vineyards, the entertainment of music and wine. They called evil “good,” and good “evil.” They called darkness “light” and light “darkness.” Bitter they saw as sweet and sweet as bitter. They had become clever in their own eyes, denied justice to the innocent while freeing the guilty if paid a bribe.[xxix]
Sound remotely familiar?
In this condition of the world, God revealed Himself in a vision to Isaiah that is so beautifully penned, I cannot, should not paraphrase it, but can only copy its words. I encourage you to read this out loud, to listen to the cadence, the rhythm of the words.
In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord, high and exalted, seated on a throne; and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him were seraphim, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. And they were calling to one another:
“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty;
the whole earth is full of his glory.”
At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke. “Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty.” Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. With it he touched my mouth and said, “See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.”Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?”
And I said, “Here am I. Send me!”[xxx]
Isaiah needed no convincing. He did not plead his case or present an argument as so many before him had done. Like Abraham, he did not ask where the Lord wanted him to go or when. He was not interested in knowing the how or the why before committing. He only knew God needed something from him and he was willing to be the vessel if God saw him fit to be. I suppose when one has seen the Throne Room of God, he does not have the inclination to argue. To that end, however, Isaiah declared himself to be unworthy—and who among us is not—he accepted the cleansing by coal,[xxxi] and immediately, upon hearing God’s plea for someone to go to the people with His message, Isaiah said “Hineni.”
“Here am I. Send me!”
***
It is now your turn to journal on The Path of Questioning. Noting the words I underlined, plus any you may have underlined as well, along with the questions God asked Gideon and Isaiah—and now asks you—write your answer to Him.
Write your answer to Him.
Circle toward the labyrinth’s center with The Path of Prayer. Then, sit quietly for a few moments with God before returning to life as you know it.
[i] Exodus 33:11
[ii] Psalm 118:25–27
[iii] Reference Numbers 13: 17–20
[iv] Numbers 14:7
[v] Numbers 13:30
[vi] Numbers 14:11
[vii] Reference Number 14:13–19
[viii] Exodus 3:8
[ix] Amalek was the grandson of Esau, Jacob’s brother whom Jacob had stolen the birthright and blessings from.
[x] Exodus 33:11
[xi] Deuteronomy 34:9
[xii] Reference Deuteronomy 20:15–18
[xiii] Exodus 20:5
[xiv] Reference Joshua 1:1–5
[xv] Reference Joshua 1:6–9
[xvi] Joshua 10
[xvii] Reference Joshua 23
[xviii] Joshua 24:29, 30
[xix] Reference Deuteronomy 28:38
[xx] Deuteronomy 28:42
[xxi] According to Joshua 17:1–2, Abiezer was a descendant of Manasseh, the oldest son of Joseph son of Jacob.
[xxii] Judges 6:4b
[xxiii] Judges 6:5
[xxiv] John 10:10
[xxv] Reference Judges 6:10
[xxvi] Judges 6:12
[xxvii] Reference Judges 6:13
[xxviii] Judges 6:14
[xxix] Reference Isaiah 5
[xxx] Isaiah 6:1–8
[xxxi] See Leviticus 16:11–13
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