Explore the Bible: Commissioned

• The Explore the Bible lesson for Dec. 4 focuses Joshua 1:1-9.

A rancher and I once were riding along in his pickup as he explained to me all the different kinds of fencing he used to keep his cattle from wandering. I had no idea how much was involved.

He went on to explain that, now and then, a steer would break through the fencing and find its way out onto the highway where it met a brutal death. The steer could not have possibly known the rancher had not fenced him in to be mean. The fences were meant to protect him from an early and wasted demise.

It turns out that a whole industry of “rendering” had grown up dealing with cattle that didn’t understand the meaning of the fences. Rendering trucks could be seen now and then picking up the corpses of cattle that found a way of breaching the boundaries laid out by the rancher.

Strength and courage

In the first part of this week’s text, God encourages Joshua to lay hold of all that the Lord had promised Moses. Moses brought the people to the very edge of experiencing the Promised Land. Because of earlier disobedience, although he laid eyes on it, God did not allow him to set foot on it. 

Moses had died, and Joshua inherited the responsibility for completing the work Moses started. God encouraged Joshua to “‘be strongand courageous,because you will lead these people to inherit the land I swore to their ancestorsto give them’” (v. 6). 

In driving home the matter to Joshua, the Lord repeats his encouragement as recorded in v. 7. “‘Be strong and very courageous.’” It’s a challenge to summon up the gift of God already in Joshua’s heart. The strength and courage Joshua would need already was his. It now was his responsibility to be a good steward of it.

Requiring God’s presence

Of course, Joshua faced a daunting challenge—one that would require more than a GPS.  It would require a moral compass, the magnitude of which would require the presence of God in order to lead an entire nation to a new and hopeful place.

Knowing this even before Joshua possibly could imagine, God promises his presence no matter what. In v. 9, for yet a third time, God reinforces the commission to Joshua: “‘Be strong and courageous.  Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged,for theLordyour God will be with you wherever you go.’”

The commission to which God appointed Joshua was far more than geographical in nature. Far beyond that, it was a moral, spiritual commission. A commission to reach deep within himself for the gift of God and do the work with the absolute confidence that Joshua could never go so far as to get beyond the reach of God’s presence.

Having made that awesome promise, God reminds Joshua never to leave the boundaries, the spiritual fencing, provided in the word God had also provided. “‘Be careful to obeyall the law my servant Mosesgave you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left,that you may be successful wherever you go’” (v. 7).

Within the boundaries

So very often, we pray for wisdom and guidance, which we should. Yet, just as often, if we’ll take the time to look, the wisdom we seek has been given in the word of God we already have. God will not give us different directions than he has already given, will he?

When my oldest son, now in his 30s, was only four, he wanted to color one day, using the kitchen dining table as a sketching pad. I’d already pulled a page from a coloring book and laid it on the table in front of him.

He asked me, “Dad, what color do I use?” I then told him he could use any color he wanted if he stayed on the paper. I knew if he stayed within the simple boundaries of the edges of the paper he could both take courage to be himself and at the same time stay in a safe place.

Room to be who God created us to be

The Bible doesn’t give us roadmaps to follow. It gives us, like cattle on a wide-open prairie, plenty of room to be the unique person he created us to be, as long as we obey and stay within the broader boundaries of his laws.

Sometimes, as we look out on that to which God has called us, either as individuals or as churches, we are overwhelmed at the magnitude of it all. It is only when we remember we didn’t arrive here on our own.

We have inherited this commission from those who came before us.  We have the word of God, the light for the path (Psalms 119:105). 

We also have the very presence of God, the one who promised, as recorded in v. 5, “‘I will be with you; I will never leave you nor forsakeyou.’”

Glen Schmucker is a hospice and pediatric hospital chaplain in Fort Worth.