STOP Waiting for Another Sign - A Series in Joshua

Hi Zach.

Hey.

How's it going, brother?

It's going great.

Good, good, good, good.

We are in our Joshua series right now.

We're doing these quick little podcasts to kind of set up our group's time together, to set up, you know, this the people's personal devotion time throughout the week.

And so um I just wanted to sit down with you for a little bit today, and I thank you for your time uh talking through this week's passage.

Uh, we had our message this past weekend on Joshua chapter 18 and 19.

Joshua 18 · chapter mention

And so I'd love for you just to quickly give us an overview of what's happening in this passage, and we'll just kind of break it down together.

So share with us a little bit what's going on here, man.

Yeah, uh if you can imagine, so they just moved the tabernacle to Shiloh, right?

So big move.

They're gonna start the lands for the most part subdued here, uh, where we're out, and now they've got moved.

They've moved their central worship in place with the tabernacle, ten of meetings, and they're just looking for what's next.

I tend to think when you read into this, Joshua's finally like, okay, like it's time to move, like a little bit of patience.

They just did all of this.

So it really opens with him in exhortation, and he's telling the people, like, how long are you going to put off moving into the remainder of the land?

So if you remember from some of the past, right, we're starting to distribute some of the land.

There was some uh enemies and other people to move out.

So he's just it's there, right, and ready to go.

And he's just challenging them, let's get this done.

Uh so he starts taking action, he sends out 21 people, three each of the seven tribes, starts going out, and they just start surveying the land so he can divvy it up.

And there's a lot in there that you can go through, but it's really just about taking action on the promises that God already gave them, right?

He already answered it and gave them the land.

They just need to step up and get on with it.

And that's what we read through here that Joshua does that.

And 18 ends with Benjamin being one of the first tribes, 19 describes the rest of the tribes, how that land goes.

And then what's interesting is 19 actually finishes with Joshua getting an allotment last.

Uh, but the people look to him and give it out, and so he actually comes along at the very end of 19.

Um, but there's a lot there, but that's a very high-level recap of where we're at and what we're looking to do.

There's a lot of names in here I can't pronounce.

There's a lot of places at too.

And you know, I think this would this would be a great, uh, a great week.

Uh, I know a lot of people have uh in the back of their Bibles and know have it in mine um like maps that have the different land allotments and who landed where and all that stuff, how the different tribes were able to enter the land of Canaan, and this is where they lived, and then you can kind of look through different maps that that show how this evolved over time and you know what happened to each of these land allotments.

But the reality is like this that this passage, even though there's there's a there's a lot of names, a lot of places people go, both both these chapters, um, it is God fulfilling his promises, you know.

And we we we have a lot of these different kinds of chapters in Joshua where it there's a lot of names, there's a lot of things that we're talking about.

Um, but what I want to remind people of, uh we talked Chris and I talked about this a little bit last week.

There's so much richness packed into these passages, you know.

It can be really easy for us, like just in a general read-through, to kind of be like, okay, I don't know how to say that name, I don't know where that is, that doesn't mean anything to me.

That may as well be Belleville, you know.

You know, um, but the reality is like there's so such a rich uh promise-keeping uh theme throughout all of this.

And then also, you know, remembering what the purpose of Joshua is, like the purpose of this book, it's a history book, you know.

And so uh I I remember we're walking through um, I think it's chapter 13 or 14, I can't I can't remember.

Um, but where it just lists like all these different battles that all these people won through all these different things.

And for us that didn't live in that time, it might feel a little like why am I reading this?

Why does this matter?

But for the real the reality is again that the book of Joshua is a history book for the for the Israelites, for the for the Jewish.

The building of a nation, right?

The building of a nation reading some of this stuff would be similar to maybe us as Americans going to a war memorial, or even like looking at how different states were developed, or how different families in like like looking at our family tree, like I'm doing a family tree thing right now, it's been super fun.

Like learning about who came from where and all that stuff, it like it like does something to you, you know, and so so there we're not only seeing like God's promises being fulfilled in these passages, which is enough on its own, but if you read it through the through the lens of uh of an Israelite, you know, and they're living in this place now, you know, they're living in some of the places that that are named here, and they know that they have these distant relatives, these ancestors that that came into this place because their distant ancestors and relatives were promised it.

Yeah, what a beautiful picture.

What a what a way to feel close to God, you know.

Yeah, and and when you put yourself in their shoes and you really think about it, right?

Like just put yourself there and think about how many of us dread just like moving if we buy a new house, right?

Or moving out of our apartment and stuff, and think about the weight of what's happening here, and their lives were centered around the tabernacle and and God, how he was leading through them, and all that's moved, like everything in some ways is calm because they're being led by God and living out what his purpose for them, but then in other ways it's such an upheaval because you have just they're leading, they're going into this land, they're trying to get everything organized for the tribes to make it make sense, right?

And I think we've all been there where you get to a place where you're like, Okay, God, like what do you want for me?

And I think here we just see it where God's like, I've already told you time to move, right?

It's time to move.

You've you've prayed, you've taken action.

We've been, in this case, through battles, we've been through wars, we subdued the land.

Like, do it, right?

And I think Pastor Andrew uh brought it up beautifully, just saying you just got to walk into the promise that's already there for you.

And this is a beautiful illustration of that when you step into their shoes and just think about the weight of what's happening here, what's going on.

Yeah, it's so I hate how hard it is to do that, how hard it is to just accept that God has already won the battle, you know, and even remembering like that our battle isn't against flesh and blood as well, like that that man, maybe some of the strife that we're feeling with other people in our lives or in situations in our lives, like recognizing like okay, God loves this person.

This God has given promises to this other person just like he's given promises to me.

All they need to do is believe, you know.

All I need to do is believe.

All I have to do is step into that promise that if you believe in Jesus, you know, then you will be saved, you know, and salvation starts today, you know, your new life can start today, you can be transformed today.

Um and so accepting that and having that eternal perspective, that that that that God perspective on all of that is is so important, but it's so hard because we're we're stuck looking at our situation, you know.

We talked about it last week as well, you know.

Um Dr.

Kelvin, uh I'm forgetting his last name, Walker.

Walker, yeah, um, talked about having squatters in the land, you know, like there are sometimes there are people that are getting in the way uh of your promise, you know, but oftentimes it's us, you know, it's it's us doing it ourselves.

Yeah, we just have to say yes, we just have to go do it.

And man, like I don't know if it's laziness, I don't know if it's um you know insecurity, I don't know what that could be lots of different things that they help that get in our way of just like letting God work in and through our lives, yeah, you know.

I yeah, I I I paused a second because I laughed.

I was like, they shouldn't have got you and I in the room.

We're gonna go long.

But well, I will keep it short.

But I will say this I'm just reminded that a lot of times the world tells us to control everything throughout the day.

We want control naturally, I think, is like built into us, right?

In a broken world, we want that control, and yet the one thing we can control, which is submit and respond to God when He calls us into His promises, His will, and it's the one thing we rebel against and drag our feet.

Yeah, you know, and it's just I think I do that all the time myself is that it's like, man, I control and attempt to control everything, and then the one thing like just submit, right?

And know that God is good, it's his promise, he's called us into it and step into it with confidence, right?

Not of our own accord, but because of who we're following and who he is.

That's where we get our confidence.

The amount of power and the amount of um freedom that we have to pursue God in the different ways that he allows us to, you know, is incredible.

We just have to do it, you know.

We just we just have to get up and go.

And we're gonna do uh we're gonna do a series on that actually after we're done with Joshua, which I'm really, really excited about that entire premise of hey, stand up, go.

Like, like, like we are called to obedience, you know, we are called to make the most out of our lives.

And so uh yeah, I'm excited to dive into that series, but also like we get a kind of a snapshot of that today, you know.

And you know, it is interesting, like uh Pastor Andrew talked about this a little bit on Sunday, um, about Joshua casting lots, yes, you know, when this is all this is going on.

Um, we don't really know exactly what that means.

You know, we have some different axes too.

It's used a couple places you can hear about it.

It could be rolling dice, it could be, you know, tossing bones or something.

I don't know.

Who knows?

Who knows what who knows exactly what that means?

I've heard some different interpretations on on how you would go about casting lots, but the reality of it is it it's it's a place of saying, Okay, God, we want to do this.

We feel like you're calling us to do this.

Like, like give us that permission almost.

Like you are in charge, you know.

Let's make I want to make sure this is okay with you.

And it's an act of worship.

It it's it's it's praying, you know.

It's saying pick it back up, right?

Like once you lay it at the the feet of Jesus and give it to be done, right?

Leave it there.

Yeah, right, take the appropriate steps.

Yeah, and uh, I was talking to my wife one time.

Um, I may have shared the story with you before, but it's it the the I this idea of casting lots before the Lord and saying, Okay, is this okay with you?

Um, they were already in the middle of going and doing when Joshua goes and does this, you know, when he starts casting lots and saying, Okay, God, is this is this we're we're moving, is this just I just want to double check and make sure this is okay.

We had a situation where we felt like God was calling us to obey one time, and it was uh I'm I'm not gonna share all the details, we don't have time for that.

Um if anybody wants the details, come talk to me, it's fine.

Um, but we had a situation where we were being called to obey to do something that was gonna be really, really hard.

Um and I I didn't want to do it, you know, and it involved potential adoption and things like that of a child, and I felt like really apprehensive towards it, and I was like, I just don't know if this is what God is calling us to do, you know.

And Monica, my wife, looks me dead in the eye and says, Every door is open until God closes it.

You know, if if you if we feel called to obey, if we know that that that taking care of an orphan is something that God charges us to do, which we do know that, you know, Jesus says that good religion is taking care of widows and orphans, you know, that we know this is a good thing.

If it is not for us, God will close the door.

And so we just have to assume that the door is open.

But if it's not for us, then He will then He will close it for us, especially if we know what we're doing is good, you know.

And the way that we saw God work through that situation was just so obviously his sovereign hand moving in our lives.

And so I I think we can learn a lot from this from this idea of okay, they the Israelites know what they need to be doing.

Joshua's like, all right, let's let's let's get this show on the road, I'll make sure it's okay, you guys just go start, you know.

Um, man, how many of us just need to assume the door is open?

You know, if God if you feel like God is calling you to obey him, to do something that is good for him, if he doesn't want you specifically doing that, he will close the door.

Um we just have to pursue him with everything that we have.

Yep.

All about the heart heart posture, right?

And we talked a little bit about that on Sunday, too, of just like what's your posture of your heart towards God and his calling.

Yeah, it's good stuff, man.

Thank you so much for today's act.

Thanks for having me.

I appreciate it.

Yeah.