Lent 2022

“I will give you every place where you set your foot, as I promised Moses.” Joshua 1:3

Can you imagine… every place that you set your foot was given to you by God? That wherever you stepped you would know God has set it before you? Not wanting or needing to try to conquer or acquire more land, rather receiving the land that has already been given to you as you take your next faithful step.

That is what it is like living as a child of the King. His Kingdom has been established, the land is His, and it is given to you as an inheritance to enjoy! 

He knew before the foundations of the earth where you would set your feet, when you would take the next step, and where it would lead you. It was yours from the beginning to walk into…

Psalm 139

¹ You have searched me, Lord,
    and you know me.
² You know when I sit and when I rise;
    you perceive my thoughts from afar.
³ You discern my going out and my lying down;
    you are familiar with all my ways.
⁴ Before a word is on my tongue
    you, Lord, know it completely.
⁵ You hem me in behind and before,
    and you lay your hand upon me.
⁶ Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,
    too lofty for me to attain.

⁷ Where can I go from your Spirit?
    Where can I flee from your presence?
⁸ If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
    if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
⁹ If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
    if I settle on the far side of the sea,
¹⁰ even there your hand will guide me,
    your right hand will hold me fast.

How beautiful to know that the God of all creation, the one who holds all things in His righteous right hand, knows every step before we take it. Not only does He know, but He remains with us in it at all times. He doesn’t jump in and out depending on our needs or wants. He doesn’t get mad and leave until we make things right. He is always present.  

He was present in our past. He is present in our present. He will be present in our future. His invitation to us is to remain present in His presence as we take our next faithful step with Him. Let us continue to lean into the truth of knowing that He is with us, He has gone before us, and He hems us in from behind. When we can rest in this truth, our fears turn into praise!

Reflection:

1. How do you feel about the truth in Psalm 139?
2. What would it look like for you to move forward in total faith that God has gone before you, and He hems you in from behind?
3. How might He be inviting you to remain in His presence?

Pray through the truth of Revelation 1:4-8

Grace and peace to you from him who is, and who was, and who is to come, and from the seven spirits before his throne,⁵ and from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood, ⁶ and has made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve his God and Father—to him be glory and power for ever and ever! Amen.

⁷ “Look, he is coming with the clouds,”
    and “every eye will see him,
even those who pierced him”;
    and all peoples on earth “will mourn because of him.”
So shall it be! Amen.

⁸ “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty.”

Read Joshua 1:1-9.

What would it look like to trust God so fully that fear was suddenly nonexistent? That we would walk in God’s promises so confidently that we would not make decisions or hesitate based on what we didn’t know, but would fully trust Him with all things. We would simply hold all things to Him; things in our past, things in our today, and all things ahead of us.

Can you imagine a faith journey with God with no fear? The first word that comes to my mind is freedom! There would be so much freedom to move forward in faith and in trust.

This is exactly what the Lord was inviting Joshua into as he took over the leadership of the Israelites after Moses’ death. Check out these words God spoke to Joshua again…

³ I will give you every place where you set your foot, as I promised Moses …⁵ No one will be able to stand against you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you. ⁶ Be strong and courageous … ⁷ Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful wherever you go. ⁸ Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful. ⁹ Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; Do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.

In the past when I would read verses like this, I would sometimes think, “So glad God did that for him, but that doesn’t apply to me.” Or sometimes it gives me a momentary boost of confidence or courage, like a coffee mug quote, but it quickly fades with the next challenge or difficult circumstance. 

But recently I am seeing these verses as invitations to rest further into the character and nature of God.  God desires to form His character and nature in us, and He uses these stories to invite us to trust Him with the same faith as the faithful before us because He is the same God.

When we can read His Word through this lens, we begin to receive it more personally. This lens moves it from a story about someone else to a way of me becoming more and more like Christ by living into His promises.

These truths about God’s character, when fully lived into, replace our weaknesses with His supernatural strength. Our timidity with His bold courage. Our fear with unhindered trust in His presence and power.

Let’s continue to lean into the character and nature of God that He is inviting us into through these promises. As we do, I pray “that He may strengthen you with power through His Spirit in your inner being” (Ephesians 3:16) so that we may live together more fully and freely in Him!

Reflection:

1. Do you have a hard time believing these promises are for you today?  Why or why not?
2. What would it look like for you to move forward in total faith in God’s promises, without fear?
3. Which of the promises in Joshua 1 are you most excited to live into? Which do you think might be the hardest to live into?

Pray through the truth of Psalm 34:4-9

I sought the Lord, and he answered me;
    he delivered me from all my fears.
⁵ Those who look to him are radiant;
    their faces are never covered with shame.
⁶ This poor man called, and the Lord heard him;
    he saved him out of all his troubles.
⁷ The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him,
    and he delivers them.⁸ Taste and see that the Lord is good;
    blessed is the one who takes refuge in him.
⁹ Fear the Lord, you his holy people,
    for those who fear him lack nothing.

God’s kindness is intended to lead you to repentance.

Pray and worship through Philippians 4:4-8. May this be a great blessing for you as you journey through these verses!

“Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.”

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” Matthew 11:28-30 (NIV)

Yesterday we talked about the first three words of this scripture, “Come to me”. Let’s settle into the rest of this passage. Jesus focuses on “I will give you rest.” We could stop right there! I’ll take it! I think we all would. We need to understand what we need rest from. And, how do we experience true rest? It’s great to get away to the beach, go to another part of our country, or the world. We get back home and wind up right where we started from. We just escaped. We never really found rest. We just enter back into the life that we left for a little bit.

So what is Jesus saying in this scripture? It’s not physical rest, although we need that too. Jesus is talking about a real condition inside of us. The root of unrest for all who are “weary and burdened”. It’s for everyone in the world! I think it goes all the way back to Adam and Eve. You’ve heard about the fall of man in the garden… eating the fruit God said not to eat from the tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Sin entered this world and we’ve been covering things up, and trying to fix things on our own ever since. If we do what we think is good, it makes us feel better. But, it really doesn’t and it won’t take care of the sin problem in us either. So God gave Commandments for us to live by. Not just the Ten, but many more, including the sacrifices necessary to live in the presence of a Holy God.

Enter the Pharisees living in Jesus’ time. The “yoke of the Pharisees” is the burdensome yoke of self-righteousness and legalistic law-keeping (from gotquestions.org). They were adding their own laws and burdens to what was written in the scriptures. I’ve read that there were over 600 additions! Just the things you weren’t allowed to do on the Sabbath were making folks “weary and burdened”. The people couldn’t live it out, much less keep up with all the new policies and procedures. I guess the extra burdens made the Pharisees feel like they were doing more for God.

The heart of Jesus is to heal, to set free, to give life to all who would ask. When He saw all the people he had great compassion for them. He said they were like sheep without a shepherd. I can see Jesus saying this scripture to them.

What if Jesus were standing in front of you right now? If He looked right at you, called your name, and said these words to you, would you take Him at His word? Remember who’s talking to you. The Ancient of Days! The First and the Last! The Creator or All! He is all authority, and yet He invites you into this in the kindest of ways. With all His Lovingkindness which is intended to lead you into repentance. Repentance from doing life on your own. Receive these words from Jesus Himself:

“Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

Reflect on Romans 8:2,6 below.

2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death.

6 For the mindset on the flesh is death, but the mindset on the Spirit is life and peace.

Reflection:

1. How was it to hear Jesus invite you into this truth?
2. What are you willing to learn from Him?

“…and you will find rest for your souls.”

Receive Jesus’ prayer for you in John 17:20-23.

“My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one – I in them and you in me – so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.”