Dare To Be Decisive!
Dare To Be Decisive!
Joshua 1: 7: " Only be thou strong and very courageous."
Theodore Roosevelt's favorite chapter in the Bible was the first chapter of Joshua.
When you remember Roosevelt's history, you understand why.
The Rough Rider was always a man of action, in the ranch lands of the Dakotas, in the politics
of the Empire State, on the slopes of San Juan Hill, in the diplomacy of the White House
that talked gently, but carried a big stick.
He knew that life required character and courage.
When a person is considering the pathway he should consider the resources he will need
for any given enterprise, he will give careful deliberation to make that decision.
But when there is difficulty and danger involved in that task, he must be daring enough
to make the difference.
If he deliberates too long, it can mean to delay until doubt paralyzes and defeats him
in the purpose that he is pursuing.
We must dare to defy the human impossibilities when we know that God is leading us.
Daring to follow God's leadership can mean the difference between defeat
and the satisfaction of a duty well done.
Like Joshua, we have need to hear God's exhortation,
" Only be thou strong and very courageous." (1: 7)
There are giants today as there were then, and they will oppose us because we are the people of God.
The giants had been seen by Joshua when with others he had spied out the Promised Land.
(Numbers 13)
Joshua did not deny their presence in the land, nor did he underestimate their power;
but he did not agree with the opinion of the majority that, " There we saw the giants…
and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so were we in their sight." (Numbers 13: 33)
Joshua and Caleb said that was ridiculous.
" If the Lord delight in us, then he will bring us into this land, and give it to us, a land which
floweth with milk and honey.
Only rebel not ye against the lord, neither fear ye the people of the land; for they are bread for us:
their defense is departed from them, and the Lord is with us: fear them not!" (Numbers 14: 8, 9)
People who dare see God, not the giants.
People who dare see the power of God, not the "cities walled up to heaven."
People who dare see the promise of God, not the impossibilities.
People who dare to follow God will say as Caleb and Joshua, " Let us go up at once,
and possess it; for we are well able to overcome it." (Numbers 13:30)
People who dare have discovered that there is more danger of defeat from the faint-hearted
and fearful in our own ranks than from fierce foes who may be a as large as giants.
The fearful were in the majority.
Ten spies reported, " We be not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we." (13:31)
There were only two who dared, and strongly insisted, " We are well able." (Verse 30)
People who dare often stand alone in a hopeless minority.
They must learn not to dread the majority that out votes them nor the mob that would stone them.
People who dare must learn the strong confidence of Hebrews 13: 5, 6: "… for he hath said,
I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.
So that we may boldly say, the Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me."
We can always count on Gods presence and His power
People who dare may be delayed by the council of the cautious, but their moment of opportunity
will come.
Like Joshua, we stand at the border of our promised land, where the giants dwell,
but we must hear the words of God: " Only be thou strong and very courageous."
As we move forward God leads us, we will find that our real enemies are not the sons of Anak,
but really are the shy Achans within our own camp. (Joshua 7)
The self-seeking, self-pleasing, self-centered selfishness within us that disregards the
commandment of God to separate from worldly acclaim or applause of any kind;
these are the real giants to be conquered.
If these giants are not overcome within us by the power of God, then we will be powerless
before the giants in our lives.
Devotion to duty, and obedience to God's Word, and separation from known sin -- these must
precede our daring for without them the strongest heart is powerless
We must go forth taking the Sword of the Spirit and battle against sin and Satan.
Then, there is the Jordan that will hinder us, as it did Joshua.
The giants may represent spiritual and psychological foes that face us as we follow God,
but the Jordan can represent physical factors that may discourage us from following God.
The Jordan may well represent physical factors that make it seem foolish of any thought
of following Him further.
To be sure, God has brought us from the iron furnace of Egypt, through certain death
at the Red Sea; and has led by a fiery pillar and provides us manna day after day.
So, with the children of Israel we have come to know the reality of Psalm 78: 72:
" So he fed them according to the integrity of his heart; and guided them
by the skillfulness of his hands."
But the Jordan is a different difficulty from that of the wilderness.
It is untrodden and treacherous, and " overfloweth all its banks at the time of harvest." (Joshua 3:15)
There is no bridge over the Jordan.
The Jordan is a raging torrent that terrifies and intimidates.
There are physical factors that make our obedience impossible to the known will of God.
The Lord's word was, " Arise, go over this Jordan,thou, and all this people." (1: 2)
But the Jordan was unchanged by that command.
Caution would say, " Now let us think this over very carefully from every angle.
We must not presume on the power and providence of God.
He he is leaving you, and if that is true, then He will bring you to a bridge."
It is true that we are not to be presumptuous; for even the Lord Jesus, under pressure
not to presume up on the promise of God, repeated the Word, "Thou shall not tempt
the Lord thy God." (Matthew 4: 7; Deuteronomy 6: 16)
God had not commanded our Lord to leap from the pinnacle of the temple in order to test
the provision of angelic help; and furthermore, there was up a staircase leading down
to the pavement.
However, God had told Joshua to " go over this Jordan," just as it was.
There is a very fine line between fanaticism of self-will and the faith of obedience to God's will,
and happy is the person who learns the difference.
While caution considers and deliberation delays, the daring will obey the explicit command
of the Lord.
The fearful and faint-hearted do not know the quickening of the confidence and the power of God
that comes with obedience to venture and put one's feet into an overflowing impossibility,
and to find a way where there seemed to be no way to go.
" And as they that bore the ark were come unto Jordan, and the feet of the priests that
bore the ark dipped in the brim of water,… and the waters which came down from above
stood and rose up into an heap… and all the Israelites passed over on dry ground." (3: 15-17)
This was a time to be strong and decisive when the seemingly impossible stares a person
in the face; to be very courageous when obedience commands that we put our feet
on the brim of certain disaster.
That discipline has many memorials to God's mercy, as had Joshua in the heap of stones
within the Jordan and along its side to testify, " It was here that God helped me."
Jericho, as well as the giants and the Jordan, may challenge us when we obey God.
Why must there be one impossibility after a another in the pathway of faith and obedience.
There was the fear of giants,
Then, there was the fury of the Jordan.
And now, there is the fortress of Jericho.
A Christian life is one of faith and not one of sight.
It is faith that follows God implicitly.
We may follow with trembling on occasion.
Faith does not calculate, consider, caution or cringe.
Faith simply follows.
Christians who dare to be decisive always do this on a miracle basis.
Deliberation is on the allegedly safe ground of human ability and cleverness.
Paul knew the pressure upon pressure of the impossible, even unto human despair,
" that we should not trust in ourselves but in God which raiseth the dead; who delivered us
from so great a death, and doth deliver, and in whom we trust that he will yet deliver us."
(2 Corinthians 1: 9, 10)
Paul testified, " We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed,
but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed."
(2 Corinthians 4: 8, 9)
Paul knew the overcoming and sustaining power of the indwelling Christ. (Verse 10)
To walk by faith is to face an unending succession of giants, Jordans, and Jerichos.
As Christians we must dare to conquer each one of them.
Whatever may be our Jericho, we can overcome it if we obey the word and will of our God.
Its walls may be high, it's battlements may be formidable, its strength undoubted,
and its occupants unyielding; but prayer and patience will bring it down before the soul
that dares to obey God.
Gods methods may not be ours, and usually, they are not.
At Jericho it was the silent march of the host for days, and then, the shout of faith
that brought the victory. (Joshua 6:16, 20)
At Ai, it was Joshua's spear stretched forth that symbolized the faith that obeys and triumphs.
(8: 18, 26)
Centuries later, the children of Israel sang at the commandment of King Jehoshaphat;
and their song secured the conquest of their foes. (2 Chronicles 20:22)
Silence or shout, spear or song, on any other divinely-appointed manner of service is effective
in the hand of those who dare to trust and to obey God.
As Christians we must dare to discern our duty.
As Christians we must do God's bidding.
As Christians we are to delight in His presence.
As Christians we are to depend upon His promise.
As Christians we are to discover His power as we obey His word.
" Only be thou strong and very courageous, that thou mayest observe to do…
that thou mayest prosper whithersoever thou goest… Have not I commanded thee?
Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed;
for the Lord thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest." (Joshua 1: 7, 9)
Stand -- Withstand
" Stand still! Stand firm!
Stand ever sound --
Stand armour clad,
"Tis fighting ground;
Then stand with victor's grip,
The " foe" to overthrow;
With holy hands, unloose the bands --
'Tis Christ that brought him low."
-- Evan Roberts
Sermon adapted by Dr. Harold L. White