The Book of Joshua is the sixth book of the Bible. In short, it is the story of the conquest of Canaan (the Promised land) under the leadership of Joshua. Joshua was one of two unique individuals who did not die in the wilderness, but was allowed by God to enter the Promised Land.
One of the important sections in the Book of Numbers (the fourth book of the Bible) was an encounter after their exodus from Egypt and not too long after Moses received the Law on Mt. Sinai. It was just before God consigned them to wander in the wilderness for 40 years, and the text that I want to direct us to in Numbers is the reason for God’s judgment. God told Moses to send twelve spies (one from each tribe) into the Promised Land to “check it out” before they entered. After all, they were supposed to enter the land during their first year after leaving Egypt. They saw, they tasted, and they returned with their reports. Here is a portion of the report that the spies gave to Moses:
“We went into the land where you sent us; and it certainly does flow with milk and honey, and this is its fruit. Nevertheless, the people who live in the land are strong, and the cities are fortified and very large,…(Num. 13:27-28).
Then Caleb, one of the spies, quieted the people before Moses and said,
“We should by all means go up and take possession of the land, for we shall surely overcome it” (Num. 13:30).
Unfortunately, ten of the other spies who had gone up with him said,
“We are not able to go up against the people, for they are too strong for us…The land through which we have gone in spying it out is a land that devours its inhabitants; and all the people whom we saw in it are men of great size…and we became like grasshoppers in our own sight, and so we were in their sight. Then all the congregation lifted up their voices and cried, and the people wept that night” (Num. 13:31–14:1).
The people proceeded to grumble against Moses and Aaron, blaming them (and the LORD) for leading them into the wilderness with “no hope” of entering the Promised Land. And so, God pronounced judgment on them,
“Surely all the men who have seen My glory and My signs, which I performed in Egypt, and in the wilderness, yet have put Me to the test…shall by no means see the land which I swore to give to their fathers. But My servant Caleb, because he has had a different spirit and has followed Me fully, I will bring into the land which he entered, and his descendants shall take possession of it…”(Num. 14:22-24).
But there was another spy who went into the land with the twelve, and his name was Joshua. He, along with Caleb, would enter the Promised Land. And then God continued with His judgment upon the other ten spies,
“As for the men whom Moses sent to spy out the land and who returned and made all the congregation grumble against him by bringing out a bad report concerning the land, even those men who brought out the very bad report of the land died by a plague before the LORD. But Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh remained alive out of those men who went out spy out the land” (Num. 14:36-38).
And it was Joshua whom God would choose to lead the Israelites into the Promised Land. As we look at the Book of Joshua, we see three major military campaigns, beginning with the crossing of the Jordan River and the conquest of Jericho, one of those “very fortified cities.” The Israelites who entered the land learned some very important lessons from their leader Joshua, namely that victory comes through faith in God and obedience to His Word rather than through military might or numerical superiority.
As you might expect, after Moses died, it was time for Joshua to lead them across the Jordan and into the Promised Land with all of the fortified cities and imposing armies. You might think that with the challenges ahead, Joshua would be “shaking in his boots!” However, the Lord encouraged and reminded him,
“Be strong and courageous, for you shall give this people possession of the land which I swore to their fathers to give them. Only be strong and very courageous; be careful to do according to all the law which Moses My servant commanded you; and do not turn from it to the right or to the left, so that you may have success wherever you go” (Josh. 1:6-7).
And so, the next two verses, in my mind, become the most important verses for us to remember in the Book of Joshua,
“This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written it; for then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have success. Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous! Do not tremble or be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go” (Josh. 1:8-9).
The message for each of us is that if we will meditate upon God’s Word and be careful to do all that is written in it, then we will be “prosperous” and have “success.” In looking more closely at each of these words, I found that the word translated as “prosperous” can also mean “success;” and the word translated as “success” actually means to “be prudent” or to gain “wisdom” and “understanding.” I believe that for Joshua, it meant that he would be successful in what God was calling him to do, that is, conquer the land of Canaan. And, in addition to having “success,” Joshua would come to understand that his success had come by following God’s admonition to meditate upon and obey His Word. In fact, years later in his “farewell” message to the nation, Joshua said,
“…not one word of all the good words which the LORD your God spoke concerning has failed; all have been fulfilled for you, not one of them has failed” (Josh. 23:14).
At the end of his life, Joshua saw the fulfillment of God’s promise made at the beginning of his mission that if he meditated on and obeyed God’s Word, he would not only find “success,” but that he would also realize that it was precisely because of his obedience to God that his mission was accomplished. And that’s the message that he gave to the Israelites who would inhabit the Promised Land.
For followers of Jesus, “success” is about allowing the power of Christ to produce the fruit in our lives that will influence others for Him. That “fruit” is the “fruit of righteousness” in which our words and our actions reflect God’s love and grace. That’s not only where “success” is found, but it’s also the point at which we come to realize that it was because of our commitment to Him and to the “mission” He has given us that allowed us to experience the “success” He promised. It is my prayer that each of us will discover, as Joshua did many years ago, that obedience to Christ will result in accomplishing the mission set before us, that is, to make a difference in our world by influencing others for Christ. May God grant that this “influence” will flow from our lives each day.
