God’s Promises:Do You Believe Them?

Numbers 13 and 14; Deuteronomy 34; and Joshua 1, 3, 5 - 12

Note: This story was written by my good friend, Steve Ferguson. I invite you to do what Steve has done, to write a story that is meaningful to you. If you do, I will be happy to post it here, as I have done for Steve’s.

In this time of mourning Moses’ death, I often saw Joshua, my friend, and our new leader, who Moses appointed as his successor, sitting on the eastern bank of the Jordan River. He was looking west, across the river into Canaan, to the Promised Land. The east side was harsh, rocky, and dry. It was a desert. But to the west, the Promised Land was beautiful, lush, and full of the land’s bounty, the Lord’s bounty.

I said that I saw Joshua sitting and looking at the Promised Land. But, in reality, Joshua was doing much more than that. For hours, I would see him praying and looking; praying and thinking; praying and planning; and then praying some more.

My name is Caleb.

Joshua

Moses’ death shocked our people. More than just being shocked, they were afraid. They were afraid of many things, but mostly they were afraid of change. And Joshua was big change. Even before we escaped from Egypt, Moses had been our leader. Even though Moses had ordained Joshua as his successor, they were afraid. Even though Joshua had led our army to victories in battle, they were afraid.  Our fearful people were unsure of him, unsure of themselves, and most sadly, they were frequently unsure of the Lord our God. Unsure they could trust God. They were a mess!

Not me. I knew Joshua would be a great leader. How did I know? I know because I saw Joshua in action. I saw him when we first spied on Canaan. I saw his righteousness. I was with him when our army was in battle and saw his leadership and courage. I also witnessed, through his actions and our discussions, his deep faith and trust in the Lord.

When we were boys, I didn’t know him personally though I knew of him. Living as enslaved people in Egypt, we didn’t have time for much other than working and trying to survive the harshness of our Egyptian masters. Then his name was Hoshea. Still, he had a reputation as strong, hard worker, and faithful to the Lord our God.

As a young man, Hoshea became a leader of warriors. I remember when we camped at Rephidim. We were in the desert. Neither we nor our livestock had water. We were thirsty. Our people complained that the Lord had abandoned us. Following the Lord’s instructions, Moses struck his staff against the rock at Horeb. Out poured all the water we needed. Still, even after their thirst was satisfied, our people complained. They wondered if it would better that we should return to slavery in Egypt. They even threatened to stone Moses.

Later, when our people were weak and disobedient to God and Moses, the brutal Amalekites attacked us at Rephidim. Before the battle was joined, Moses surprised us when he changed Hoshea’s name to Joshua (which means to save), Moses ordered Joshua, a young man in his 20s, to select and lead our soldiers in fighting the Amalekites. Obeying God’s battle commands, Joshua and our army were victorious. Joshua later told me, “I have seen the miracles of the Lord. If we are strong and courageous, if we trust the Lord and obey His commands, we will prevail.”

One evening, Moses called twelve of us, a man from each tribe, and assigned us a mission. First, Moses told us that the Lord had given the land of Canaan to our people as our Promised Land. Furthermore, the Lord promised that Canaan was ours for the taking if we had faith in Him and trusted His promises. Moses charged the twelve of us with exploring Canaan and spying on the Canaanites, an evil, sinful people who worshipped a false god.

While on our mission, Joshua deepened his faith and absolute trust in God’s promises. For 40 days, we explored the land that the Lord had promised us. Joshua and I were excited as we explored the Promised Land. The soil was rich, water was plentiful, wild game was abundant, and the crops and fruit were ripe for harvest. Neither of us could contain our joy and excitement at this promised land.

Unfortunately, the other ten spies did not share our enthusiasm. In truth, they were afraid, even terrified. They agreed the land was rich, but they were overwhelmed with fear. They feared the strong, giant-like men who inhabited Canaan and built massive fortresses. The fearful ten “knew” the Canaanites would slaughter our army and people if we invaded their territory. The night before we returned to the camp of Israel, we all met to discuss the report we would make to Moses. Unfortunately, the ten fearful men decided to lie about the wonder of the promised land and instead to report their fear of our annihilation should we enter the land that God had already given us.

The Spies in Canaan

I argued with the others. The argument became heated and the ten threatened to kill us. I wanted to fight and beat those cowards. But Joshua took a different approach. Joshua chastised them bravely, courageously, and forcefully for not remembering the Lord had given us this land. “Don’t you remember the Lord’s promises to us and His miracles? He parted the Red Sea and so that we escaped bondage. When we had no food, the Lord provided daily manna and quail, we never went hungry. He provided us with water from a rock at Rephidim. Joshua continued, “If we believe the Lord’s promises, and walk in faith, we will be blessed. If we walk in fear without faith, the Lord will forsake us. The Lord promised us this land. With God we have already won the battle. Believe the Lord’s promises!”

Still the ten cowardly spies ignored Joshua’s reassurances. Though they threatened to kill us, in the end, they knew Joshua was strong and courageous, and having seen Joshua lead warriors and slay our enemies, they were too scared to take us on.

When we returned and reported to Moses, only Joshua and I were enthusiastic about the land. Joshua could hardly contain his excitement when he exclaimed, “This bountiful land is just as magnificent as the Lord has promised us!”

The ten others remained unfaithful cowards! They lied to Moses about the land and its people. They reported the land was barren and that the vast armies of Canaan would destroy us if our people crossed the Jordan. Joshua and I were stunned by their continued deceit and dismayed by their lack of faith. Bravely, courageously, forcefully Joshua replied saying, “The Canaanites have a strong army, but the Lord our God is much, much stronger than they. We will succeed because God promised to make our army invincible.”

Joshua’s words only made the ten angrier with us. The fearful, unbelieving cowards stirred the crowd against us. They spread their false report to other Israelites. And once again, our people were terrified. They wanted to kill us. Only Moses’ support saved our lives. To save us, Moses yielded to the people's fears. He backed down and rejected God’s gift of the Promised Land. And because we disobeyed God and lacked faith in His promise, God punished Moses and our people by making us wander in the desert for almost 40 more years.

Not long before he died, Moses gathered all of the people to speak with us. Moses shared with us that the Lord had spoken to him and said His plans had changed. The Lord had new plans. Moses said God had told him that he, Moses, would not live to cross the Jordan. Instead “the Lord your God, Himself will cross over ahead of you. He will destroy those nations before you, and you will take possession of the land.”  Moses then informed us that the Lord had chosen Joshua to be our new leader. After which Moses ordained Joshua as his successor. Moses continued by telling us that Joshua would follow directly after the Lord and lead the people across the Jordan. Moses closed his final announcement to us with these instructions, “be strong and courageous” and “if we obeyed all of the Lord’s commands, God will be with us and would never leave us.”

Shortly thereafter, Moses died.

A few days before the Lord had instructed us to cross the Jordan, I again saw Joshua, with his head bowed, praying by the river. The river was raging. Our people had been wandering in the desert for decades. We had barely seen a stream much less a rushing river. While I never would have dared to interrupt and ask challenging questions of Moses, it was different with Joshua. We’d been the closest of friends, more like brothers, for more than 50 years. We loved, trusted, and were straight with each other. I asked him some very direct questions, beginning with, “Joshua, what are you thinking? How could our frightened, cowardly people possibly cross this river?”  

Joshua remained silent for a moment. He slowly raised and turned his head toward me. He opened his eyes and a huge smile spread across his face. He then stood and said, “Caleb, you’re right. Our scared people can’t cross the Jordan.” He paused, and went on, “And I can’t lead us across.” Another pause. “But God has a plan for us, and He can lead all of us across the river.”

“Are you sure?” I asked him. “Aren’t you afraid?” Joshua told me that over the years he had replaced fear with faith. He shared with me that if left to himself, he too would have been afraid. But he had spent years learning from Moses. Observing Moses’ triumphs and defeats. He told me that the greatest lesson he had learned was that Moses’ victories were in fact the Lord’s victories because Moses had listened, trusted, and followed the Lord’s directions. Moses and our people prospered when we demonstrated our faith in God. We suffered when we lost faith and didn’t obey God.

“My faith is in the Lord our God. I listen to and obey Him,” said Joshua. “I don’t need a plan to cross the Jordan because the Lord had laid out His plan for crossing the river. He has given me specific commands on how we will cross, following the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord.”

For three days, before the crossing, our officers instructed the people on what they must do to cross the Jordan. Then, each night we would worship the Lord, praising him, asking for His mercy and the forgiveness of our sins.

We were as ready as humanly possible. Joshua knew it was impossible for a million people to cross the Jordan on their own. But it didn’t have to be humanly possible for us to cross, because all things are possible with the Lord.

Following the Lord’s exact instructions, we crossed the Jordan the next day into the land He had promised Abraham, Moses, and now Joshua. From there, we were victorious in any situation when we trusted and obeyed the Lord. We crossed the Jordan because Joshua trusted and obeyed the Lord our God. And Joshua demonstrated and taught us, once again, that we could and should trust and obey God. We all crossed into the Promised Land. We conquered the Canaanites and destroyed their cities and fortresses because we believed the Lord’s promises and obeyed His commands.

As Joshua and I aged, we would look back on our lives and share our stories. I remember seeing Joshua’s slight smile when he heard people speak of him as a great general and leader. Yes, he led fierce warriors and experienced many victories. Still Joshua knew that he only experienced those victories because he trusted and had complete faith in the Lord.

The last evening Joshua and I were together, we sat next to the fire and reminisced. Joshua noted, “When I stumbled, I did so because I had lost touch with God. When I or we, as a people disobeyed, we were punished and defeated. When Moses yielded to our people’s fear by not seizing the land the Lord had promised us, the Lord punished us to wander the desert for 40 years.

“Still the Lord loved us and gave us many ‘second chances.’ When we turned from fear to faith, we crossed the Jordan. When we followed and obeyed God, Jericho fell.  When Achan sinned against God, the men of Ai routed our army. Once cleansed of Achan’s disobedience, we destroyed Ai. Time and again it happened. When we trusted and obeyed, we were victorious.  When we were not, we suffered defeat. If only we would learn that lesson.”

Joshua continued saying, “We’re now men in our 80’s. The land the Lord had promised us is now our land. According to the Lord’s instructions, the Promised Land has been divided and given to the twelve tribes. I do not know what will become us. But I do know that when we look to God, worship Him, trust and have faith in Him, and when we obey Him, God provides.”

The next day I returned to Hebron, the inheritance and land that had I had received with Joshua’s blessing. As we departed Joshua encouraged me, “Be strong and courageous. Obey His commands. Trust the Lord our God and believe His promises. Live faithfully.”