I’m excited to be starting a new series today, looking at the journey of Joshua. This significant Old Testament character has a whole book named after him and he led the Israelites into a land ‘flowing with milk and honey’, a territory gifted by God himself! That alone makes Joshua worthy of our attention for the next handful of weeks.
Yet we will be delving a little deeper than that, looking at his character, his challenges, his faith and his relationship with God and those around him. Joshua 24:10 tells us that this great leader lived to be 110 years old ‘and they buried him in the land of his inheritance at Timnath Serah’. Joshua made it! He was laid to rest in the place that God had ordained for him and his people; the place God had always intended his chosen ones to occupy.
However, it was quite a journey. I know that statement has become something of a cliché but it really was! Joshua was born into Egyptian slavery and then he spent forty years in the wilderness. By my reckoning, he was fairly advanced in years when he reached his place of inheritance. I conclude that for at least two-thirds of his life, things were more than a little frustrating and turbulent! I’m sure that Joshua learnt many lessons along the way and possibly the greatest one was the need for patience followed closely by a requirement to trust in the Lord.
So let’s journey together, knowing that whatever our age, there are lessons to learn and adventures still to come. We serve an awesome God who really hasn’t finished with us yet!