I am always on the prowl for a good steak and for me, a good one has to be tender, juicy, and flavorful. When it comes to studying God’s Word I still seek the flavor but I don’t want the passages that melt in your mouth. I want to chew and chew and chew and wrestle with the passages He leads me to so that I can savor every last morsel and get all of the intended sustaining nourishment out of it.

Currently my jaws are sore (in the best way) from chewing on the Israelites journey from captivity in Egypt, through the wilderness, meandering at the edge of the promised land, and finally crossing the Jordan into the promised land. Wow, did that journey ever give a lot to chew on! I camped out at length at the waters of Mareh. It fascinated me to think about the bitter water and how God didn’t lead the people to different water, He just changed the bitter to sweet.

My present chewing though and today’s blog post is about the change in leadership near the end of the wilderness journey. Moses had just died and Joshua had become the leader of the Israelites. Moses led the way out of captivity and through the perils of the wilderness but it would be Joshua who would lead them into the promised land. They were both called by God and used by God to do mighty and seemingly impossible things yet their approaches to God were worlds apart. Moses obeyed God but only after he gave God all his excuses and questions and doubts. Joshua obeyed God. Joshua obeyed God immediately. Both had faith. Moses had a hesitant faith while Joshua had a reckless faith (and by reckless I mean a faith that had no thought for self or consequence. God spoke, Joshua acted).

I want Joshua faith. I want to hear God’s voice in the big and little things and I want to move immediately. Anyone serious about their relationship with God would want the same as well. The truth is, I don’t believe Joshua always had “Joshua faith”. We aren’t told his backstory but we do know he and everyone he knew were held in slavery until God set them free. We do know that Joshua watched Moses speak and act on God’s behalf. We do know that Joshua walked across the Red Sea on dry ground and that he ate manna and quail in the wilderness. We know that he watched God descend on Mount Sinai in a pillar of smoke and felt the mountain shake. We know he wandered in the wilderness with the rest of the Israelites for 40 years.

From knowing myself and being a student and observer of human behavior, I believe Joshua started out with the same trepidation that Moses had at the burning bush. As Joshua saw the faithfulness of God over and over again despite the faithlessness of the Israelites, he grew and his questions began to fall away. His fear and doubt left as he turned his eyes away from himself and put them on the Pillar of Smoke and Fire that guided the people by day and night. He stored the lessons of a faithful God in his heart with the hope that one day His God would ask something of him.

When we insert ourselves in the story of the Exodus (application) we can learn so much. Looking left we can see Moses and looking right we can see Joshua. Our journey with God always begins with a rescue from bondage. I never crossed a sea on dry ground with the waters on either side of me but when I look back on the direction my life was headed because of my own choices, His rescue of me seems equally miraculous. After He rescues us we often wander in strange places and are given many opportunities to put our tender faith in Him. We question, we grumble, we doubt ourselves and Him, but hopefully we grow too. We have high seasons and desert seasons. And we question some more and doubt some more. All along the journey we have the opportunity to turn our eyes off of ourselves and onto the One who has always led us and never left us, despite our complaining and disobedience. I think Joshua grumbled and then he turned and when God asked him to move he was so used to trusting God, it was just like breathing to obey immediately.

You and I are traveling this journey with other Joshuas. Look at where their eyes and hearts and minds are fixed and do likewise. Paul had some great advice for the church in Philippi when, in Philippians 1:27NIV, he said, “Whatever happens [or I like ‘whatever comes’], conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ. Then, whether I come and see you or only hear about you in my absence, I will know that you stand firm in the one Spirit, striving as one for the faith of the Gospel without being frightened in any way by those who oppose you.” In other words, Paul is telling them and us that we don’t know what is going to happen next but whatever it is (and I do mean whatever), be right and be ready to say yes.

Joshua didn’t have faith that we can’t have. The same God that guided him in a pillar of smoke and fire now resides in us in the form of the Holy Spirit. He always the provides the means way before He ever calls. Turn. Set. Go.