Friday, May 18, 2018

EmmDev 2018-05-18 [Faith among grasshopper hearts] Big shoes - Resourceful God


Big shoes - Resourceful God

Have you ever been faced with a tough and daunting task or had some serious shoes to fill? Have you wrestled with a sense of inadequacy or just felt completely unprepared and overwhelmed?

It's especially difficult when one follows in the footsteps of a someone who has done the job well and done it for a long time. Joshua had a daunting task and serious shoes to fill.
"Following in the shoes of Moses?"
For goodness sake! It's some 3000 years later and people are still writing leadership based on Moses! Moses went toe to toe with Pharoah. Moses and the Ten Plagues. Moses and the Ten Commandments. Moses and Water from a rock and manna and quail! Moses talking to God, like one speaks face to face with a friend. Moses, the living legend, who finished as strong as an ox and as sharp as nails.
Would you want to follow after him??

And did we mention that Moses was loved and respected?
The Israelites grieved his death for a month!

And then the Promised Land loomed in front of the Israelites who, forty years previously, had succumbed to grasshopper mentality...

But Joshua wouldn't be filling these shoes only in his own strength!
God's Spirit was given to Joshua when Moses inducted him as leader over the people. The Spirit gave him wisdom and authority.
And the people listened.

The life of faith excludes the "safe" option. The life of faith will take us to the borders of daunting, challenging and stretching.

When we face daunting tasks, God will equip us, inspire us, infill us, guide us, uphold us, transform us and use us!

Moses was a hundred and twenty years old when he died, yet his eyes were not weak nor his strength gone. 8 The Israelites grieved for Moses in the plains of Moab thirty days, until the time of weeping and mourning was over.
9 Now Joshua son of Nun was filled with the spirit of wisdom because Moses had laid his hands on him. So the Israelites listened to him and did what the LORD had commanded Moses.          (Deuteronomy34:7-9)