Fear or Faith

When someone keeps telling you to “be strong and courageous,” you might suspect you are up against something big.  And the Israelites were.

They are about to enter the land that had been promised them 600 years before and they had a giant-sized task awaiting them.  Literally!  Forty years earlier ten spies had come back and told the Israelites that the inhabitants of the land were so big they felt like they were the size of a grasshopper in comparison.  Fear took them captive and it was that fear that kept them from fighting the epic battle that God wanted them to fight and because of it, that entire generation lost out on God’s incredible blessing for their lives.

Fear always has the tendency to debilitate us. What we need to overcome fear is courage.  Because courage is not the absence of fear, it is doing what we were called to do in spite of the fear.

The Israelites wandered in the desert for 40 years until the faithless generation was replaced with a faith filled one.  After 40 years their children were ready to take the land.  They were physically no taller than their parents had been.  The enemies in the land were no smaller than before.  But the Israelites’ faith muscles had grown and they were tired of a wilderness experience and knew there had to be more. So they were ready to face their fears and their enemies and march into unknown territory to claim what God had promised.

The two spies, upon returning back to camp, reported that the land was theirs for the taking. Joshua, the faith filled leader, rallied the people together to prepare them for the battles ahead. God, tells Joshua, three times in the first nine verses of the first chapter of Joshua: “Be strong and courageous.”  He also reminds him “the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”

My guess is you have a few giants in your life.  I know I have some.  We have also fought some battles and lost because we allowed fear to rule the day instead of faith. We have had some uphill battles that appeared insurmountable.  We have faced some tasks that demanded more than we thought we could give. We have faced times of discouragement and wondered if we had the strength to carry on.

Maybe you have one too many things on your “to do” list than you have the time or energy to do. Unemployment is staring you down.  Depression has a grip on you.  Bills have raided your bank account and left it empty.  An illness hovers in your life like a threatening storm.  You’d rather just run and wander.

But, would you listen to the words of the Lord as he brings encouragement to you today. Here is what he is saying: “Be strong and courageous! I will be with you wherever you go!” We have a Joshua that will lead the way.  The New Testament equivalent of the name “Joshua” is “Jesus.”  And he has promised to be with you always (Matthew 28:20). 

Jesus knows how to lead you through battles.  He had a few of his own while he was on this earth.  Enemies attacking him with accusations (Mark 3:22).  No home and no bed (Luke 9:58).  Crowds and expectations pressing in on him (Luke 8:45).  The religious establishment eventually insuring he was sentenced to a brutal death. (Mark 15:14).

Yet he took on the most barbaric giant there is, death, and lived to tell about it.  He can help you do the same.  You need only be strong and courageous in your faith. 

When You Are Walled In, Look for the Way Out

 

 

 

There’s a wall in front of you.  Behind you is a past you are running from.  Beyond the wall there awaits the promise of a new life.  But you’re not moving because there is this “wall.”  You feel trapped and it seems like there is no way out.  But, can I share something with you; this is just the sort of situation in which God does some of his finest work. 

Don’t believe me, ask the Israelites.  Behind them was a life of back-breaking work and slavery.  Ahead of them was a life in the land of Promise.  Behind them was the fierce army of a fanatical Pharaoh coming towards them.  Ahead of them was a wall.  Their wall was a river overflowing its banks and crossing it was impossible, or at least they thought it was.

Your “wall” may be a fear of failure.  Or maybe it’s a lack of confidence that has grinded your progress to a halt.  Or maybe you have made so many mistakes that you think life will never turn around for you. Or it could be that you have so many insurmountable problems that you don’t know which one to tackle first.

So you have stopped and feel stuck and you aren’t sure if there is a way over, around, or under this imposing impediment. 

Here is where most people panic.  Anxiety courses its way through the body, atrophies the movement muscles, and rigor mortis overtakes their resolve.  Eyes which once had clear focus now only focus on the wall just inches away.

Of course we can always find someone else to blame.  The Israelites blamed Moses. You can blame your spouse, or your boss, or your friends and yes, some people blame Jesus. Blame all you want but the wall remains.

While the Israelites were body punching Moses, he opted to look elsewhere.  Moses could have looked at the enemy’s army.  He could have looked at the ungrateful people he led.  He could have looked at the wall of water spread out before him, sat down, and given up. 

Instead he looked to God.  And God opened an unlikely route through the wall of water.  Safely on the other side, the very wall that had halted their steps became the source of their deliverance.

The very name of the book where we find this story serves as a reminder when we face our “walls.”  “Exodus” is a compound Greek word meaning “the way out.”  And in case you might have missed it, the way out was not a better job, a different spouse, or a victim mentality.

No, the way out is God.  Next time you find yourself up against a wall try looking to him.

Keep on Dreaming No Matter What

 

People nearing mid-life often crash into some startling and unexpected observations. For instance, we all dreamed big dreams when we were younger.  But as we move at a break-neck pace through our twenties, thirties, and forties, we eventually slam head on into the realization that some of our dreams will never be realized. 

 

That observation throws some people into a mid-life crisis.  Some don’t make it that far with their aspirations, having already given them up somewhere along the way.  Some run into conflict that makes them weary and they settle for less.  Still others make bold decisions to trade one dream in for another. 

 

That’s what Joseph did.  Talk about dreams!  He had some big ones.  At seventeen he dreamed his ten older brothers would bow down to him.  It’s enough he dreamed that dream.  What makes it worse is that he told his brothers about it.

 

The older brothers already had issues with the younger son.  Their father favored Joseph.  He had even given him a valuable, multi-colored coat.  That’s the modern-day equivalent of a parent of four teenagers giving one an iPhone and the other three a stack of quarters each for a pay phone (assuming they could find one on their travels).  The brothers banded together and tossed the dreamer in a ditch, eventually selling him into slavery at the first opportunity.   The next thing Joseph knew he was waking up in Egypt.

 

From there his life was a rollercoaster thrill ride.  One minute a slave.  Nest, he was in charge of an Egyptian official’s house.  Then he found himself in prison.  Next, he was in charge of the prison.  Then he found himself in front of Pharaoh, called upon to interpret the leader’s dreams.  With God’s help he was able to warn Pharaoh that he would have seven years of abundant crops and he should be put in storehouses in anticipation of seven years of famine.  Recognizing his wisdom, Pharaoh put Joseph second in command of all of Egypt.

 

Because of God’s personal involvement in his life, Joseph able to save his family, the same family that God was building into a nation.  Joseph was in position to bring his family to Egypt and give them the most fertile land to work.  And it was definitely fertile.  In the time they were there they were “fruitful and increased greatly” (Exodus 1:7).

Joseph could have lost his life getting caught up in the details of his life. He could have questioned every challenge he faced and allowed the negative things he went through to stop him in his tracks and quit chasing his dreams and desires.  Instead, he chose a better story, God’s story. 

 

You can do the same.  If your life’s dream has stalled, look to God. If your dream now realized is not all you thought it would be, look to God. He can give you another dream.  A better one, not according to the world’s standard but God’s criterion.  God is still in the dream giving and dream fulfilling business. Don’t let the set-back cause you to quit but allow them to give you a greater resolve to accomplish all that God has for your life.

 

Pastor Rick