Joshua 1-9 (NRSV) 1After the death of Moses the servant of the Lord, the Lord spoke to Joshua son of Nun, Moses’ assistant, saying, 2‘My servant Moses is dead. Now proceed to cross the Jordan, you and all this people, into the land that I am giving to them, to the Israelites. 3Every place that the sole of your foot will tread upon I have given to you, as I promised to Moses. 4From the wilderness and the Lebanon as far as the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, to the Great Sea in the west shall be your territory. 5No one shall be able to stand against you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will not fail you or forsake you. 6Be strong and courageous; for you shall put this people in possession of the land that I swore to their ancestors to give them. 7Only be strong and very courageous, being careful to act in accordance with all the law that my servant Moses commanded you; do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, so that you may be successful wherever you go. 8This book of the law shall not depart out of your mouth; you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to act in accordance with all that is written in it. For then you shall make your way prosperous, and then you shall be successful. 9I hereby command you: Be strong and courageous; do not be frightened or dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.’
Goal setting and planning are important both to organizations and to individuals, but goal setting and planning can become a poor substitute for learning to live by a sense of call. Joshua was one of the most able managers, planners, and organizers in Israel’s history, yet he lived by a sense of call that came to him by God.
We set goals with a reasonable hope of accomplishing them. That is hope without the call. Carried over in to our life it means that we try to live out our days in something like peace and with the ones we love. To live by the call is to believe the promise of purpose. Every place that the sole of your foot will tread upon I have given to you, as I promised to Moses. You have a reason and a right to be here. To live by the call is to believe the promise of power. No one shall be able to stand against you all the days of your life. No obstacle can block us from achieving God’s purposes. To live by the call is to believe the promise of presence. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will not fail you or forsake you.
To live by the call is to be set free from trying to achieve what is reasonably predictive. It is knowing that we do not know what means God will take to touch a life or accomplish His will. We do not know what roads He will lead us down.
To meditate on the word of God enables us to have an attitude of compliance and obedience so we know we are where God wants us to be, giving ourselves wholeheartedly to whatever tasks He sets before us.
From a sermon preached by Henry Dobbs Pope 1984
© Rhonda Hinkle Mitchell
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