Fresh Start (Part One)

Devotional for January 14-20 , 2008

 

Day One        Past Periscope

 

I always enjoy Sports Radio the day after a big game.  Hearing the views of many different people about why their team won or lost of often interesting and almost always amusing.  The day after Oklahoma’s recent bowl game lost I turned on the radio to hear all the arm chair experts give their analysis of what had happened and what the coaches and players did wrong.  The critique seemed to have no boundaries to the point that many were actually saying that we needed to get rid of all the coaches and just start over again.  Finally, late in the day, one of the fed up sports DJs said (speaking to those who were wanting to get rid of everything and everyone), “You all are a bunch of idiots!”  He was right, to think that you solve the problem just by starting over without regard to the past is idiotic.  You have to look at the past and learn.  The next day I was speaking with one of the coach’s wives who told me that her husband was headed in to the office for the first big meeting after the bowl loss.  “He knows they have to look at everything and figure out what is wrong and fix it,” (paraphrase) she said.  She was right, the coaches needed to look at what they had done wrong as well as what they had done right as they plan ahead.  The team had won the Big 12 so obviously not everything should be thrown out, but they also recognized that something had to be done to fix things.  Attempting to start all over with all new people was not the answer, they had to figure out what was right and what was wrong.  They need to take a strong look at their past.

 

When we look at past mistakes we face the same options.  We can either decide to turn our back on everything, stick our head in the sand, and attempt to become something new.  Or, we can take a serious look at the past and pull out the good and recognize the bad and make course corrections.  That is how we honestly face and approach the future.

 

As the children of God began to enter the promised land under the new leadership of Joshua they also faced a future with a definite need to look at their past.  What were the mistakes of their past and the past of their parents and grandparents?

 

Remember, their parents and grandparents had not believed God about the promised land.  When Joshua and Caleb had attempted to convince them to enter the land the people had chosen to listen to the doubters and refused to follow God. The result was that they had been wondering for forty years in the desert.  Obviously, they had mistakes from their past to recognize.  They also had much good from their past that they could use and learn from.  Remember some of these things, such as God, daily providing them food, that they could look at and use as they now chose to trust God.

 

Look at the instruction that they now faced in Joshua 1:1-4 that was leading them to now enter the promised land.  How do you think they were able to listen to this instruction and learn from their past as they trusted God and followed Him?

 

How do you learn positive and negative from your past that helps you as you follow God entering and following His plan?

 

Day Two        Pulling Out the Positive

 

I don’t think I have ever enjoyed watching the political process more than I am right now.  When presidential campaining began so early, I thought that surely, by this time we would all be bored and hardened by the entire process.  For me, at least, just the opposite has happened.  Watching the surprises of the Iowa caucuses and then the polling mistakes of the New Hampshire election are fascinating.  The thing that I have found so intriguing this past week is the Democratic results from New Hampshire.  The way the press reported, you would have thought that the Clinton win was so great that Obama was about to drop out.  The truth was, they were only a couple of percentage points apart, and Obama, with the two state elections finalized, still has a one delegate lead over Clinton.  However, if you just chose to listen to certain things you would have a totally different view of the current situation.  That happens when you fail to pull out the positive and see the big picture.

 

Yesterday, we looked at the fact that the children of God had to look at their past as they faced their future.  They had to look at the good and the bad.  As we continue to look at this story we see that God pointed them to the specifics of the positive that were essential for them to remember.  What did God say to Joshua in Joshua 1:5?

 

What were they able to see in their past that validated this promise from God for them?

 

God had stood with Moses and they were able to look to that relationship to build their trust that God would do the same for them.  What proof do you look to in your past, and in scripture, to enable you to trust God with your future?

 

Day Three     New Plans

 

Our dog Slinky does not handle change very well.  He likes for us to have the same schedule and go through the same routines everyday.  If I do an evening without taking him on his walk he about has a breakdown.  If the heat does not begin coming from the vent as scheduled he barks his opinions at the vent (imagine his opinions when the air conditioning is turned on in the summer).  He get very disturbed when the kids are on school breaks, or especially during summer, and we don’t leave the house so he can patrol and take his naps.  I cannot tell you how hard this past December was for him with ice storm, us being out of the house for a week without power, and then, when we returned home there were strange men in our front yard and on the roof all day long for days on end.  He is not real keen on us changing our plans.

 

It is possible that you are the same way, but the truth is that life often does throw changes at us.  The truth also is that God often gives us change that presents us with challenges. Changes that stretch us and sometimes threaten us.  Changes that challenge us and our faith.  Life and faith are that way, whether we like it or not.

 

Read the change that God presented to Joshua in Joshua 1:6. 

 

How did God instruct Joshua to accept this plan?

 

How does God lead us to follow Him in the same manner?

 

What change is God currently placing in front of you?

 

Day Four       Stay the Course

 

Last night I sat down with my sixth grade daughter to help her with a research paper she had due today.  We got through the entire paper, with the usual “Dad, no kid talks or writes like that” comments and then got to the Bibliography.  I began to help with this but soon came to something that I had not ever had to document….Internet Research.  My last research paper was in seminary in the early eighties, there was no internet at that time.  I had no clue how to complete this part of the Bibliography, it was totally foreign.  We began to research the problem and soon came to what I hope was the right solution.  In the end, it was about the same type of format that I had used when I did papers in the eighties but there was new information to use.

 

That is how change often is, we have a change of plans but still are depending and needing much of the same standard information to get there.  This was true of the new plans awaiting Joshua and his followers as they headed into the promised land.  They were going into a new land but their lives were still expected to be focused on God.  Read what God tells Joshua in Joshua 1:7-9.  What does God tell Joshua is essential to their success?

 

How is this same information pertinent to us as we follow God?

 

How much of this information do you need to be reminded of today?

 

Day Five        Where is God Leading You?

 

This week we have looked at how God led Joshua and his followers into the promised land.  Although, from this side of the story, we look at this and think it was a no brainer, “How could they not trust God?”  The truth was, this was just as  big, or bigger, act of faith than any of us have ever faced.  The giants that their parents had been scared of were still awaiting them in the promised land.  Joshua also faced a great challenge.  He too had been the one rejected when he had previously attempted to convince them to trust God and enter the promised land.

 

Read the entire story again, Joshua 1:1-9, and as you read think of how God has led you or is leading you in new and/or challenging, and possibly scary, places.  How can this story provide you encouragement and instruction as you choose to follow?