Pastor Ben’s Ponderings

From The Desk Of Pastor Ben

“You know in all your hearts and in all your souls that not one thing has failed of all the good things which the Lord your God spoke concerning you. All have come to pass for you; not one word of them has failed.”         (Joshua 23:14)

Joshua lived to be 110 years old. I can’t even imagine living 11 decades! And just think, 40 of those years were spent wandering around in the wilderness with a bunch of whining, ungrateful Israelites and eating the same thing (manna) every single day! If only reality TV cameras had been around back then so we could watch all the drama unfold. Joshua was the original survivor!
If I had been Joshua, all those years wandering around in the wilderness would have brought up some serious questions I would have had to ask: “Is this seriously what God had in mind, or did I miss the boat somewhere?” “We’re eating this again?!” “Am I a fool for believing that God is going to keep all these big promises He has made?” Come to think of it, I’ve asked those questions in my own life at one time or another. I guess maybe we all want to be sure God is really, really going to be faithful when we know how weak we are.
Joshua was hand-picked by the God of the universe to succeed Moses. Talk about some big sandals to fill! He was just as human as you and I, yet the entire Book of Joshua is a story about his courage, his faithfulness, and his ability to find God in the middle of what must have felt like utter insanity at times.
At the end of his 110 years, after leading the Israelites into the Promised Land, conquering Canaan, organizing and governing the people, he knew he was getting old and his job was about done. So he gave his farewell address. In the middle of that farewell address, he makes the statement to his people found in Joshua 23:14. NOT ONE SINGLE PROMISE FAILED!!
I’ve never spent 40 years in the wilderness with a bunch of whining weaklings, but I have spent my entire life living with a bunch of imperfect humans. And I have asked plenty of questions about how God can use people like us to carry on the work He started back in the Old Testament with people like Joshua. I love knowing that no matter how many questions we have or how many times we mess up, His promises are never going to change.
We have all been hand-picked by the God of the universe for a unique purpose just like Joshua. If we’re still breathing we are here for a reason. And He has promised us that He will never leave us, that He will complete the work He has started in us and that His love will never end.
When I get to heaven, I can’t wait to meet Joshua and hear his stories about leading those bratty Israelites through the wilderness. But I wonder if he might enjoy hearing our stories, too, about how God still kept His promises in our lives thousands of years after he delivered that farewell address.