Dan Olinger

"If the Bible is true, then none of our fears are legitimate, none of our frustrations are permanent, and none of our opposition is significant."

Dan Olinger

 

Retired Bible Professor,

Bob Jones University

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On Turning a Page, Part 6: How?

June 23, 2025 by Dan Olinger Leave a Comment

Part 1: Obedience | Part 2: Plan | Part 3: Presence | Part 4: Trust | Part 5: Obey 

Okay, then. When facing a new path, we recognize the goodness of God’s will, we trust his will and direction for us, and we obey. 

But how? We already know that there’s something within us that discourages us from obeying—even compels us to disobey. And even when that spirit isn’t at the controls, we find ourselves disobeying despite our best intentions. 

So does God just sing us a chorus of “Trust and Obey” and wave happily from the dock as we sail off into waters we don’t have the ability to navigate? 

Of course not. 

God knows Joshua and the Israelites even better than they know themselves. He doesn’t stop talking to Joshua before he gives him what he needs. He continues his instruction to this new leader to its important conclusion: the enablement. 

This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success (Jos 1.8).

In order to obey, God says, you’re going to need to focus. Note that he doesn’t say that the word mustn’t depart from your “mind” or your “ears”; he saying more than just “think about it, a lot.” What’s happening if Joshua doesn’t let God’s word depart from his “mouth”? Well, he talking about it—perhaps to himself, but almost certainly to the nation as well; he’s continually teaching them what God has instructed. 

It’s a truism among teachers that you don’t really understand anything until you’ve taught it—and I would add, until you’ve taught it multiple times. In my experience, the first time I taught something was pretty much always disappointing. And I suspect my students knew that. (The memory of that initial lesson on verbal aspect in Greek gives me the shudders.) But if you teach it repeatedly, your understanding and overall comprehension improve with each iteration—and, I’ve noticed, your belief in the truth of what you’re teaching firms up as well. 

There’s more. God tells Joshua to “meditate” on these things. This word comes from a root referring to animal sounds of various kinds: the cooing of a dove, perhaps (Is 38.14), or the growling of a lion (Is 31.4). Applied to humans, it speaks of musing, meditating, perhaps talking to yourself. Roll it over in your head, God says. Consider it from every angle. Make it part of who you are and how you think. Today we would say, “Memorize it, and review it regularly.” 

Now, when God refers to “this book of the Law,” to what specifically is he referring? The only Scripture Joshua has, obviously, is the first five books, the Law of Moses. We have a significant advantage over him and over the people he led into Canaan: we have the Law, and the Prophets, and the Writings—and we have the New Testament, which brings it all together and wraps it up with a pretty red bow—not unlike Rahab’s scarlet cord (Jos 2.18). 

There is in logic a type of argument known as a fortiori: arguing that if the lesser is convincing, then the greater is all the more so. Let me suggest one here: in Warren Wiersbe’s words, “If Joshua was able to conquer Canaan having only the first five books of the Bible, how much more ought we to overcome now that we have a complete Bible!” 

But owning a Bible and keeping it closed—or consulting it shallowly—will not empower this kind of obedience. The Bible is an exercise machine, and such machines require weights if they’re going to build muscle. 

May all of us give ourselves to the Word, reading it, meditating on it, consulting reliable resources about it, memorizing it, turning it over in our heads until it becomes the way we think. 

That’s a lifelong effort. 

And it’s worth it. 

Photo by Nathan McDine on Unsplash

Filed Under: Bible, Personal Tagged With: Bible, Joshua, Old Testament, retirement, transition

On Turning a Page, Part 5: Obey

June 12, 2025 by Dan Olinger Leave a Comment

Part 1: Obedience | Part 2: Plan | Part 3: Presence | Part 4: Trust

God continues to speak to Joshua, instructing him on how to handle what’s coming.

… being careful to do according to all the law that Moses my servant commanded you. Do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may have good success wherever you go (Jos 1.7b).

 In the New American Commentary, David M. Howard notes,

“It is striking that God’s instructions here to Joshua are not about military matters, given that Joshua and the Israelites faced many battles ahead. However, the keys to his success were spiritual, directly related to the degree of his obedience to God. The keys to Joshua’s success were the same as those for a king: being rooted in God’s word rather than depending upon military might.”

Now, Israel’s military experience was relatively sparse; after the current Israelites’ parents had fought the Amalekites shortly after the Exodus (Ex 17.8ff), Israel had little to no combat experience, so far as we know, until the new generation began its journey north on the east side of the Jordan, eventually defeating the Amorites and Bashon (Nu 21) and then, apparently, the Midianites (Nu 25.16-18). So Howard’s observation is noteworthy; even the aging Joshua’s experience in strategic warfare was apparently limited.

But it was not God’s priority. The Lord could advise him militarily along the way, and he would do so routinely. The first priority, however, was obedience, and that priority continued throughout the military campaign; obedience is a major theme throughout the book. As Joshua told the eastern tribes of Reuben, Gad, and half of Manasseh after the campaign, they had fully obeyed all that Moses laid down initially and all that Joshua later commanded, in keeping their promise to participate fully in the western campaign (Jos 22.1-3). And the author of Joshua observes at the end that Israel served God all the days of Joshua’s life (Jos 24.31).

Now, we know that some Israelites worshiped wrongly at times, most obviously at the golden calf incident (Ex 32) and concerning Baal-Peor (Nu 25). God had predicted that, and a lot more, to Moses (Dt 31.16ff). But God’s assessment of Joshua’s ministry seems to be that in the main, Israel followed Yahweh and not the Canaanite gods.

Obedience matters.

When just one man in Israel disobeyed, the conquest went badly awry. Because of Achan’s sin, Israel was defeated at Ai, and 36 innocent soldiers died, their families thereby deprived of their husbands and fathers (Jos 7.5).

God’s plan, then, was for Israel to do the hard work of taking the land. He would intervene spectacularly on their behalf by opening the Jordan for crossing, as we’ve noted earlier, by collapsing the walls of Jericho (Jos 6), and by lengthening the daylight to give time for human effort to win the battle (Jos 10), but He begins with their obedience. 

What about us? We don’t have a land to conquer, but we do have other commands to obey. And we also have advantages that Israel didn’t have: 

  • Christ has obeyed the Law perfectly for us; we are already credited with obedience in Him (2Co 5.21). 
  • The Spirit has written God’s Law on our hearts; with His help, we are inclined to obey (He 10.15-17).  “Like Joshua, Christians do not succeed spiritually because they obey God’s Law. Instead, God through Christ enables them to have victory over sin” (Richard S. Hess, Tyndale OT Commentary). 

With these extraordinary privileges and powers, let us demonstrate our trust in God’s plan for us by obeying him every day, morning and evening, in good times and bad.

We can do that, with God’s enablement.

Next time, some thoughts on that enablement.

Photo by Nathan McDine on Unsplash

Filed Under: Bible, Personal Tagged With: Joshua, Old Testament, retirement, transition

On Turning a Page, Part 4: Trust

June 9, 2025 by Dan Olinger 1 Comment

Part 1: Obedience | Part 2: Plan | Part 3: Presence 

God makes, and keeps, promises for his people. How do we respond to that? In his opening words to Joshua, God has some imperatives—commands—to follow up his indicatives—his statements of truth, his promises. 

6 Be strong and courageous, for you shall cause this people to inherit the land that I swore to their fathers to give them. 7 Only be strong and very courageous …  

Is this just “suck it up, buttercup”? “Keep calm, and carry on”? “Keep a stiff upper lip”? 

No, it’s not. This is verse 6—which means it’s been preceded by the 5 other verses we’ve just surveyed. How can Joshua “be strong and courageous”? Courage results from the truth of God’s promises, and, importantly, our mindful acceptance of them as true. God told Joshua he would be with him and bring victory in his battles; and if Joshua believes him, putting on armor and leading his troops into battle is a natural consequence. He can approach the otherwise daunting task not with fear or anxiety—“I sure hope this works!”—but with confident anticipation—“This is gonna be great!” 

And so can we. Most of us are not strapping on battle armor—though my military chaplain friends could tell you stories—but we too can anticipate victory because we believe God’s promises to us. As commentator James E. Smith notes, “Fear and anxiety are tantamount to unbelief.”  

Note the precision of God’s words here. Joshua’s army will not “take,” “seize,” or “occupy” the Land; they will “inherit” it. The Land is their right because God, who owns all the earth (Ps 24.1), has designated it to them in promises to Abraham (Gn 13.14-17), Isaac (Gn 26.3-5), and Jacob (Gn 35.12). They already own it, and its current residents are occupiers, not owners. They are squatting on Israel’s land, in direct opposition to the Real Owner’s wishes and express orders. 

Sometimes, during a pep talk before a basketball game, the home team’s coach will shout, “These people are not going to come into our house and defeat us!” It’s no fun to lose—but it’s especially irking when you lose at home. We have status on our home court that we do not have on somebody else’s. 

Joshua has an obligation to restore visibly God’s sovereignty on Israel’s Promised Land. Similarly, we have an inheritance that is ours by right and which we shall certainly receive: 

“3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, 5 who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time” (1P 1.3-5).  

Recall that “hope” in the Bible is not wishful thinking but confident anticipation of a certain future outcome. Christ’s resurrection has guaranteed for us a rightful inheritance that will not die, that will not be damaged, that will not expire. And God is reserving it securely for us in an impenetrable vault called heaven and guarding it by his own inexhaustible power. 

Uncertainty about this is simply impossible. 

What has He promised us?  

  • He has begun a good work in us, which He will certainly finish (Php 1.6).  
  • He has promised us that His body will be brought to maturity in Christ (Ep 4.11-16). He will shepherd us corporately along the way.  
  • He has promised us rest (Heb 4.1-3): we will certainly arrive, glorified, in His presence.  

Believe it. 

Next time: next step. 

Photo by Nathan McDine on Unsplash

Filed Under: Bible, Personal Tagged With: Bible, Joshua, Old Testament, retirement, transition

On Turning a Page, Part 3: God Remains with His People

June 5, 2025 by Dan Olinger Leave a Comment

Part 1: Obedience | Part 2: Plan 

God has assured Joshua that he has promised Israel the Land and that his plans will be accomplished. But there is in all of us this thread of fear, of doubt. “There’s a plan, but …” 

Mike Tyson, former world heavyweight boxing champion, famously said, “Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth.” 

Yes, God has a plan, and he wants the best for us. But is he now just standing on the dock, smiling at and waving to Joshua as Israel sails off into unknown seas? 

I speak as a fool. 

The Lord has more to say before he sends Joshua and his men into combat: 

No man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life. Just as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will not leave you or forsake you (Jos 1.5). 

God is not Pollyanna; there will be hard times. There will be those who “stand before” the people of Israel. And Joshua knows as well as anyone what they will be like; he surveyed the Land with eleven other men and saw, as they did, that 

the people be strong that dwell in the land, and the cities are walled, and very great: and moreover we saw the children of Anak there. 29 The Amalekites dwell in the land of the south: and the Hittites, and the Jebusites, and the Amorites, dwell in the mountains: and the Canaanites dwell by the sea, and by the coast of Jordan (Nu 13.28-29). 

These words come, of course, from the 10-spy majority, who counseled not even trying. But Joshua (and Caleb) had disagreed, because they believed God’s promises. And now God gives this believer added incentives to obey. 

First, they’re going to win. 

Nobody will be able to defeat them militarily. 

And second—and this is key—God will be with them. He’ll be right there. 

Now, I find that interesting. God obviously doesn’t need to “be right there” in order to see and know what’s going on. He doesn’t need to “be right there” to act on Israel’s behalf. He can do all his holy will from his holy hill, from the high and holy place (Is 57.15) where he dwells. Distance is no obstacle to him. 

But the transcendent God is also immanent—“with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit” (Is 57.15 again)—because he can be, and because he wants to be. He loves us, and he’s not inclined to engage in bicoastal relationships. If I may say this reverently, he wants to be close; he wants to snuggle. 

I think there’s another reason that God makes this promise to his people at this transition point: he knows that they are bolstered, strengthened, by the assurance that he is with them. 

Have you ever seen a little child’s face light up when he sees his parents in the audience at the elementary school program? He smiles, and he may even wave. All the decorum flees; he’s just delighted that Mom and Dad are there. 

We don’t stay children, but we all have that spirit within us. We feel better when our loved ones make their presence known. And we are similarly bolstered by knowing that God brings his omnipotence to our struggles. 

God’s words to Joshua don’t stop there; he notes further that he has proved himself faithful in the past (“as I was with Moses”). We’re also bolstered by having experienced this sort of thing before. As Paul notes (my paraphrase), “Trials bring endurance, and endurance brings experience [of success], and experience brings confidence [in future trials]” (Ro 5.3-4). 

He will not “leave” us. The Hebrew word speaks of loosening your grip and letting something fall—like what I do when I fall asleep on the couch while holding the remote. 

God doesn’t do that, and he won’t. He’s awake, and he’s present, though he doesn’t really need to be in order to be effective. 

We’re gonna be okay. 

So what does he ask of us? 

Next time. 

Photo by Nathan McDine on Unsplash

Filed Under: Bible, Personal Tagged With: Joshua, Old Testament, retirement, transition

On Turning a Page, Part 2: There’s a Plan

June 2, 2025 by Dan Olinger Leave a Comment

Part 1: Obedience 

God has issued a command to Joshua—one that sounds dangerous. You don’t just wade into a flooding river with all your stuff, and hope for the best. But Joshua, who believed God’s promise to give his people the Land when 10 of the other 11 spies didn’t, believes him now, and he will obey. And, undoubtedly to everyone’s astonishment, the river will stop for them and, metaphorically speaking, motion them to cross. 

But they don’t know that yet. God continues his speech to Joshua by telling him what lies ahead. 

3 Every place that the sole of your foot will tread upon I have given to you, just as I promised to Moses. 4 From the wilderness and this Lebanon as far as the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites to the Great Sea toward the going down of the sun shall be your territory.  

Now, they do know this. God is simply repeating a past promise (Dt 11.24), the very one that Joshua (and Caleb) believed when the other spies didn’t. 

And the people also know—or should know—that God keeps his promises. Back when he had appeared to Moses in the burning bush, he had introduced himself as “the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.” Why this description, and not another, such as “the Creator of heaven and earth,” or “the infinite, eternal, and unchanging God,” or “the God of wonders”? 

I think the reason for his choice of words to Moses is clear. God had made promises to those patriarchs, promises that included a numerous people (already fulfilled in Egypt), a blessing on all peoples through a “seed” (a promise not then fulfilled), and most specifically in view here, a promise of the Land on which Abraham’s sandal had walked. 

As Moses stands at the burning bush, that promise has not been fulfilled—but it’s next in line. God is effectively saying, “My people, Abraham’s descendants, are out of the Land, enslaved in Egypt. This must not stand. Go down there, and I will do what it takes for you to lead them Home.” 

That’s promise number 2. And, as we all know from reading the rest of Scripture, promise number 3, the universal blessing through Abraham’s “seed,” will be fulfilled when David’s Greater Son, the incarnate God, pays the price for our sins at the cross and opens the gates of salvation to all who will come. 

God remembers his promises—for centuries—and he keeps them without fail. 

Decades after the burning bush God repeated that promise to Moses, with specifics: 

24 Every place whereon the soles of your feet shall tread shall be yours: from the wilderness and Lebanon, from the river, the river Euphrates, even unto the uttermost sea shall your coast be (Dt 11.24). 

And now God, remembering those specifics, repeats them to Joshua as this newly appointed leader gazes east across the Jordan. 

So God assures Joshua that the plan is in place, and the Land will belong to Jacob’s people. In modern parlance, it’s in the bag. 

So what of our transitions? We typically don’t have circumstantial specifics as Joshua did, but we do have specific assurances about God’s character—he is faithful, gracious, merciful, good—and about his relationship with us—he loves and cares for us, providing all that we need for spiritual success (which is the most important kind of success) and providing our needs for all the days he has planned for us. And when those days are over, we will be “absent from the body, and … present with the Lord” (2Co 5.8). Further, “we shall be like [Christ], for we shall see him as he is” (1J 3.2). 

So. What lies ahead? In this life, the assurance that God is working his good plan and keeping his promises; and in the next, eternity with him. 

Sounds like it’s all good. 

Now, we know by just looking around that this “all good” includes hard things, things that we would consider “bad.” What about that? 

God’s not finished talking to Joshua yet. We’ll look at his further words next time. 

Photo by Nathan McDine on Unsplash

Filed Under: Bible, Personal Tagged With: Joshua, Old Testament, retirement, transition

On Turning a Page, Part 1: Begin with Obedience

May 29, 2025 by Dan Olinger Leave a Comment

I’ve already published a couple of posts on my retirement, one on the why and one on the how. Now I’d like to exegete a biblical passage that I think sheds some light on a major life transition. It has already informed my thinking, and I’m confident that it will inform others facing transitions—retirement, perhaps, or other significant events. 

A significant pivot point in the biblical metastory is the move from Deuteronomy to Joshua. That crevasse is of course the end of the Torah, the five books of Moses, and the beginning of what the Jews call the Prophets, specifically the Former Prophets (which, in the main, we Christians call the books of History). It’s also the end of the leadership of Moses, whom we might call the first constitutional ruler of the nation of Israel, and the beginning of the leadership of Joshua, who to this point has been presented primarily as just a servant of, or aide to, Moses, and as one of just two believing spies of the Promised Land. 

That means some uncertainties. We’re leaving the familiar, the proved, the era of competence (more or less), and stepping out into the Great Unknown, facing challenges not previously experienced and the hard work of stewarding a new bailiwick and lifestyle. 

Sounds to me like retirement. :-) 

To this point in the biblical story, God has brought Israel out of slavery in Egypt; preserved them through 40 years of wilderness wandering; led them northward through hostile territory (Edom, Moab) on the east side of the Jordan; and brought them to an encampment at Shittim* in modern Jordan, across the Jordan River from Jericho, poised to enter and conquer the Land.  

 But now Moses is leaving. How on earth can Israel go on without him? 

Now, there’s a danger in trying to apply biblical narrative to a current situation. I’m facing a transition, but I’m not Israel, and God has not promised me a specific piece of real estate and the military might to expel the current owners. 

But there are similarities. I am one of God’s people, and he has made covenant promises to me as a member of his body, the church, and he is and will be as faithful to those promises as he has ever been, and I am at a point of transition, and Paul tells us that the Old Testament stories were indeed preserved in Scripture as examples for us (1Co 10.11). 

So what did God say to Joshua in his time of transition? And what do those words tell us about God and about His plans for us? 

God Is Great, and He Is in Charge 

He begins by reminding Joshua of the Most Important Thing: 

Moses my servant is dead. Now therefore arise, go over this Jordan, you and all this people, into the land that I am giving to them, to the people of Israel (Jos 1.2). 

The past, with all its familiarity, was under God’s sovereign direction. But God has given his people the unknown future as well, and he will see that his good will is done. And by implication Joshua and the people of Israel, like Moses, are God’s servants too, and the sensible thing for them to do is to obey him.  

So he gives them a command: “Go over this Jordan.” 

Now, at this time of year the Jordan was at flood stage, raging with whitewater and overflowing its banks (Jos 3.15b). That’s not something you just amble into, especially when you’re carrying all your stuff in wagons or in your arms. 

Retirement doesn’t mean you just quit showing up at work and begin every day by asking, “Hmmm; what do I think I want to do today?” There’s stuff you need to get done—logistical, financial, procedural stuff—and if you don’t, unpleasant things, some of them involving potentially hostile government officials, will happen. 

Gotta learn the new stuff and execute it precisely. Or else. 

But God had brought Israel through the Red Sea ahead of Pharaoh’s pursuing armies, and he had fed them and preserved their clothing—even their shoes! (Dt 29.5)—through forty years of wilderness wandering, and he was certainly able to get them across this crazy river. 

So they obey. They step into the river, and in that instant the flow stops and a path opens for them to cross in safety. 

God can do that. He’s in charge. 

He’s in charge through our transitions too. Obeying him is safe. 

Well, then; what about tomorrow? 

We’ll get into that next time. 

* Some people find this word embarrassing. I’ll note, first, that in Hebrew it is pronounced “shuh TEEM,” with the emphasis on the last syllable. I’ll also note that the word means “acacia trees”; the acacia is the tree you see on the African savannah all the time. It often leans to one side; I think of it as looking as though someone smacked it hard on the side of the head. 

Photo by Nathan McDine on Unsplash

Filed Under: Bible, Personal Tagged With: Joshua, Old Testament, retirement, transition

Change, Part 7: Meditation

October 28, 2021 by Dan Olinger Leave a Comment

Part 1: Introduction | Part 2: Sovereign, Attentive, and Good | Part 3: Promise Keeper | Part 4: Present | Part 5: Trust | Part 6: Obedience

The third and final prescription God has for Joshua in a time of momentous change is also straightforward:

This 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 (Jos 1.8).

3. Meditation

“Meditate” (Heb hazah) refers to an animal sound, a coo or a growl. It came to carry the idea of pondering over something by talking to yourself about it. 

What does Joshua meditate about? What has God given him? “The Book of the Law.” This is probably a reference specifically to Deuteronomy (the “second Law”), but of course Joshua had all five books of Moses.

We have an advantage over Joshua in that we have the completed Word of God. God’s inspired instruction to us goes far beyond the Law of Moses. Joshua had a record of the past works of God, His requirements of Israel, and His promises to them. As Warren Wiersbe once noted, “If Joshua was able to conquer Canaan having only the first five books of the Bible, how much more ought we to overcome now that we have a complete Bible!”

What do we know that Joshua didn’t?

There’s a lot, of course, but I think it can be summarized in two classes of revelation:

  • The Canon, which includes the rest of the Old Testament and the New Testament—the persistent failures of Israel through the period of the judges, the kings, and the Assyrian and Babylonian conquerors, as well as God’s ongoing faithfulness to them even in judgment; and the record of the Incarnation and atoning work of God’s Son, including expositions of its significance and a snapshot of its outcome at the Heavenly Throne.
  • In particular, God has revealed Himself to us perfectly and completely in the incarnate Son. As we get to know Christ as revealed in the Scripture, we will 
    • Come to know the Father better (Jn 14.9). 
    • See in the image of Christ the goal of the Father’s sanctifying work in us (Rom 8.29). 
    • Understand the meaning of His everlasting presence (Mt 28.20). 

That’s a lifetime of meditation and rumination, with persistent and substantial benefits throughout.

How did this turn out for Joshua? He models our response (Jos 1.10-11). 

10 Then Joshua commanded the officers of the people, 11 “Pass through the camp, and command the people: ‘Prepare your provisions; for in three days you are to cross over the Jordan, to go in to take possession of the land that the Lord your God gives you to possess.’ ”

He believes God—he takes his promises as certain to be fulfilled—and he acts on that belief by obeying what God has told him to do. 

This was not without risk. They were going into battle. And so are we. But we rest our hopes not on Moses, or on Joshua. We rest on Jehovah, Lord of the heavenly armies, Creator of heaven and earth, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, faithful Keeper of covenant promises, and our tender Shepherd and loving Father. 

So in chaotic times we turn the page. We take our Father’s hand, and we walk fearlessly, joyously, with Him to a delightful outcome. 

I hereby command you: Be strong and courageous; do not be frightened or dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go” (Jos 1.9).

These words call to mind Jesus’ similar promise as He sent His disciples forth. “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go … and make disciples of all nations,” he said, and then he added, “Behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age” (Mt 28.19-20). 

This is God’s promise to us all, including both those who are confident and those who are fearful. 

He is with us. His plans will be accomplished, for our good, and most especially for His glory. 

God reigns.

Photo by Martin Adams on Unsplash

Filed Under: Bible Tagged With: Joshua, New Testament

Change, Part 6: Obedience

October 25, 2021 by Dan Olinger Leave a Comment

Part 1: Introduction | Part 2: Sovereign, Attentive, and Good | Part 3: Promise Keeper | Part 4: Present | Part 5: Trust

The second of three prescriptions God has for Joshua in a time of momentous change is as straightforward as the first:

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 (Jos 1.7b).

2. Obedience

God began by asking for Joshua’s trust; now he asks for his obedience.

As commentator David M. Howard writes, “It is striking that God’s instructions here to Joshua are not about military matters, given that Joshua and the Israelites faced many battles ahead. However, the keys to his success were spiritual, directly related to the degree of his obedience to God. The keys to Joshua’s success were the same as those for a king: being rooted in God’s word rather than depending upon military might (Deut 17:14–20, esp. vv. 16, 18–19)” (Joshua, New American Commentary, 85).

Obedience is a major theme in the book of Joshua. We shouldn’t be surprised that God peppers the book with reminders of the importance of obedience, given that the Israelites had just spent 40 years in the wilderness in response to their faithless refusal to enter the Land from Kadesh-Barnea (Num 14), and that before that, from the beginning of their time in the wilderness, they had complained of their circumstances and expressed doubt over the Lord’s character and motives (Ex 16.1-3). At the close of Moses’ ministry, God had predicted that this well-established pattern of disobedience would continue under the leadership of Moses’ successor (Dt 31.16).

As indeed it did. Immediately after the initial miraculous victory at Jericho, the disobedience of Achan led to death and defeat at Ai.

God’s plan was for them to do the hard work of taking the land. He would intervene spectacularly on their behalf as they crossed the Jordan (by parting it before them, Jos 3), surrounded Jericho (by collapsing the walls, Jos 6), and battled the southern Canaanite confederacy (by causing the sun to stand still, Jos 10), but He begins with their obedience.

And in turn, there’s a reason that he has asked for their faith before asking for their obedience. They wouldn’t step into the raging Jordan unless they believed that he would part the waters; they wouldn’t march in military aggression against the walled city of Jericho unless they believed that he would collapse the walls; they wouldn’t go into a days-long battle against the southern Canaanite confederacy unless they believed that he would make it possible for them to mop up the scene while there was still daylight.

Trust, then obey.

What of us?

We don’t have a land to conquer; we have other, different commands to obey. We are called to be ambassadors, representing him faithfully in the midst of unbelief, taking the Good News to a sometimes unwilling, even aggressively hostile audience, with weapons that are spiritual, not carnal, and with the very confidence and grace of the Son.

But we have advantages Israel didn’t have. “Christians under the new covenant have the two-fold advantage that Christ satisfied the law’s demands and promises (Mt. 5:17; Rom. 3:21–26) and through the Spirit has written the law upon their hearts (2 Cor. 3:3–6; Heb. 8:7–13; 10:15–18)” (Gordon McConville, New Bible Commentary, 237). Our obedience to the Great Commission is spiritually empowered by the Commissioner himself. He has rendered us fit for the task and inclined to obey—in even the hard things. “Like Joshua, Christians do not succeed spiritually because they obey God’s Law. Instead, God through Christ enables them to have victory over sin” (Richard Hess, The Tyndale OT Commentary). 

So it turns out that the old children’s chorus expresses just exactly what’s called for from us adults: “trust, and obey.”

And we can do it.

Part 7: Meditation

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Filed Under: Bible Tagged With: Joshua, obedience, Old Testament

Change, Part 5: Trust

October 21, 2021 by Dan Olinger Leave a Comment

Part 1: Introduction | Part 2: Sovereign, Attentive, and Good | Part 3: Promise Keeper | Part 4: Present

Having reminded Joshua of whom he serves, thereby assuring him of success through changing times, God now outlines his expectations: how should Joshua respond in this potentially unstable situation?

He presents Joshua with a “to do” list of just three items, all of which make perfect sense and strike us an eminently reasonable.

1.      Trust

6 Be strong and courageous; for you shall put this people in possession of the land that I swore to their ancestors to give them. 7 Only be strong and very courageous … (Jos 1.6-7).

OK, I grant you that there’s no mention of the words trust, believe, or faith in there. Fair enough.

But if he’s going to stiffen his spine and lead 600,000 men into battle against people who are fighting for their homes—and who offer their own babies as fiery sacrifices to persuade their gods to give them bounteous crops—then he’s going to have to believe what the Lord has just told him—and what he tells him again in this sentence: that God’s power and presence is going to give him victory in all the coming battles.

That’s faith. That’s trust.

You don’t charge into the lion’s mouth unless you trust the lion tamer’s power over the lion. If Joshua allows his fear of failure—the consequences for which are extreme—then he’s telling God that he doesn’t believe him. As one commentator notes, “Fear and anxiety are tantamount to unbelief.”

It’s worth noting, I think, that God speaks of Israel’s “inheriting” the land (KJV NKJV ESV NIV) that he had promised them. You don’t “inherit” something by stealing it or taking it by force; you “inherit” it legally, because it is rightfully yours. “The earth is the Lord’s, and the fulness thereof” (Ps 24.1 KJV)—or in modern parlance, the earth and everything in it belongs to God. The land of Canaan doesn’t belong to the Canaanites; it belongs to God, who can bequeath it to whichever heir he chooses. And he chooses Joshua and the people of Israel, Abraham’s seed.

Similarly, we have an inheritance that is ours by right and that we shall certainly receive. Peter writes,

3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! By his great mercy he has given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 and into an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, 5 who are being protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time (1P 1.3-5).

We need not fear any current chaos, personal, familial, civic, national, or global. Our inheritance is “imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven” for us. Our Father is infinitely more reliable than the governor, the banker, the taxman. Our inheritance is sure.

And so Peter can immediately say,

6 In this you rejoice, even if now for a little while you have had to suffer various trials, 7 so that the genuineness of your faith—being more precious than gold that, though perishable, is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed (1P 1.6-7).

Trials do not terrorize God’s people; they are merely a mechanism for removing impurities in us and rendering us clearer trophies of his grace, more effective ambassadors of his kingdom.

Trusting God brings a calm confidence that astounds the terrorized. Sometimes they think we’re stupid; sometimes they think we’re crazy; sometimes they think we’re insufficiently concerned and therefore unloving.

No. None of those things. Calm, confident, trusting in the good plan of a strong and kind heavenly Father.

Part 6: Obedience | Part 7: Meditation

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Filed Under: Bible Tagged With: faith, Joshua, Old Testament

Change, Part 4: Present

October 18, 2021 by Dan Olinger Leave a Comment

Part 1: Introduction | Part 2: Sovereign, Attentive, and Good | Part 3: Promise Keeper 

God encourages Joshua in a time of great change and potential instability by telling him three things about himself. We’ve looked at the first two in the two previous posts. It remains now to note God’s final assurance to Joshua from his own character.

3. God Remains with His People

No 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 (Jos 1.5).

It may seem odd that God starts with the conclusion or the result rather than the basis. He assures Joshua that his enemies will fall before him; no one will be able to stand against him.

As we’ve noted, this is not because of Joshua’s skill with a sword, or the strategic and tactical depth of experience in his battlefield commanders. This army has had some battle experience—just recently—but they’re still fairly new at it. Further, they’re about to attack the Canaanites on their home turf, something that puts them at a disadvantage in both tactics and morale.

So why this outrageously optimistic outcome?

God is with him, and he will be with him uninterruptedly throughout the campaign. As he was with Moses, so he will be with Joshua.

We’ve noted before that God is the kind of person who keeps his promises. He’s going to keep the promise of the Land, made to the patriarchs and most recently to Moses, faithfully and powerfully. He doesn’t get tired or distracted or called away on something more urgent—in fact, there is no “away” with the omnipresent God.

The Hebrew word translated “fail” here (“leave” in the NKJV, ESV, and NIV) speaks of loosening the hand and letting something drop. It’s used that way in Ezekiel 21.7—

And when they say to you, “Why do you moan?” you shall say, “Because of the news that has come.” Every heart will melt and all hands will be feeble, every spirit will faint and all knees will turn to water. See, it comes and it will be fulfilled, says the Lord God.

The hand loosens. The weapon falls. The battle is lost.

When my daughters were still living at home, occasionally I would be watching a football game on a Saturday afternoon while lying on the couch. Because there are multiple games on, I’d have the remote in my hand, ready to check on another game when the commercial break comes to this one. Well, it’s Saturday afternoon, after lunch, and I’m lying on the couch, and you know what happens.

I doze off.

My daughters, who aren’t interested in the game and would rather watch something else, would gently ease the remote out of my hand and change the channel. At some point—maybe immediately, maybe a few minutes later, I’d wake up and say, “Hey! I was watching that!”

Indeed.

God’s hands don’t go limp on his people, either from lack of commitment or from exhaustion. God is there for Joshua and his army, keeping his promise to deliver them to the land, overwhelming their enemies certainly, faithfully, attentively, effortlessly.

He’s like that with us too.

As we noted in the previous post, he has made promises to us as well—more promises, in fact, than he made to Joshua. And it is impossible for him not to keep them, whether by forgetting or by becoming exhausted or by losing interest.

When everything around us is changing, God is not. He cannot violate his own character.

Interestingly, this promise to Joshua is quoted in the New Testament and applied to us in a specific context:

Keep your lives free from the love of money, and be content with what you have; for he has said, “I will never leave you or forsake you” (He 13.5).

Contentment in the midst of chaos is a powerful testimony to a solid foundation and a confident purpose. We have what we need. God is enough.

The next verse broadens the application:

 So we can say with confidence, “The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can anyone do to me?”  (He 13.6).

God’s promised presence dismisses fear of both the known and the unknown.

Blessed are those who have learned to acclaim you, LORD,
who walk in the light of your presence (Ps 89.15).

Part 5: Trust | Part 6: Obedience | Part 7: Meditation

Photo by Martin Adams on Unsplash

Filed Under: Bible Tagged With: Joshua, Old Testament

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