When God Governs

By:  Dale Weckbacher

Joshua 1:8

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.

(ESV)

It is always tough to be called upon to lead after someone who was an effective and powerful leader.  This is because everyone watching expects you to be as great as your predecessor.  This is precisely the position Joshua faces and why God gives him the encouraging words contained in Joshua 1:1-9.  Joshua 1:8 provides godly advice for anyone following a great effective leader and something worth considering in this post.

The first thing to consider is that even though your predecessor was good and effective as a leader, they were not perfect.  This is because all people, except for Jesus Christ, have sinned (Romans 3:23).  While Joshua’s predecessor was great in that he led the people of Israel out of their Egyptian slavery, he did have his faults. 

1)      Moses felt inadequate (1) – Exodus 3 records Moses’ burning bush experience.  God gets Moses’ attention by setting a bush on fire but does so in such a way as to not have the bush consumed by the fire (Exodus 3:2).  While a burning bush is an attention getter demonstrating the miraculous power of God, God goes even further for God then tells Moses that He has seen the suffering of His people and tells Moses that He has come down to rescue them (Exodus 3:7-8).  God then gives Moses his mission, to lead the people of Israel out of Egypt (Exodus 3:10).  Moses replies with his feelings of inadequacy (Exodus 3:11).  Feeling inadequate when it comes to fulfilling God’s calling on our lives is normal and keeps a leader humble for it forces them to rely on God.  However, we must not allow the enemy to cause our feelings of inadequacy to stop us from fulfilling God’s calling on our lives.  God did not tell Moses to rescue His people but to lead them.  The heavy work of rescuing was God’s duty and something He miraculously performed.  Our job as leaders is to lead others while following God and living our lives according to His Word (Joshua 1:8).

2)      Moses had anger issues (2) Righteous anger directed at Pharaoh suffered no divine condemnation (Exodus11:4-8) but anger at the complaining of the people leading to disobedience of God’s commands did (Numbers 20:1-13).  What determines if anger is a sin or not is to whom or what it is directed.  There is little doubt anger was something Moses struggled with all his life starting with his murder of an Egyptian resulting in his exile to Midian (Exodus 2:11-25), but even this event in the life of Moses set up his burning bush experience.  However, Moses’ anger at the waters of Meribah meant he would not be the one to lead Israel into the Promised Land (Numbers 20:12), setting up the leadership of his successor Joshua.    

The encouraging words of God given to Joshua upon assuming the leadership role from Moses serve as a reminder to anyone assuming a position of leadership, we are not to gauge our performance upon our predecessor but instead are to follow God.  This, however, does not mean we should not be inspired by the successes of our predecessors, only that we as leaders must discover our own destiny.  (3)  In Joshua 1:8 God is instructing Joshua to seek his own destiny by studying and meditating on the Word of God and living a life of obedience to what it says. 

This is what it means for God to govern something the nation of Israel failed to understand when they asked God for a king to rule over them (1 Samuel 8:1-9).  In his dissertation telling the Israelites what would happen if they appointed a king to rule over them (1 Samuel 8:11-22), Samuel is basically telling the people they would be returning to servitude, not of Pharaoh this time but to a king from among their own people.  While Israel did have some good kings, mainly King David, they also had a history of kings that led them into rebellion against God resulting in their captivity (Hosea 9:15). 

Since all of us who have accepted Jesus as our savior have a calling to lead in some capacity, it is wise for us all to become students of the Word of God, studying and meditating on it and applying it to our daily lives.  We must then allow God to govern our lives first and as we follow God’s leadership we will be empowered to lead those God gives us to lead. 

1. Raymond Brown M.A., M.Th. Ph.D. Moses: The Problem Of Feeling *Inadequate. www.easyenglish.bible. [Online] EasyEnglish Bible Studies. [Cited: July 22, 2017.] https://www.easyenglish.bible/problems/tpaou02-pbw.htm.

2. David Woetzel, B.S. When Moses became Angry. www.icr.org. [Online] Institute for Creation Research. [Cited: July 22, 2017.] http://www.icr.org/article/when-moses-became-angry/.

3. TDJakes.com. Pursuing Your Destiny Means You Have To Do You. www.tdjakes.com. [Online] TDJakes.com. [Cited: July 22, 2017.] http://www.tdjakes.com/posts/pursuing-your-destiny-means-you-have-to-do-you.