Moving With the Lord

I just finished reading through the book of Joshua. This book records the faithful actions of God in bringing Israel into the promised land and judging the nations which had inhabited the land. The Lord reminded them of His faithfulness to them and, in fact, we are told that, "Not one of the good promises which the Lord had made to the house of Israel failed; all came to pass (Joshua 21:45)." What an amazing and encouraging word! The Lord is faithful to His word. None of it ever fails.

This is encouraging to me as I and my family prepare to move. We don't have to fight against hostile nations to take possession of our home, but that doesn't mean that there isn't a lot of work to do. We are just about finished packing up our home, but we still have to drive 1300 miles to our new home and then guess what we get to do? Yep, we get to unpack. But as we go we have the word of God to comfort us and direct us. We find strength in knowing that He is with us and He will provide for us.

All of this moving, though, presents a vivid picture of the Christian life. When Israel moved in to the land, they were to destroy all of the nations. They were warned that if they did not it would come back to bite them. God warned that if any nations were allowed to remain they would become, "a snare and a trap to you, and a whip to your sides and thorns in your eyes (Joshua 23:13)." Ouch! Ever get a thorn in your eye? Well, you know the rest of the story. Israel did not drive out all the nations. Either they thought it would be too hard in some cases, or in other cases they thought it would be better to have these peoples as their servants. In the end God's word proved to be true. These people did become a snare to Israel and they suffered the promised consequences.

This is an important reminder for Christians. We are walking (moving) with the Lord. As we walk we are to deal with sin in our life. Just as the Lord promised to fight for Israel and give them victory, He promises to help us deal with sin. But sometimes, just like Israel, we don't obey. We think some sins are just too powerful and we'll never be able to deal with them. Others we just like to keep around. They are servants to us. When we need to relax or unwind, we pull out these "little" sins and let them serve us. We need to be warned that if we tolerate sin in our lives it will jump up and bite us. They will be a thorn in our eye.

So as we move to California, we have to be diligent to do all the things we need to do, trusting the Lord that He is in control. Failure to follow through could lead to costly and unwelcomed consequences. So it is as we move (walk) with the Lord. Let us be encouraged to know that the Lord is our strength and we can "do all things through Him who strengthens" us (Philippians 4:13).