between promises
Wandering comes when you've missed the rest. Rest comes when you step into the promise. But what about when you are between promises? When you are resting, knowing how far God has brought you and looking ahead to what he has for you, and yet you also are wandering? This is where I find myself, between promises. This is also where Joshua found himself.
Joshua was sent into the promise land along with other spies, the land of which God said, "I am giving to you..." That's present & progressive action. It was already begun before the people were even there. That's how promises work with God: we meet him among the promises he has already put into motion. We step into them. We don't wish nor will them to appear or work out. With God, the I AM, they already ARE.
Yet, to the majority of the spies, the promise looked like a problem. Though the land was full of good things, provided in abundance by God, it was also full of strong people and big cities, and this overshadowed the promise in their eyes. But Joshua and Caleb were ready to receive. They quieted the peoples' fears and said, "We are well able to overcome it; let us at once go up and occupy the promise!"
Joshua knew that the promise was worth the fight. He knew that after a few battles, rest would be found for the people. He was ready. But the other men (minus Caleb) said, "We are not able." I can hear Joshua and Caleb groan, "Of course we're not! But this is God's promise--is He not able!?" But their cries for rest did not win out; the people cried out and wept for fear and doubt, and Moses and Aaron fell on their faces before them, anguished as to what would happen. Joshua again spoke up, urging the people not to rebel against the Lord, who is with them and able to protect them. But they started picking up stones, ready to have their own way. The the Lord himself showed up.
"How long will this people despise me? And how long will they not believe in me, in spite of all the signs that I have done among them? I will strike them with the pestilence and disinherit them, and I will make you a nation greater and mightier than they."
Moses intercedes, and the people are spared. But they missed the rest. They missed the promise. So he turns them around, and for 40 years they wandered, and the generation that refused to enter died before entering. Even Moses only got to peer into the promised land just before his death. But Joshua did get to enter and led the people to victory and rest for a season.
But for 40 years, he was exiled along with them. He wandered without rest. God provided for their every need, over and over again, but at the same time, it was not the promise. He had seen the promise, he had eaten of its fruit, and yet was not granted to remain.
Why? Because the wilderness, walking between promises, forces us to trust, to follow, and to depend on God more than ever before. Sometimes we must remain between promises to keep our eyes on the giver of the promises more than the promises themselves. Once Israel was settled in the promise, for many it became their idol. They saw themselves as invincible, not because of their God, but because of their privileged dwelling place.
Being between promises is hard. Rest is hard to come by, contentment even harder. But it is preparation. It is worth it. It will make the promise to come sweeter, yet also help you resist the temptation that the promise is above the promise-maker. God is sovereign over it all. He could have let those who saw the promise as already fulfilled and ready to receive remain there, but he didn't. He sent them with the others to wander with them. The promise is meant to be fulfilled in community. Since we are all wandering, that is where true community is rooted and established.
"Hope must be in the future tense. Faith, to be faith, must be in the present tense." - Catherine Marshall
Hope in the promise to come. But have faith between that the wandering is not out of God's control. It has purpose and it is worth it.
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Joshua was sent into the promise land along with other spies, the land of which God said, "I am giving to you..." That's present & progressive action. It was already begun before the people were even there. That's how promises work with God: we meet him among the promises he has already put into motion. We step into them. We don't wish nor will them to appear or work out. With God, the I AM, they already ARE.
Yet, to the majority of the spies, the promise looked like a problem. Though the land was full of good things, provided in abundance by God, it was also full of strong people and big cities, and this overshadowed the promise in their eyes. But Joshua and Caleb were ready to receive. They quieted the peoples' fears and said, "We are well able to overcome it; let us at once go up and occupy the promise!"
Joshua knew that the promise was worth the fight. He knew that after a few battles, rest would be found for the people. He was ready. But the other men (minus Caleb) said, "We are not able." I can hear Joshua and Caleb groan, "Of course we're not! But this is God's promise--is He not able!?" But their cries for rest did not win out; the people cried out and wept for fear and doubt, and Moses and Aaron fell on their faces before them, anguished as to what would happen. Joshua again spoke up, urging the people not to rebel against the Lord, who is with them and able to protect them. But they started picking up stones, ready to have their own way. The the Lord himself showed up.
"How long will this people despise me? And how long will they not believe in me, in spite of all the signs that I have done among them? I will strike them with the pestilence and disinherit them, and I will make you a nation greater and mightier than they."
Moses intercedes, and the people are spared. But they missed the rest. They missed the promise. So he turns them around, and for 40 years they wandered, and the generation that refused to enter died before entering. Even Moses only got to peer into the promised land just before his death. But Joshua did get to enter and led the people to victory and rest for a season.
But for 40 years, he was exiled along with them. He wandered without rest. God provided for their every need, over and over again, but at the same time, it was not the promise. He had seen the promise, he had eaten of its fruit, and yet was not granted to remain.
Why? Because the wilderness, walking between promises, forces us to trust, to follow, and to depend on God more than ever before. Sometimes we must remain between promises to keep our eyes on the giver of the promises more than the promises themselves. Once Israel was settled in the promise, for many it became their idol. They saw themselves as invincible, not because of their God, but because of their privileged dwelling place.
Being between promises is hard. Rest is hard to come by, contentment even harder. But it is preparation. It is worth it. It will make the promise to come sweeter, yet also help you resist the temptation that the promise is above the promise-maker. God is sovereign over it all. He could have let those who saw the promise as already fulfilled and ready to receive remain there, but he didn't. He sent them with the others to wander with them. The promise is meant to be fulfilled in community. Since we are all wandering, that is where true community is rooted and established.
"Hope must be in the future tense. Faith, to be faith, must be in the present tense." - Catherine Marshall
Hope in the promise to come. But have faith between that the wandering is not out of God's control. It has purpose and it is worth it.
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