Chapter Eighteen - Joshua 13:1-7

But Be of Good Cheer

        In Joshua chapter one, we saw the nation of Israel on the outside of the Promised Land looking in. In the following chapters we watched God lead them to victory after victory, giving them success in their endeavor to conquer the land. Then in chapter eleven, verse twenty-three, we read “and the land rested from war.”  They were in!  God had given them the land and now they could rest!  But wait…

Joshua 13:1

Now Joshua was old, advanced in years. And the LORD said to him: “You are old, advanced in years, and there remains very much land yet to be possessed.”

        Contradiction! I thought they had possessed the land. I thought they didn’t have to fight any more. But now in chapter thirteen God gives them another list of territories that still needed to be conquered.  

        The first twelve chapters in the book of Joshua give us a great picture of how we can enter by faith into the Spirit-filled life. God, as we saw, gives us success when we follow Jesus (remember, Joshua is a picture of Jesus) into battle. He gives us rest when we finally take possession of His promises. But as was the case for the Israelites, though we rest from war, there are still battles that will have to be fought.

        In John 16:33, Jesus tells the disciples what the future was going to look like for them: “These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” 

        It’s true… we will have tribulation… but be of good cheer. Jesus has already won the war!

No Rest Without Confidence

        I am a football fan, and one of the best days of football that I can remember was the 2007 league championship weekend. Sunday’s early game was the AFC Championship game between the undefeated New England Patriots and the San Diego Chargers; the late game was the NFC Championship game between the Green Bay Packers and the New York Giants.  Both were great games but the late game stands out.

        The temperature at game time for the Packers/Giants game was 2 degrees above zero with a wind chill of minus 24. Anybody who has paid attention to football for the past fifteen years knows that Bret Favre, who was at the time Green Bay’s quarterback, was virtually unbeatable in the frigid air of Lambeau Field.

        But Eli Manning and the Giants had been playing as well as any team in the NFL over the previous eight weeks, so this was shaping up to be a great game! My wife lived in New York City until she was ten, so we were cheering for the Giants. For the whole night we (and by we, I mean me… Katherine was cleaning the bathrooms) were on pins and needles, on the edge of our seats. The game was fantastic and after many nail-biting lead changes, fumbles, interceptions, and missed field goals, the game came down to the final few seconds.

        With the game tied, the Giants had the opportunity to win if they could only make a 36-yard field goal. The snap was a bit high but they were able to get the attempt off and… it had the distance… but it was turning… turning… No good!  Shoot… overtime. Overtime rules in the NFL state that the first team to score wins and the team to get the first chance to score is decided by a flip of the coin. It’s unfair but them’s the rules.

        Unfortunately for Giants fans, the Packers won the coin toss—and after the kick off, Bret Favre and the Packers were poised to drive down the field and win the game. Again, if you are a football fan, you know that when Bret Favre has the football and 80 yards to go for the win, it’s a safe bet that the Packers will win… so I slumped in my seat waiting for the inevitable. But… after just two plays, Favre threw an interception! I leapt to my feet! The Giants now had the ball and only had to advance it a couple of yards to be in field goal range.      Lo and behold, they were able to pound out those couple of yards to set up a game winning 47-yard field goal attempt. Now keep in mind, within the past seven minutes of playing time the Giants kicker had missed a 43-yarder and the 36-yarder at the end of regulation. So this was by no means a sure thing… so I slumped back in my seat with little confidence that he’d be able to make this 47-yarder. After a timeout, the Giants took the field for the game-winning attempt… the snap was good and the kick was up… if it’s got the distance, it’ll be good… it’s going… going… GOOD! I leapt back to my feet… the Giants win!

        I was exhausted. The ups and downs… twists and turns of the game wore me out. I never had confidence that my team was going to win, so I couldn’t get any rest. I couldn’t find peace.

        That’s how it is with our Christian walk before we enter the Spirit-filled life and take possession of God’s promises. We’re up on some days and down on others. There are days that we think our struggles with sin will never end—and other days when we find an incredible euphoria because of victories that we didn’t know were possible.

        But what if you knew the results beforehand? What if during the game I found out that the Giants, beyond a shadow of a doubt, were going to win? What if I knew that nothing Green Bay could do would affect that outcome. What if I learned in advance that the Giants would miss a field goal at the end of regulation, but after an interception they’d get another chance and make it? Would I have been so nervous? Would I have been so restless?

We Know the Outcome

        When we take possession of the promises God offers in the Spirit-filled life, we will know the outcome of all our future battles… God will give us victory. Because of this foreknowledge, we will have rest, we will find peace. Yes, because we live in a fallen world we will continue to experience difficulties until, like Joshua, we are old and advanced in years. But because we have seen God’s faithfulness so often in the past, we can be of good cheer knowing that He will continue to be faithful and give us victory!

        How great is that… how great is our God?! We’ve seen the final score and we know we win… So rest… rest in the knowledge that God will win in the end.  Face those future battles with peace and with confidence.