Ten Minute Bible Talks Devotional Bible Study - Is Your Life in Need of Change? | The Life of Joshua | Joshua 3

Starting point is 00:00:00 Welcome to 10-minute Bible Talks, where we connect the Bible to your life in the time it takes to get to work. I'm Keith Simon. And I'm Patrick Miller. Right now, we're going through the Book of Joshua. Also, if you want to connect with us, follow us on Twitter at TMBT podcast. You can also check out our hashtag, hashtag, Ask TMBT, where you can ask us anything, and we'd love to connect with you. I kind of hate ceremonies. To me, it all seems a bit meaningless, like a theatrical event.

Starting point is 00:00:34 and we all believe has value, but it's really just symbolic mumbo-jumbo meant to soak up a ton of my time. Well, so this probably explains, by the way, why I don't particularly like going to weddings, graduations, or anything like that. In fact, it's why I've made an effort to skip every single graduation I have ever been invited to. I'm saying the ones that I was supposed to be in. Unfortunately, my family doesn't see eye to eye with me on this, so my parents made me attend my college graduation, and my wife made me attend my seminary graduation. And it wasn't until that last graduation that something dawned on me. Maybe, just maybe, these big symbolic processions do have meaning.

Starting point is 00:01:15 Maybe, just maybe. They actually have some worth. For example, have you ever wondered why we traditionally shut the doors before the bride enters the sanctuary for her wedding? I used to think this was kind of a big reveal. And maybe that's part of it. But that's not the original reason. It was a way of symbolically showing that she was leaving behind an old life. She was exiting an old space. She was literally crossing a threshold through a new doorway. But it was also a figurative threshold. She was leaving behind her family and stepping into something new. And so at the end of the ceremony, when she and her husband exit back through those same doors, it's a way of re-entering into the world as something new. They're no longer part of their old families. They're beginning a new family, a new reality exists that didn't exist before.

Starting point is 00:02:07 Now, of course, in between her entering and leaving behind her family and then exiting with her husband and starting a new family, there's the ceremony. And that ceremony is all about making promises. And considering the journey that she and her husband are about to embark on, it's a 30-minute preparation between who she was and who she's going to become. back to my seminary graduation. I realized that something similar was happening there, although far less significant. I had spent four grueling years in seminary. I actually had to commute two hours away to St. Louis three days a week so that I could go to school. And that's where I learned Hebrew and Greek. It's where I developed the skills that I needed to be a pastor, biblical interpretation, counseling, communication, theological thinking. And on the night of that graduation, I entered that room

Starting point is 00:02:57 in a long procession with all of my fellow students. And I realized that's the key. We were entering that room as students, but then we would leave as graduates. And around me, there was a community assenting to the fact that I was actually ready for the next step to pursue ministry. It was a community that was saying, hey, we're committed to be on this same journey with you. And then, of course, there was that little in-between part, the ceremony. It's the in-between of me once being a student and then becoming a graduate. And that ceremony, it reminded me of the one thing that I needed to hear the most in that moment. And it was this, you are not alone.

Starting point is 00:03:35 You were not alone during your seminary days, and you will not be alone as a graduate. God has always been with you on that journey. He has sustained you, and he will continue to sustain you. You see, ceremonies, they're transitional moments. They're transformational moments. You enter as one thing, and you leave something else. You enter as a bride, you leave as a wife. You enter as a groom, you leave as a husband.

Starting point is 00:04:01 You enter as a student. You leave as a graduate. And it's a way of saying you're ready for what's next. In this community who watched the whole thing happen, they're right there alongside you. And most importantly, so is God. Do you need a transformational moment in your life right now? As you reflect on your walk with Jesus, is it stagnant?

Starting point is 00:04:22 Or as you reflect on your life, Do you find yourself seeing areas that you know God wants you to change, but you haven't seen change in a long, long time? Maybe it's your anger, or your unkindness to people, gossip, lust. Maybe it's an addiction. Or perhaps you're in a different kind of transitional moment right now. Maybe you've gone through hurt, loss, sickness, suffering. And even though the painful thing has passed, you've struggled to emerge from the

Starting point is 00:04:54 grief, the anxiety, the depression. You know, God's been at work on you in this in-between period and that he's calling you into the next thing, but you're just not sure how to cross that threshold. Joshua 3 is Israel's graduation ceremony. See, all the way back in Exodus 4, I mean like four books backwards, Yahweh, he parted the Red Sea. And like a bride, he marched his bride Israel across that threshold, across that dry ground. And when he took them across the Red Sea, they entered into one of these in-between times. You see, before they crossed the sea, they were slaves, but now what? Before they crossed the sea, they were given over to idols. But now what? Before they crossed the sea, they ate, they drink, they thought, they lived like Egyptians. But now what? And now,

Starting point is 00:05:44 40 years later, at the River Jordan, God, he parts the waters for a second. time. And now he's marching his bride across the threshold one more time, except now that bride is something new. Now she's no longer a bride. She is the covenant partner of Yahweh himself. Israel is God's partner in his worldwide mission. You see, the in-between time had ended. Joshua 314 says this. So when the people broke camp to cross the Jordan, the priest carrying the ark of the covenant went ahead of them. Now, the Jordan is at the flood stage during the harvest. As soon as the priests who carried the ark reached the Jordan and their feet touched the water's edge, the water from upstream stopped flowing.

Starting point is 00:06:28 The priests who carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord stopped in the middle of the Jordan and stood on dry ground while all the people of Israel passed by until the whole nation had completed the crossing on dry ground. Now obviously something miraculous is happening here, and yet this is also a symbolically profound crossing. Israel has gone from one sea parting to another sea parting. And the people they've changed in between. See, the people who are crossing the Jordan, it's a different generation. It's different people. And these people have been trained to walk in Yahweh's ways. Now, you're probably thinking what I'm thinking. Forty years is a long in-between. I mean, a wedding ceremony, that's the in-between. If it lasts longer than 30 minutes, I am out. But 40 years between the bride entering the sanctuary and leaving, that's what happened.

Starting point is 00:07:19 to Israel? 40 years between the students entering the auditorium and then leaving as graduates? Again, that's a hugely long time. And I think there's a huge lesson to be learned. You see, first, it's that sometimes we want transformation with God far more quickly than it can happen. You see, ceremonies can happen in 30 minutes. But life transformations, they don't happen the same way. God does not just snap his fingers and magically change us as much as we might want that to be the case. Sometimes God uses sin in our life to keep us humble. You see, we're in this in-between of not being able to beat that sin, of fighting that sin constantly.

Starting point is 00:07:58 Why? Because God is keeping you humble. Because God is training you through that sin to trust in His grace. Or sometimes God uses grief to keep us meek, to keep us dependent on his strength. He's training us. He's teaching us in that in-between period of grief to rely on him, to become gentle, to trust him to be strong for you. Israel's 40 years in the wilderness, their ceremony, their in-between. It was deeply complicated, just like our lives. On the one hand, the prophet Isaiah, he describes

Starting point is 00:08:31 those years like a honeymoon between Yahweh and his people. But on the other hand, Paul, he describes those 40 years as 40 years of rebellion. And so which one was it? Well, of course, the answer is both. See, that's the nature of being in the in-between with God. It's joyful, because we see him renew his grace and his mercy and his forgiveness time and time again, even though we know we don't deserve it. And yet on the other side of things, it's a time of rebellion. We find ourselves complaining against him, failing to trust him, resisting him, worshipping our idols, running after our pleasures, giving in to despair.

Starting point is 00:09:08 Israel did all of that and more during their 40 years. It was both a honeymoon and a rebellion. And yet that's the point. because the in-between with God, it's a school of character. It's a place where God trains us, where he develops us, where he transforms us, to learn how to trust him, to learn how to lean on him, to learn how to receive his forgiveness and be changed. Do you need a transitional moment in your life right now? Do you want transformation in your life right now? Ask God for it.

Starting point is 00:09:40 You really don't know. Waters might just split in front of you. But if they don't, don't get it. give up on God. He's just saying, hey, there's more training ahead. This in between, it's going to last longer. You need more time to learn what it is to receive my forgiveness, what it is to feel and experience my mercy, what it is to lean on my strength. And that's, by the way, not so that you can graduate and not need those things anymore. It's so that you can graduate and know that you need those things every single day and you know how to look for them every single day and you never leave his forgiveness

Starting point is 00:10:15 and his mercy and his grace and his strength behind. The key message, Yahweh wanted Israel to learn during their 40 years in the wilderness. It's a lesson that he repeats during their graduation ceremony in Joshua 3 as they're crossing that river. This is what he says. This is how you will know that the living God is among you. The living God is among you. That's the message they were supposed to learn from those 40 years in the wilderness, it's the lesson they are supposed to take with them as they cross the Jordan into the next stage of their journey. Today I want you to ask God to give you clarity on your journey to guide your path forward. And I want you to know that whether you're in the in between or moving forward to a different stage, the lesson actually

Starting point is 00:11:00 stays the same in both places. The living God is with you. Trust him. Thanks for listening. If you've enjoyed this content, please subscribe and give us a rating. That helps other people find this podcast more easily. Also, ask yourself, who could you share this podcast with? Texting an episode to a friend or a family member is a great way to help them grow spiritually. If you want to go deeper, check out our show notes for book recommendations.

Ten Minute Bible Talks Devotional Bible Study - Is Your Life in Need of Change? | The Life of Joshua | Joshua 3

There aren't comments yet for this episode. Click on any sentence in the transcript to leave a comment.