Getting Ready - Part 1

This podcast is made available by Vision Christian Media, thanks to the generosity of our supporters. Your donation today means great podcasts like this remain available to help people look to God daily. Please make your donation today at vision.org.au. Perhaps you've made a New Year's resolution to follow God's leading in the year ahead.

But are you willing to leave your comfort zone and actually do it? Today on Turning Point, Dr David Jeremiah offers a compelling example of that dilemma from the book of Joshua. Don't let fear keep you from following God's plan for you. Listen as David introduces today's special message, Getting Ready. Well friends, we're in this little parenthesis between Christmas and New Year, between the end of one year and the beginning of another. I don't have to ask you if you'll be ready to salute 2020 goodbye and begin a new year.

I'm sure 2021 is going to be much better without perhaps so many challenges as we've had in this last year. But how do you get ready for a new year? In fact, how do you get ready for anything?

How do you get prepared for what's ahead? Well, there was an experience in the life of Joshua as he was about to take his people into the Promised Land. And there's a wonderful section of scripture in the third chapter of Joshua where he gave a speech about getting ready.

He got instructions from God and he got his people ready. I love this little passage of scripture because it actually has the word tomorrow in it. Tomorrow the Lord will do wonders among you.

I believe that with all my heart and I believe 2021 is going to be a great year. Let's get our hearts ready as we open this scripture together. Well, let's get ready, okay?

Let's get ready. It was August 15th in 1987 and Howard Schultz was faced with the toughest decision of his life. Whether or not to buy a small chain of coffee houses with a strange name, Starbucks.

In his memoir, pour your heart into it. The architect behind the Starbucks brand reflects on his what if moment. This is my moment, I thought. If I don't seize the opportunity, if I don't step out of my comfort zone and risk it all, if I let too much time tick on, my moment will pass.

I knew that if I didn't take advantage of this opportunity, I would replay it in my mind for my whole life wondering what if. Howard Schultz made a defining decision to give up the safety net of his $75,000 a year salary to pursue his passion for all things coffee. Starbucks stock went public five years later on June 26th, 1992. It was the second most actively traded stock on the NASDAQ that day and by the closing bell, its market capitalization stood at 273 million. Not bad for a 3.8 million investment. Starbucks now has 16,580 stores in 40 countries with revenues topping 4.7 billion and their 137,000 employees is twice the population of Greenland.

By conservative estimates, Starbucks sold 3,861,778,846 cups of coffee last year. Many of you contributed to that. I would say that Howard Schultz qualifies as one man who took advantage of his defining moment. What if you knew that this year was going to be the best year of your life? What if you could look into the next 12 months and see the blessing of God being poured out on you in unprecedented ways?

What would you be thinking right now? Well, many of you would be planning the party. Others would be calling their friends to tell them the good news.

But some of you, maybe more than you would imagine, would be overwhelmed. Instead of joy, you would be experiencing fear. There was a time in the history of the nation of Israel when that particular connection between expectation and fear was present. A time when three million people faced a divine if. The story is told in Joshua 3 to which we've opened and it may be the best passage in the Bible to get us ready for a new year. Joshua and the people of Israel were about to experience the greatest moment in their nation's history. The land which Almighty God had promised to their father Abraham was now in sight. In the book of Deuteronomy, Moses described what that land looked like in these graphic terms. For the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land, a land of brooks and water, of fountains and springs that flow out of the valleys and hills, a land of wheat and barley, of vines and fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olive oil and honey, a land in which you will eat bread without scarcity, in which you will lack nothing, a land whose stones are iron and out of whose hills you can dig copper. This was the land God had promised to his people. It was actually called the land of promise. And throughout her history, the people of Israel looked forward to the day when they would occupy this special territory. Forty years before this particular moment in Joshua 3, Israel had been on the verge of realizing God's promise.

You know the story. God had sent 12 spies into the land. Unfortunately for that generation, when the spies returned to Kadesh Barnea, 10 of them were overwhelmed with the what-ifs of entering the Promised Land. Numbers 13 says, "'They gave the children of Israel a bad report of the land which they had spied out, saying, "'The land through which we have gone as spies is a land that devours its inhabitants, and all the people whom we saw in it are men of great stature.'" Compare those last two Scriptures, and you see in which the problem lies. God was angry with that generation because they did not believe his promise.

He had told them what they were going to find. When they looked at it without his perspective, they saw a different story. And the Bible says that the children of Israel walked 40 years in the wilderness till all the people who were men of war, who came out of Egypt, were consumed because they did not obey the voice of the Lord. The nation of Israel lost 40 years. Now, after 40 years of wandering in the desert, the people of Israel stand on the border of their fulfilled dream.

Behind them lay the wilderness and the graves of their disobedient parents. And before them, awaiting their possession, was the land that flowed with milk and honey, the land of promise. But the Bible tells us that between the Israelites and the fulfillment of their dream stood the Jordan River. Now, the Jordan River was not usually a very frightening body of water. Most of the time, it was about 100 feet wide. But during the spring harvest season, the river rose to the flood stage.

It overflowed its banks, and instead of being 100 feet wide, it was one mile wide. If you could pick one time in the whole year when you did not want to cross the Jordan River, it was during the spring harvest season, and that was the time God determined for his people to cross over. It seems as if God was making this just about as difficult a faith test as he could. Can you imagine the thoughts that were going through the minds of the people of Israel? Wandering in the wilderness was all they knew. And now the Lord God was telling them to go to a land where they had only heard about from their fathers. Yes, it was a good land, but it was also a frightening land. They had heard the stories of the giants who were in the land.

They had heard that this land was fortified with cities where people were armed and dangerous. In fact, if you study the story carefully, you'll discover that in the book of Joshua, you find for the first time the mention of implements of iron for warfare. And now God has placed his people on the bank of the Jordan River at flood stage. How many of you know God loves to put us in situations like that, that are visually evident that we are powerless to succeed without him? That's why he heated the furnace seven times hotter for the three Hebrew children. That's why Jesus didn't show up until Lazarus had been dead for four days. Without divine intervention, there was no way three million people were gonna cross over the Jordan River when it was at flood stage. But the Bible says the people of God were commanded to cross over. Now, the word crossover is an interesting phrase in the Hebrew language, because it means not just to go from point A to point B, it means a transition from what is known to what is unknown. The Bible tells us that the Israelites were brought to the bank of the Jordan River and God left them there for three days before they could cross over.

Some scholars believe God did that on purpose so the people would have three days of visual reminders that they were about to experience something they'd never experienced before if they were gonna get across the river, God was gonna have to intervene in a miraculous way. It's awesome to consider these thoughts on the threshold of a new year. We're going into an uncharted territory. We don't know what the year holds for us.

So many things have happened in this surreal year that we couldn't possibly have anticipated, but happened they did, and there are gonna be things that happened this year that we could not have possibly anticipated. We have no control over them, and the question is, how do we get through the unknowns of our lives? As I process this Old Testament story, I discovered three things that were at play that God used to help get his people ready for this new chapter in their lives. These are truths that work for them and they apply to us today. While I will tell the story as it's told in the Scripture, I want to apply the principles in our outline as if it's all about today and we're on the threshold of this kind of experience because, believe me, I promise you we are.

Yes. The first thing you notice as you think about this story is the provision of God behind us. The place to start when facing uncharted territory is the past. Look over your shoulder at what God has already done in your life. In fact, Moses asked the people to do just that in the book of Deuteronomy. He said, "'And you shall remember that the Lord your God led you all the way these 40 years in the wilderness to humble you and test you to know what was in your heart whether you would keep his commandment or not.'" Moses said, "'You will remember what the Lord God did for you for the last 40 years.'"

The word remember in the Hebrew is a word which means to mark out or to set aside or to underline or to highlight. What had God done for these people? Well, for 40 years, God's people had been wandering in the desert, but God had not forgotten about them.

He had miraculously cared for them. Their journey in the desert was one miracle after another. They entered the desert by way of the Red Sea crossing, which was a miracle, and every day for the entire 40 years, they were in the desert. They were supernaturally led by God. They were led by a pillar of cloud during the day and by a pillar of fire during the night. Whenever the pillar of fire and the pillar of cloud would move, the people would move, and when it stopped, they would stop.

The people of Israel knew exactly what to do and exactly where to go every single day. Some people have wished we lived in such a time. God miraculously sustained them in ways that you and I could not comprehend. I want to read a couple of verses for you that you will find hard to believe, especially if you're in charge of buying the clothes for your family. Deuteronomy 8, 4, "'Your garments did not wear out on you, nor did your foot swell for these 40 years.'" Deuteronomy 29, 5, "'And I have led you 40 years in the wilderness, and your clothes have not worn out on you, and your sandals have not worn out on your feet.'"

Somebody wants to know where do you find that on the internet, right? God was providentially caring for his people. Yes, they were under judgment for their unbelief, but in his grace and mercy, God was bearing them up in his loving hands and caring for their needs. There was no grocery store.

There was no clothing store. If God had not miraculously provided for them, they would have perished in the wilderness. Some time ago, I clipped an article out of a magazine that was written by an army general who was interested in this episode in the children of Israel in the wilderness. The general tried to figure out what it would be like to take care of three million people in the wilderness for 40 years. According to the U.S. Army's quartermaster general, Moses needed 1,500 tons of food per day. That would fill two freight trains each a mile long.

At one dollar per meal per person, the cost of food alone would have been nine million each day for those standards. And since they were out in the desert, they would need firewood to cook the food. This would take 400 tons of wood and a few more freight trains each a mile long just for one day. And they were 40 years in the desert. And you would have to have water as well. If they only had enough water to drink and wash a few dishes, it would take around 11 million gallons every day and a freight train with tank cars around two miles just to bring their daily water.

But God didn't use any freight trains. Every day, he dropped their food right in front of their tent. Every day, a special delivery was waiting for them. For 40 years, they ate manna. Do you know what the word manna means? It means, what is it?

That's true. Every day, they went out to get their food and they said, what is it? Now, I wouldn't suggest you try that when you go home and your wife has something unusual on the table.

You may not know what it is, but you sit down and eat it, and later, in a more calm mode, you say, tell me, dear, what was that we had tonight? The manna may not have been all tasty, but it sustained them. God faithfully supplied every single day for these people. He supplied their water in a miraculous way. In fact, the basic needs of the Israelites did not fail one time during a period of four decades.

Every single day in their wilderness wandering, God met their need. So now they're standing at the bank of the Jordan River and their hearts are filled with fear. It's flood time. The river's overflowing.

There are three million of them. What are we going to do? But behind them was the memory of the provision of God that he had made for them for 40 years. Sometime over this next week, write down ten things God provided for you last year.

Keep that list in a place where you can get it when you need it. When you get a little discouraged or you wonder if God is involved in your life, go back and see what he's already done for you. He hasn't changed and he's not going to change.

You can count on it. The provision of God behind us. Then add this, the presence of God beside us. Read with me the first three verses of Joshua chapter 3. Then Joshua rose early in the morning and they set out from Acacia Grove and came to the Jordan.

He and all the children of Israel and lodged there before they crossed over. So it was after three days that the officers went through the camp and they commanded the people saying, When you see the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God and the priests, the Levites bearing it, then you shall set out from your place and go after it. Now, the central focus in Joshua chapter 3 and 4 is the ark of the covenant. Now, what's the big deal about the ark of the covenant? In the desert, the pillar of cloud and fire were visible signs of God's leading his people.

They were not to move until the sign was evident. But the presence of God with his people was always symbolized by the ark of the covenant. The ark of the covenant was a box of about 45 inches long and 27 inches deep and wide.

It was made out of Acacia wood and it had a lid on it and there were gold rings on each of the four corners of the box. They were in place so that poles could be inserted into those rings and the ark of the covenant could be carried on the shoulders of the Israelites. Inside the ark of the covenant was a copy of the law of God that had been given to Moses on Mount Sinai. Also in the ark was a portion of manna from the desert and the rod of Aaron that budded. Those were the contents of the ark of the covenant. The ark was associated with the light and glory and direction and presence of God. If you know the story of the Old Testament, you know that when the ark of the covenant was removed from the people of God as it was once by the Philistines, defeat was experienced. But when the ark was brought back, victory returned. Now, you will see this referenced in verses 10 and 11 of chapter 3.

Watch carefully as I read these verses. And Joshua said, "'By this you shall know that the living God is among you and that he will without fail drive out from before you the Canaanites and the Hittites and the Hivites and the Perizzites and the Gergashites and the Amorites and the Jebusites. Behold, the ark of the covenant of the Lord of all the earth is crossing over before you into the Jordan.'" The people of Israel looked at the ark of the covenant and it was to them the presence of God. When they saw the ark, they were reminded of God's presence with them.

And don't miss this. The people of Israel were getting ready to cross the Jordan River. They were given very specific instructions about the distance they should keep between themselves and the ark of the covenant. Look at verse 4. "'Yet shall there not be a space between you and two thousand cubits by measure. Do not come near it, that you may know the way by which you must go, for you have not passed this way before.'"

May I just imagine with all of us that that's a good phrase for us. We have not passed this way before. How do we walk into an area where we have never been?

How do we look at a time that we've never experienced? Well, the people were told by God and by Joshua that they were to keep the ark a certain space away from them. Now, let's unpack that for a moment.

Two thousand cubits is a distance of about 3,000 feet, or one-half mile. In other words, the ark of the covenant was to stay far enough out in front of this horde of people so that all of them could see it. If the ark was too close to the people at the front end of the march, it would be hidden from the people at the rear end of the march. The ark had to be seen by everyone, not just by the leaders at the front.

Almighty God was teaching a lesson. Leaders are important, but each of us individually needs to keep our eyes on God. It's not enough for us to see God through the eyes of others.

We need to see God through our own eyes, especially when we're going into the unknown. Amen. Amen. We'll have more of this tomorrow here on Turning Point as we finish out the old year together. I hope you're doing well.

I hope you're enjoying your family. I hope you are physically well and have not been impacted by this crazy thing that's going on around us. And I hope you're getting ready for the new year. That's what these messages during this particular week are all about. We'll have more about getting ready tomorrow. On Wednesday, we're going to talk about the journey inward, and then on Thursday and Friday, facing forward. Don't miss a day this week as you make your notes in your journal and begin to think about what your goals are for the new year.

These messages are just for you. For more information on Dr. Jeremiah's special messages for the new year, please visit our website, where you'll also find two free ways to help you stay connected, our monthly magazine, Turning Points, and our daily email devotional. Sign up today at davidjeremiah.org forward slash radio.

That's davidjeremiah.org forward slash radio. Now, when you do, ask for your copy of David's 365-day devotional for 2021. It's called Strength for Today, and it's filled with biblical truth for the year ahead, and it's yours for a gift of any amount. And to keep your spirits bright through the holiday season, visit the Home for Christmas channel at turningpoint.tv, your free source for Christmas music, videos, messages, and more. The Home for Christmas channel at turningpoint.tv.

I'm Gary Hoogfleet. Join us tomorrow as we continue our special messages for the new year. That's here on Turning Point with Dr. David Jeremiah. Thanks for taking time to listen to this audio on demand from Vision Christian Media. To find out more about us, go to vision.org.au.