Joshua 1:1-9 Daily Study Unit 8, Session One, Day One
Moses had led the children of Israel for four decades. He was one constant for a people who had wondered in the wilderness as an entire generation died off, one thing they could depend on. But then, he too was gone. The book of Joshua opens by stating his death in a rather matter of fact manner.
Moses was dead and now God spoke to Joshua. But we can not under estimate the impact of his loss surely had on a people who stood at the border of the promise land, preparing to go to war. The people were vulnerable, and this could have been a crushing blow for them, a demoralizing loss.
But God, of course understood. He knew Joshua would need encouragement, and He knew the people would need it as well. But He also knew the people needed something else more- they needed Him. Good leaders are a gift from God. Great leaders are a blessing. But no leader, no matter how good he might be, is a substitute for God Himself. Moses was not who the Israelite’s needed. Neither was Joshua. NOr would it be any of the judges, Samuel, Saul, David, Solomon or any other king or any other prophet.
The leader the people needed was God, who would one day come in the form of a man-Christ Jesus, the One whom God provided to lead us out of bondage to sin and into the rest of salvation in Him.
Question
Have you ever lost a significant leader? What was the effect of that loss on you and others?
Voices from Church History: “Let the past sleep, but let it sleep in the sweet embrace of Christ, and let us go on into the invincible future with Him” – Oswald Chambers