The book of Joshua begins with blunt communication from the Lord to Joshua. In the second verse of Joshua 1, the Lord says to Joshua, “Moses my servant is dead. Now therefore arise, go over this Jordan, you and all this people, into the land that I am giving to them, to the people of Israel.” Deuteronomy tells us that after Moses’ death, Israel mourned for Moses for thirty days.
The book of Joshua follows Deuteronomy, and so begins after the completion of mourning for Moses. Moses was a great prophet and leader. God used Moses to deliver his people from Egypt. Moses deserved to be mourned. But, the time for mourning was over. Moses was dead. The time of Moses was past and the days of Joshua had arrived.
For Joshua, these are hard truths. His mentor, his friend, and the leader of Israel was dead. The mantle of leadership that had fallen on Joshua was heavy. But, the time for mourning was over. The Lord was clear in his commandment to Joshua. Arise. Move on from your mourning and into the promised land. Joshua could not continue to live in his mourning. Joshua had to live in the moment.
For his anger is but for a moment, and his favor is for a lifetime. Weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes with the morning.
Psalm 30:5
According to Ecclesiastes, there is a time for everything under the sun:
a time to be born, and a time to die;
Ecclesiastes 3:2-8
a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted;
a time to kill, and a time to heal;
a time to break down, and a time to build up;
a time to weep, and a time to laugh;
a time to mourn, and a time to dance;
a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together;
a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;
a time to seek, and a time to lose;
a time to keep, and a time to cast away;
a time to tear, and a time to sew;
a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
a time to love, and a time to hate;
a time for war, and a time for peace.
For Joshua, the time had come to lead.
There will come times in your life when you will be called upon to do the thing that does not feel natural in the moment. There are times when we would rather continue to live in our mourning, but others need us to “arise” and go. Did Joshua feel like doing what the Lord told him to do? We don’t know; it is certainly possible that Joshua would have preferred to weep for Moses a while longer. But, the needs of the day required Joshua to get to work.
Do you need to get to work today? It sounds crass to ask what you need to get over, but the reality is, sometimes, we all need to get over it (whatever it is) and get to work. Joshua still longed for Moses. Joshua most likely still missed Moses, but there was a job to do.
We live in a therapeutic culture that is concerned usually with feelings. We risk sounding insensitive if we do not affirm everyone’s feelings all the time. And yet, there are times when we have to move forward regardless of how it feels. Recently, Brett McKay of The Art of Manliness reminded me of a scene from Larry McMurtry’s novel, Lonesome Dove. In the scene, a young man, Sean, has been killed by a swarm of water moccasins,
a grave is shortly dug, a hasty burial service is held, and the men prepare to keep their cattle drive moving. But Sean’s fellow cowboys, especially his brother Allen, find it difficult to grapple with this sudden and unexpected death.
Weak with shock, Allen is the last to mount his horse, and as the men ride off, he keeps looking back at his brother’s grave. “It seems very quick just to ride off and leave the boy,” he says with dismay. “He was the babe of our family.”
“If we was in town we’d have a fine funeral,” the cowboy sage Augustus McCrae replies. “But we ain’t in town. There’s nothing you can do but kick your horse.”
Lonesome Dove
Sometimes, we have done all we can do. Sometimes we have hurt. We’ve mourned. We’ve been angry. We’ve felt helpless. We have wallowed in self-pity or anxiousness. Sometimes we don’t feel like doing anything. We would prefer to live in our hurt, to sit by the grave, to continue our mourning for another thirty days.
But, the time for mourning will pass.
Moses is dead. Joshua can’t bring him back. Instead, Joshua has to live into the calling God has placed on his life. Joshua has to do the next thing.
What is your next thing? What is the next step you need to take? Maybe you can’t see the end of the road you’re on. Maybe you can’t find the sun because of the clouds that block the light.
You can’t stay there. When the days of mourning pass. Allow them to pass. Then. Arise. Go and take possession of that which God has called you to. Others are depending on you.
Will this be hard? Of course. Does your heart want to move ahead? No. But, your heart will follow your habits. If your habit continues to be living in your hurt, your heart will follow. But, if you can change your habits, move into the calling God has for you, you may just discover that over time, your heart will follow you there. The work you do in misery or mourning may become work you do with joy as God changes your heart through your habits and actions.
So get up. The sun will shine tomorrow, and his mercies are new every morning. He gives strength to the weary, and those who mourn will be blessed. God has not abandoned you, but he may very well have called you to a new task.
Photo by Ignaz Wrobel on Unsplash
