Rest on Every Side

Joshua 21:43-45

The last paragraph of Joshua 21 is so wonderful I think it bears a closer look. This is really the end of the struggle. All of Joshua leads up to this point. They've spent 7 years fighting battles and then carving up the land. They've seen huge victories, huge defeats, and a creeping sense of trouble in the future. \r
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Do you ever find yourself so used to struggle that you discover you've been holding your breath? Or do you get so used to difficulties that you get really worn down and kind of depressed about life and even the Lord? \r
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Well in these last couple of verse of Joshua 21 there is some hope and reassurance that I think we can all benefit from.\r
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As we talked about Sunday, God first promised the land, won it by His own hand, then gave it as a possession to Israel in order that they might settle ("to sit down") there as a permanent place to live. Not only that, but God made it so none of their enemies withstood them (they, however, did not fully take the opportunity of what God had done). But God gave them rest, which means to "settle down." It was not a gift of anxiety but a gift of peace to them. \r
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And then I love how it ends: "not one word of all the good promises â?¦ had failed." God is so faithful. He never fails. Never. \r
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In this paragraph there are three ways that God's faithfulness to us as His children are expressed that I think it would be helpful to reflect on; they are: \r
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To those who are undeserving, God promises good things\r
To those who are weak, God gives deliverance from enemies \r
To those who are anxious, God gives rest on every side\r
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1. To those who are undeserving, God promises good things\r
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We see this concept repeated at the beginning, middle, and end of this section. Verse 43 says that God "gave to Israel all the land that he swore to give their fathers." \r
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That promise came to a man named Abram in Genesis 12:1. "Now the Lord said to Abram, "Go from your country and your kindred and your father's country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you." \r
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Then in chapter 15 he says: (7) "I am the Lord who brought you out from Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to possess." \r
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Who was Abram when God called him? Was he righteous? No. Abram was a pagan who lived in a pagan city in a pagan land. Did Abram deserve God's promise of a land to possess? No, certainly not. Yet God did it anyway. That's God for you. In fact, you are the beneficiary of the very same promise God made to Abram. Paul, in Galatians 3:16 says: that the "offspring" refers to Christ. You inherit that promise through faith in Jesus Christ.\r
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Three things to point out from this: \r
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1. We are undeserving\r
2. God makes promises anyway\r
3. The things he promises are good and he never fails\r
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The fact that God took a rank pagan and said "you - I'm making an unbreakable covenant with you" ought to give us great hope. We certainly do not deserve a relationship with God. God didn't look around for the most deserving or promising people to choose. He purposefully looked for the ugliest, vilest, most undeserving and least promising people he could find and chose them. \r
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1 Corinthians 1:26-31 For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. 27 But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; 28 God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, 29 so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. 30 He is the source of your life in Christ Jesus, whom God made our wisdom and our righteousness and sanctification and redemption. 31 Therefore, as it is written, "Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord." ESV\r
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What are the promises of God to us?\r
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- Eternal life (1 John 2:25) "And this is the promise - eternal life"\r
- An eternal dwelling (John 14:3) "I go to prepare a place â?¦"\r
- Be like Him (1 John 3:2) "we shall be like Him"\r
- Have trials (John 16:33) "In the world you will have â?¦"\r
- Experience discipline (Hebrews 12:10) "disciplines us for our good that we may share his glory"\r
- Be victorious (Romans 8:37) "More than conquerors"\r
- Be at peace (John 14:27) "My peace I leave with you"\r
- Be filled with joy (John 16:24) "that your joy may be full"\r
- Have all our needs met (Matt 6:8) "Father knows your needs before you ask"\r
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And look at just what it says in that 1 Corinthians 1 verse: God made Jesus: the source of our life, wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. \r
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Over 30 times we read of God's "unfailing love" (NIV). We may fail, but he never fails us.\r
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2. To those who are weak, God gives deliverance from enemies\r
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Israel faced a mortal enemy in the land of Canaan. These people were Israel's sworn enemies and would have lopped off their heads in a moment. Without God's intervention they would have been destroyed. \r
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We face that same dilemma. However, our enemy is not who you might think. Actually it's God that's our enemy. When we are born we are enemies of God due to the sin nature. So that's why it's such good news that Paul writes:\r
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Romans 5:6-11 For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. 7 For one will scarcely die for a righteous person-though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die- 8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 9 Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. 10 For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. 11 More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation. ESV\r
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Reconciliation with God makes us another enemy, though - three in fact: Satan, the world, and the flesh. But God also gives us deliverance from these enemies as well, though life Israel, we need to participate more and more in these victories. If you listen to the voice of temptation and accusation instead of resisting him (1 Peter 5:9) you will find yourself beaten down and not experiencing victory. If you allow the world system's attitudes become your attitudes instead of being transformed by the renewing of your mind (Romans 12:2) you will find yourself confused instead of confident. And if you do not go after fleshly attitudes left over from your old nature, killing them on the cross (Romans 8:13) by the Spirit, then you will find yourself weak instead of strong.\r
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This section in Joshua includes the idea of giving the land as a possession. The Lord has given the world to us (1 Corinthians 3:21). We are to judge the world. We will also help rule it when Christ returns. We should act not like a ruling tyrant, but a servant leader. We should be salt and light in the world. We should become as one still in the world in order to save them (1 Corinthians 9:22). God is looking for servants who are faithful to allow his Spirit to bear fruit among those around them. \r
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3. To those who are anxious, God gives rest on every side\r
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This is one of the most precious aspects of what God says to Israel. "they had rest on every side." What must that feel like? I sometimes feel like I have conflict on every side including the inside rather than peace. \r
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The aspect of rest is twofold here: rest from conflict and rest in the land. Rest from conflict means that you have a lack of worry about what has happened, what is happening and what is going to happen. It's rest about your environment.\r
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Rest in the land means you are content with who you are in the Lord and what he has done in you, what is doing in you now, and what he might do in the future. It's rest about your personal journey with God. \r
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How do we get that?\r
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Jesus said that the peace He gives is "not as the world gives." We cannot hope to be at true peace by avoiding conflict, controlling our environment, and taking no risks. That's a worldly way to peace - a cessation of conflict. \r
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True peace operates in the midst of the most horrific turmoil you can imagine. \r
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How do we get there? First of all I want to say that it is a process. I have found that there is no instantaneous peace, though if needed that will come too. More often than not I find that there is a process of the Holy Spirit working with our own thoughts to calm us. Sometimes it takes longer than others for this to occur, but don't fret. \r
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But Paul does give us some help in this process by a short section in his letter to the Philippians:\r
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Worship fervently and consistently, focus on what God is doing, then do those things, allow Jesus to play umpire and give up solving it on your own.\r
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Philippians 4:4-7\r
4 Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. 5 Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; 6 do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.\r
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Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. 9 What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me-practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you. \r
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So when anxiety comes, and it will, focus on your upward relationship with God: worship (rejoicing, thanking), the character of the Lord, seeking Him - then on the outward manifestation of God around you: seeing His character flow through you (reasonableness), seeing His work in your life and in your world. \r
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I don't promise that the troubles will go away, but God's peace won't go away, and as the Holy Spirit processes that in your mind, it is a peace that passes your ability to understand it. \r
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The peace of God. The word "peace" comes from a root word that means "to join." I like that. It's as we relate to God, focus on Him, plea to Him, worship Him, enjoy Him - that we join with Him. Then the storms surrounding us don't hold as much sway over us.\r
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To those who are undeserving, God promises good things\r
To those who are weak, God gives deliverance from enemies \r
To those who are anxious, God gives rest on every side\r
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xxx