These Shoes are Made for Walking

"Moses My servant is dead; now therefore arise, cross this Jordan, you and all this people, to the land which I am giving to them, to the sons of Israel. Every place on which the sole of your foot treads, I have given it to you just as I spoke to Moses." Joshua 1: 2-3

I think there are several things in this passage of scripture to stimulate us to move forward in our walk with the Lord.


1. The past was over. Moses, the great deliverer of Israel was gone. The children of Israel had a time of intense mourning. They probably had some real insecurity about their future but God's word to them was "arise and cross." There is no final chapter in the kingdom of God. There is an ever moving forward march. Yes, there may be a time for mourning...a time for rest....a time to reexamine....but it's not over as long as you're living and breathing.


2. Even though there was still a fight to be fought, a land to be conquered - God's word was PRESENT TENSE. God was giving them this land. Final word. No arguments. No need to fret.


3. God told Joshua that everywhere he set his foot - the land would be his. That's where I want to sit for a spell.

Don't you wish - sitting on this side of history and reading these verses today - that we could go back in time and say, "don't stop walking Joshua! Walk till you drop! Take it all, brother!" That's what I would say. Don't be chintzy. Walk! Walk! Walk!

I know that had I been Joshua, I would have probably gotten tired, wondered how much was enough and perhaps even 'settled' for a smaller portion just to be done. But Oh! looking back, I want to tell Joshua to go for it.

I wonder if that is what the great cloud of witnesses from Hebrews is calling to you and to me. "Go for it. Don't settle. Take it all." Sometimes the older we get the more settled we become. Life has taken on familiarity and a youth-oriented culture moves so much faster that it's easy to take the (s)low road. But somehow reading these passages, I want to go farther and reach higher. I hope you do too.

Life is meant to be relished. Life is meant to be lived fully and freely because we have the promise of Jesus - "In this world you will have tribulation but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world."

I believe our lives will be much more honoring to God if we spend them walking further than trying to live safe. My prayer today is that we will all - myself especially - be radically stretched to the glory of God.

Start walking!!!