Our spiritual journey includes leaving some things behind to reach forward to all that the Lord has for us. Most of us like the new things the Lord wants to do in and through us, but we have a problem letting go of the past. Sometimes a painful past seems preferable to a future promise because it is familiar to us. At other times, we live our lives trying to distance ourselves from the past but not recognizing that we are still bound to the past!
When God led Joshua and the Israelites to cross the Jordan River, they were supposed to move forward and face the giants. While gaining territory on the other side of the Jordan river wasn’t going to be easy, God was about to deliver them from 40 years of wilderness in the desert.
The Israelites had already made some progress by being freed from oppression of Egypt, but God had bigger plans for them. He was training them to be warriors and to take over territories. There was no going back to the old identity. They were only supposed to move forward and live out their new identity as conquerers. The very ones who were homeless for 40 years were about to become land and property owners by taking over territories that God was going to give them. The Israelites needed to move forward as God’s army and depend on His instructions.
So the Lord said to Joshua: “Get up! Why do you lie thus on your face? Israel has sinned, and they have also transgressed My covenant which I commanded them. For they have even taken some of the accursed things, and have both stolen and deceived; and they have also put it among their own stuff. Therefore the children of Israel could not stand before their enemies, but turned their backs before their enemies, because they have become doomed to destruction. Joshua 7:10-12
The Israelites had a mixture of successes and failures because their obedience was shaky. Conquering territories and acquiring wealth had not changed their view of God and of themselves. Crossing the Jordan river did not change their hearts even though the Lord had brought them to a better place. The Lord planned to provide for them abundantly in the new territories.They didn’t have to steal or deceive. The season of poverty and lack was over, but they saw themselves as poor and acted like orphans.
Have you left the past behind by not allowing it to define your present and the future? Do you see your identity in the light of who you are in Jesus? Sometimes in the process of working so hard to distance ourselves from the past, we remain in bondage to it. We try to argue with our past or prove that we are a different person. Instead, we just need to release it in the name of Jesus and make peace with it.
I will continue with this subject and share about the New Testament experience in the Jordan river that allows us to truly leave things behind.
