Life is not as complicated as we often make it out to be. It’s not so hard to exercise faith. We do it every time you obey the green light, hoping others will obey the red light. We don’t know the other person will stop at the red light but we have faith that they will. As a matter of fact, we risk life and limb that they will stop on red.
But riddle me this. As you speed toward the intersection, what is the basis for your faith? Is it your feelings? No! Is it the feelings of other drivers? I hope not! The basis for your faith is a written law. In other words, the reason you’re willing to drive through an intersection in noonday traffic is because at some point in the past someone said,
“It is written, green means go and red means stop.”
We exercise “saving faith” in that law every time we drive, but notice it’s not blind faith. Our faith has a resting place or a foundation. As believers, we’re not commanded to have faith “in faith.” But what is the foundation on which we rest our faith?
Joshua assisted Moses during the Exodus, and when Moses passed away, he took over the top leadership position. But now we come to the very day when Joshua himself will pass away. What will he say to the people of God on his last day in the land of the living? He states:
“Take good heed therefore to yourselves, that you love Yahweh your God…Behold, today I am going the way of all the earth. You know in all your hearts and in all your souls that not one thing has failed of all the good things which Yahweh your God spoke concerning you. All have happened to you. Not one thing has failed of it. It shall happen that as all the good things have come on you of which Yahweh your God spoke to you, so Yahweh will bring on you all the evil things, until he has destroyed you from off this good land which Yahweh your God has given you, when you disobey the covenant of Yahweh your God, which he commanded you, and go and serve other gods, and bow down yourselves to them. Then Yahweh’s anger will be kindled against you, and you will perish quickly from off the good land which he has given to you.”
“Joshua said to the people, ‘You can’t serve Yahweh, for he is a holy God. He is a jealous God. He will not forgive your disobedience nor your sins. If you forsake Yahweh, and serve foreign gods, then he will turn and do you evil, and consume you, after he has done you good.’
“The people said to Joshua, ‘No, but we will serve Yahweh.’ Joshua said to the people, ‘You are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen Yahweh yourselves, to serve him.’ They said, ‘We are witnesses.’ So Joshua made a covenant with the people that day, and…wrote these words in the book of the law of God.
[And] Israel served Yahweh all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders who outlived Joshua, and had known all the work of Yahweh, that he worked for Israel.”
~ Joshua 23:11, 14-16; 24:19-22, 25a-26a, 31
Joshua was a key player in the rise of Israel. He didn’t live to witness her fall. But he knew exactly what would happen if his countrymen rebelled against the One whose very name is Jealous. How did Joshua know? He knew because God said it! From his own experience, Joshua knew if God said it, that settles it! As far as Joshua was concerned, Yahweh bats a thousand every season! God’s record is perfect! So He reminds the people that because they stayed faithful, “not one thing has failed of all the good things which Yahweh your God spoke concerning you.”
That’s pretty impressive! Every single thing happened just like God said it would happen. Brothers and sisters, the prayer of faith and walk of faith is not blind. Faith looks to what God says and believes it. Faith is not blindly walking in the dark; faith is walking confidently in the light of His Word. Faith refuses to put a question mark where God put a period. The sure foundation of our faith is God’s perfect record, His infallible word! I don’t have faith “in faith.” My faith is in the “Big G” God of this world and what He said in His Book!
Joshua tells the leaders to look back and see for themselves how God has kept His Word. God told them earlier - if they prove faithful to Him, He would fight for them. And as they looked back, they saw for themselves that their God did not let them down. They knew, from their own experience with Him, that God is completely trustworthy. And they stood in that faith for the rest of their lives!
Faith concludes what JAH declares! As it is written, it will be done!
Grace, Peace and Jahspeed!