Following a Big Crazy God

The Bible is full of some straight-up crazy situations. Take Joshua for instance. After he leads all of the Israelites across a miraculously dry river bottom, God tells him to circumcise all of his men.

I wonder if Joshua thought the circumcision would have been a better idea back in the desert when they had nothing better to do and natural boundaries for protection. Or if he thought maybe a better plan would have been slicing in shifts, thus guaranteeing at least a few able bodied fighters in case of attack. But no, after waiting and wandering around the desert for 40 years because of other people’s poor choices, God tells Joshua to cross over into hostile land and then render his army useless for a few days.

That’s big crazy.

And, the crazy didn’t stop with the river crossing and mass circumcision. Oh no, the hits kept on coming. The direction to send out a scouting team to Jericho may have given Joshua a few extra heart palpitations. Joshua was a part of the last scouting team and the results of that excursion led to him being one of only two of the original crew who exited Egypt to actually set foot in the Promised Land after 40 extra years in the desert.

At the beginning of this whole crossing the Jordan entering Canaan situation, God told Joshua to be strong and courageous. I use to think it was because of the opposing forces Joshua would face. Now I think it was because God knew that the things God would ask Joshua to do were straight-up big crazy.

Joshua was strong and very courageous and he kept following God into the big crazy unknown.

Joshua didn’t make his own strategies. Clearly, because they most certainly would not have looked at all like the path God led him down her. Instead, Joshua waited on God’s plan. Joshua knew his place; it was on his face in submission to God. So, at times, he and his people were rendered weak and a little useless. In the end, they learned to fully depend on God. God was with them and protected them and waited until they were all healed before he used them. God delivered them from their desert wanderings to the land of plenty.

What God requires from us is the same as what was required of Joshua, to be strong and trust and to be courageous and wait for the, sometimes big crazy, plans of God; not to create ones of our own. God is our deliverer, we are not.

“Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go.” Joshua 1:9