| Good Morning Everyone, Our theme for this month: “Resilience” Our Bible verse for today: “As for me and my family, we will worship the Lord.” Joshua 24:15 (CSB) Our thought for today: “Resilience is a way of being.” Yesterday I briefly pointed to Caleb as an example of a resilient man. Today I want to highlight Joshua, who was a contemporary of Caleb’s. Joshua too lived as a slave in Egypt, and he too experienced the escape and the miraculous crossing of the Red Sea. Along with Caleb, Joshua was one of the spies sent to reconnoiter the Promised Land and he and Caleb were the only two who brought a good report and who encouraged the Israelites to trust the Lord and to go forward to occupy the land. Joshua then endured the forty years of wandering in the wilderness, and during that time he served as Moses’ right-hand man. At the death of Moses, Joshua was selected by God to be the new leader of the nation of Israel. He then spent the rest of his life leading them in the occupation and settling of the Promised Land. He was a good, strong, confident man who faithfully served God, Moses, and the people through long years of hardship and challenge, and he consistently grew stronger and better as a result of it. Now in chapter twenty-four of the book of Joshua, as he is nearing the end of his life, we find Joshua challenging the nation of Israel to continue following the Lord after he is gone. If you read the rest of the passage you will find that the people were inspired by Joshua’s example and they responded positively to his challenge. Joshua is an example of a resilient man who didn’t just persevere through hard times – he didn’t just stick with it and keep going, instead, he lived and learned and grew and thrived. He faced his challenges with strong faith in the Lord and with a determination to live well and victoriously no matter what he encountered. For Joshua and Caleb resilience was simply a way of being. It’s what they had become. It was who they were. The virtue of resilience came to define them as men. The people of that day saw that in them and were inspired by it, and we today continue to be inspired by their stories when we read them in the Bible. Resilience is a virtue we develop when we resolve to face our challenges with faith and determination, and to use them as an opportunity to grow stronger and better. Over time resilience becomes a way of being, it is simply who we are. Tomorrow we’ll begin thinking about how the virtue of resilience is developed in a life. God Bless, Pastor Jim |
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