In Memoriam

The Book of Joshua opens with the demise of Moses with the leadership of the Israelites now being bestowed to Joshua, the son of Moses' minister, Nun.

It is here that God begins to instruct Joshua in his first duties as leader. It is here that Joshua has to become courageous, obedient, and assured that the instructions of the Lord are adhered to, and that he goes forth before the tribesmen and state what the Lord God has instructed him to do.

But there is something quite important in these first two chapters of Joshua that God has impressed upon me to address, bring out; make notice of. God never turns the reigns of leadership over to an individual until there is a rule established and recorded to be acknowledged and followed.

Referencing Joshua 1:8 This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success.

God makes sure that Joshua understands that the law the He gave to the people through the hands of Moses was to be followed, lived, remembered, honored, carried out daily [if] they were to be successful, prosperous and live. At every turn no matter the circumstance order was to be followed.

Now notice, the only way the rule could be followed from generation to generation was that someone had to bring it to remembrance. Someone had to continue the oral and written history of God's delivering power. That same delivering power that brings us through to our Canaan experiences today. What are those? When we are in no win situations that seemingly bind us from ever rising to fulfillment. Those things that bar us from reaching our destinies and accomplishing the tasks which God has predestined for us.

Whether we are bound as a people (ethnic group) or rather as a gender group (male-female dominance), or even within our individuals selves, it has already been written, it has already been announced, the story has already been told and lived that [if] we would but obey God that nothing and no one could stand before us and keep us from our 'promised' lands.

The memoriam is the story that was told by every elder that revealed to us as to who we are. It was every story from grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, and parents even older siblings that told us of the struggles we encountered that brought us to the mouths of defeat. It was the story of how we went together, following the appointed leader (whether matriarch or patriarch) to cross over the spiritual Jordan's we had to cross. They told us of these Jordan's that had to be crossed whether they wanted to cross them or not, because they understood they could not stay where they were. They had appointments with their own individual destinies but each ones' destiny tied into the others.

It was not a matter of whether one would go and the other stayed back, it was that they all moved together at the command of the leader and obeyed so that the people, the family, the next generation, the next move of God could come forth. Failure was never an option. Neither was cowardice, disobedience, slothfulness, discontentment, and neither dismay. For God stated in Joshua 1:9 that wherever they went He would be there. He stopped every excuse even [before] there could be one.

Moreso, there is one thing our Lord God continually refers to in both of these chapters and this brings this entry into complete view, God continually reminds Joshua of everything He did for Moses and his fathers: Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. He continually made him 'reflect' on what He as Lord already accomplished and performed even before He commanded Joshua to go further. This is most pertinent because God has wonders to perform before us and in order for us to trust Him continually, He has to remind us as to who he is, through what he has done. He ever cautions us to watch him perform before us so that we will gird up our minds in truth...the truth that He is who He is. He is God, the Lord God almighty. All by Himself, He is God alone.

We would not have known this [if] no one had [told] us the story, the history, the Word. It is imperative that we remember to [tell] the story. It is dire that we never forget to talk about the passages and the victories that God lead us through as a family, as a people. We cannot allow the coming generations to be denied the oral histories (those stories coming from our mouths) of the elders that we were privileged to see and touch and hear. Those elders that made it over the 'Jordans' that seemingly withstood them to keep us from crossing over, and yet they crossed. Because they had as we do, a God that stood before them, who beckoned them across, and just as it seemed as though the Jordan would crush them, He dried it up and they walked across Victoriously!

Tell the story....