“Rolled Right Into a Brand New Day”

Scripture: Joshua 5:9-12

Lent is about taking a risk. It’s true! We can’t walk through these 40 days, in a faith-filled way, without changing the way we see, and experience and respond to God. We must dare to trust Him more, and allow Him to use us in new and better ways. It may require the surrender of some routine, every day activity that we know is nothing short of sinful, or at the very least, harmful to our lives. It may require taking a step to improve our quality of life – to eat more healthy, to quite smoking,
to exercise daily, to read the Bible every day, or possibly to get the courage to speak to a friend about our relationship with Jesus.
It isn’t easy if we try to do it by ourselves – as a matter of fact, it’s nearly impossible, but with Christ, it can become a marvelous blessing.

When I received my Devotional Bible as a gift from my wife and parents in May of 1993, I opened it randomly and turned to the following poem. It was the first thing I read from this, and I have never forgotten it. It’s called “Respond”:
“Give me courage Lord to take risks, not the usual ones
- respected
- necessary
- relatively safe,
But those I could avoid, the go for broke ones.
I need courage, not just because I may fall on my face or worse,
But others seeing me a sorry spectacle if it should happen will say
‘He didn’t know what he was doing', or 'he’s foolhardy …’
When it comes right down to it Lord, I choose to be your failure before anyone else’s success.
Keep me from reneging on my choice.”
- Joseph Bayley, "Men's Devotional Bible", Zonderan Publishing, 1993

When Israel was in bondage in Egypt, when their lives had little value to either them or Pharaoh, there was no risk. They would live, work, suffer, and die. It was simple. But when Moses returned from his 40 years in the Sinai, and began bringing down the heavenly plagues to convince Pharaoh to let the people go, it was then that the risk-taking began. Every plague brought depravation to the Egyptians, and when the plague was lifted, the Egyptians made the lives of Israel even more miserable. And after the first 9 plagues, during which the Hebrews were protected by God, they were told to prepare for the 10th – the death of every first born male, human and animal alike. If this didn’t convince Pharaoh, their lives would truly be worthless, and they could all die with a single word from his lips.
But this time, salvation would require a step on their part – they would prepare a holy meal, and perform a holy act, to show the avenging angel that they were the faithful.

The last hundred years or so in Egypt were defined by one of two conditions – it was either total depravity or absolute fear. They had no joy, no faith, because their eyesight was blinded to nearly all of God’s grace, and certainly to all of His glory.

Read Joshua 5:9-10

And then there was that 40 years of wandering in the desert before they finally entered into the glories of Canaan – the land promised to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob so many years before. And now, Joshua is telling them that the “reproach of Egypt” – that time when it seemed that God was so far away and for some unknown reason, had apparently come to hate them – that this notion that God had abandoned them had become a thing of the past. They had finally come home to Him!
And so they remembered that last night in Egypt, the night when they summoned up the courage to belief God’s word, to follow those strange, seemingly ridiculous instructions, and when their faithful obedience allowed the angel of death to pass safely over them.

Read Joshua 5:11-12

The “reproach” had been rolled away, and they had rolled into a new land, a new way, a completely new day, and that dreaded manna had become a thing of the past! Hallelujah!

Their journey from slavery to freedom had been a long, tiring, and stressful road, and at times it had even turned deadly for the people. It could have been much shorter – in fact it could have been less than a year, but because of their disbelief that God was, indeed, leading them into a land of security and plenty, most of those who left Egypt would never benefit from the bounty of that God-given home.
They endured the torment of slavery, the risk that came with the plagues,
the torture of a 40 year walk through the desert, and they never got to see the fulfillment of God’s promise.
All because they still wanted to do it their way, and refused to “let go and let God”! What a waste!

What will come from our forty day journey – this time called Lent? We’re over half way through it, and I have to ask - have you learned anything new about your life? Is there anything that you are now determined to change – not temporarily during Lent, but permanently beyond Lent? Are you committed to see that Promised Land for yourself, and not to be denied the glory? Have you come to the decision that God truly knows what is best for your life, and that all you have to do is to claim that divine wisdom? Do you know if you will be included when God rolls His people right into that glorious new day? Do you know for certain?

Taking that first step in Christ is not easy. It is a step, very possibly, that will carry you into the unknown. And you think “Well, if I make that commitment to Jesus, what will I have to leave behind? I need my life, you know!” But do you? Would you really prefer to have the life that you have made, instead of the one that God is making for you? Pray the prayer that Joseph Bayley has given us -
“Give me courage Lord to take risks, not the safe ones, not the every day ones, but the ‘go for broke’ ones.”

I’m told that there is a move in poker that is called “all in”. Apparently, a player can declare “all in” while betting every cent that they hold. There are strategies involved with this, but if you win, you win the pot without taking any more risk. If you loose, you have nothing left.
Our relationship with God is an “all in” move, but without any risk. We give Him everything that we have, everything that we are, everything that we hold. We can keep nothing back. And when we go “all in” with Him, we always win. Hallelujah!

No more manna – that “what is it?” stuff – that worldly food that may satisfy for today, but has no lasting value whatsoever. Feast on the provision of God’s Promised Land, and let the struggles and limitations and the bondage of the past be celebrated as a time that has been “passed over”. It no longer exists, it no longer is.

Will you make that decision today? Will you allow this Lent to be a time of change in your life, and not relegate it to being just another 6 ½ weeks of life on earth that have no lasting value? Discover the nourishment that comes after the manna - a source that is not temporary, that never fades after one day, that has to be resupplied on a daily basis. God's Grace is forever, and is offered to each of us this very morning!

If you would like to make that commitment to Christ today, or perhaps you feel that you would like to re-commit your life to Christ, I invite you to come now, during prayer or during our hymn, just as your are.

Won’t you go “all in” with Jesus, and be rolled up into that new and glorious day with Him? Won’t you? Come!