Truths For The Transition

Introduction

Transitions are a part of this life. It would be nice if everything could just stay the way it is, but it just doesn’t happen that way.

We are facing a transition of our own here as our family prepares for a new task, and Bethany Baptist Church prepares for the next phase of ministry in her life. It is a time of varied emotions, but I am confident that all is good and will be well.

I am grateful that we serve a God that is in complete control. He saw this time long before it was on any of our calendars. He already has the plans and answers to our many questions.

I want to look at an instance when there was a big transition that took place and how God brings peace and answers to situations like these.

Joshua 1:1–9 CSB

After the death of Moses the Lord’s servant, the Lord spoke to Joshua son of Nun, Moses’s assistant: “Moses my servant is dead. Now you and all the people prepare to cross over the Jordan to the land I am giving the Israelites. I have given you every place where the sole of your foot treads, just as I promised Moses. Your territory will be from the wilderness and Lebanon to the great river, the Euphrates River—all the land of the Hittites—and west to the Mediterranean Sea. No one will be able to stand against you as long as you live. I will be with you, just as I was with Moses. I will not leave you or abandon you. “Be strong and courageous, for you will distribute the land I swore to their fathers to give them as an inheritance. Above all, be strong and very courageous to observe carefully the whole instruction my servant Moses commanded you. Do not turn from it to the right or the left, so that you will have success wherever you go. This book of instruction must not depart from your mouth; you are to meditate on it day and night so that you may carefully observe everything written in it. For then you will prosper and succeed in whatever you do. Haven’t I commanded you: be strong and courageous? Do not be afraid or discouraged, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”

Moses had been chosen by God to lead the Israelites out of bondage in Egypt and to the Promised Land. As we read this passage, we see that they are camped on the borders of the Promised Land, but Moses is no longer with them. It is time for someone new to take the reigns and move the people forward. That person would be Joshua.

Joshua had been Moses’ assistant for some time now. He had watched God use Moses in a great way. He was even told that he would take the place of leader by Moses in .

Now we see that the time that was to come is now at hand. When the future becomes present, it can be a scary time. Thankfully, God has reminded us of some faithful truths for times when transitions come our way.

God’s plan is not dependent upon a person.

In verse 2, God reminds Joshua that the plans that He was doing through His people were not tied to Moses. He was the One who had brought them out of slavery. He was the One who had given them food and water in the wilderness.

It is important to remember that God’s plans are not tied to any man or woman. They are tied to the person of God. He will use anyone that He chooses to bring about His plan.

Sometimes we get caught up thinking that a particular thing that God is doing is “my project”. If a work is tied to a particular person, then when it comes time for that person to step aside, the work goes with them. God does not want it to be this way. True ministry is based in His heart and will outlast the people that He uses in that ministry.

God’s word does not change.

God’s word does is true and everlasting. It does not change. While many things around us go through changes or change their stance, God’s word does not.

God reminds Joshua of the things that He had told the people before. God had promised certain lands to the Israelites, and God was reminding Joshua that it wasn’t just under Moses. This was God’s plan and would be carried out by whomever God chose.

God shares the blessing that He gave to Moses with Joshua in verse 5. God promises to be with Joshua just as He was with Moses in the previous days.

God also shares that the key to victory is for Joshua to remember and obey all of God’s word. As leaders will come and go with time, God’s word is a constant that will equip and guide each of them in the way that they should go. It is God’s word that will take each chapter and tie them together into a wonderful work of the Lord and not man. We see that by keeping God’s word, we find true prosperity and success.

God’s presence is the power behind His plan.

God ends this passage with a reminder that true power behind any plan of His is Him. The reason that some ministries carry on for generations is because it is not about any one person. These are showing the evidence of God’s hand and guidance in all of them.

God tells Joshua that he can be bold and courageous no matter what comes his way because God will be with him. It does matter what may rise up to try and stop them, God is bigger and greater and mightier and most of all, present.

This is one reason why Jesus would say that the work of the church would not be overcome by the forces of Hell.

Matthew 16:18 CSB

And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overpower it.

The true work of the church is the work of God. The church needs to be careful that she is not trying to make things that are not God’s plans the plans. God’s plans for the the church will not fail and will last for generations.

Conclusion

It is easy to allow ministries to get tied up with the leader that is leading them. The truth is that every leader is an interim. It will be passed on to someone else at some point. If we make it about us and our desires, then the flame will flicker out when we must step away. If this happens, then have we really served the Lord’s will in our time?

Let us be committed to the eternal One and His plan. The church does belong to Him. No matter what transition may come our way, God has got this and will lead His people through to victory.