Joshua Becomes the New Leader (Joshua 1)

Right before Moses died, God told him that Joshua was to be the next leader of the Israelites.  Moses announced to all the people that Joshua would be taking over soon. He didn’t want the people to fight over who would be the next leader after he died.

So now we begin the book of Joshua. (The sixth book of the bible) God spoke to Joshua and told him that now that Moses was dead, the time had come for him to lead the people of Israel. I’m sure that Joshua was sad about losing his friend and teacher, but he had millions of people depending on him to lead them into the promised land.
 God spoke, “In three days you will cross the Jordan river. The promised land is just on the other side. There are men there that will not want you there, but I do. I will be with you so no man will able to stand against you. Be strong and brave. You will lead all the Israelites into the land that I promised to your father, your grandfather and his father. So be strong and brave.”
 Did you notice that God said “be strong and brave” twice?  The bible repeats itself when something is very important. Jesus does this all the time. God told Joshua to be strong and brave while crossing the Jordan River and then again while being a leader. Let’s take a look at those two words.
 STRONG is not how much weight you can lift. STRONG is standing up for what is right. In other words.....standing for God.




 BRAVE is not without fear. BRAVE is doing something even though it scares you. Here is an example. Billy loves to climb trees. Joey is afraid of heights so he stays on the ground. One day Billy climbs a tree and tells Joey to come on up. Joey is shaking with fear as he reaches for branch after another until he his sitting high above the ground with Billy. Who was braver? Billy who had no fear and climbed the tree? Or Joey who, despite being afraid, climbed it?

 Have you ever been in a situation where you had to be Strong (Stand for God) and Brave?  God told Joshua how to do it and He tells us too. First of all God told Joshua His plan. This is God’s will. He tells us His plan too in the Bible. We are all a part of God’s plan and we have a part in God’s plan. Secondly God gives Joshua his promises. God told Joshua that He would be with Him. God has given us over 3000 promises in the Bible! Finally in Joshua 1 verses 7, 8 and 9, God tells Joshua to read the bible, to study it, to meditate on it (which means to stop and think about what it says) and to obey it. Then God gives Joshua a promise of success if he does these things and tells him one more time to be STRONG and BRAVE! (Wow! that’s three times!)
Right away Joshua told all the people that they were to start packing because in three days they were going to cross the Jordan River into the promised land. Then he told them to be STRONG and BRAVE because God was with them.


It is important for us to obey God right away, because if we wait til later, we may forget exactly what we are supposed to do or we may keep saying later I will, but later never comes. Have you ever put off something that you were supposed to do, only to never get around to it? (like cleaning your room) When we put off what God wants us to do, it is disobedience.
The Israelites told Joshua that they would do whatever God told them They knew that God was speaking through Joshua because he spoke with confidence. (strong and brave)
 Then Joshua called two men aside and directed them to go check out the land first, he didn’t want any surprises. Next time we will follow the journey of these two men.


So today we found out a few things.
 God wants us to stand STRONG for Him and to be BRAVE for Him when we feel afraid.
 God tells us how to be STRONG and BRAVE (1) Know God’s will (2) Know God’s promises and (3) Know God’s word (the Bible) read it, study it, think about it and obey it.
The biggest thing God wants from us is to trust Him. Trusting His will, trusting His promises and trusting His Word. If we don’t trust Him in these things ..... we can never really be STRONG and BRAVE.

Mr. BibleHead Coloring Pages

I’ve had some recent requests for more coloring pages, so before we begin the book of Joshua, I wanted to post some coloring pages from the first five books of the Bible.(and one of me :) 

From now on,  I will try to post some coloring pages every couple of posts to correspond to the story we are in. Thanks for your emails and your support. 

May the grace of Jesus Christ, the love of God and the fellowship the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. (2 Corinthians 13:14)

    

Balaam, Balak and Moses (Numbers23-Deuteronomy 34)

Hi guys! I’m back to finish the story of Balaam and myself. So where did I leave off?...Oh yeah...

...So when Balaam and I finally arrived, king Balak asked, “Why did you turn me down the first time Balaam? Didn’t my men tell you that I was going to make you rich if you would just curse the Israelites? Well at least you are here now. Tomorrow we head up to the top of Bamothbaal . We can see all the Israelites from there and you can curse them there.”

 Balaam remembered with fear the angel and the sword, and how the angel told him to do only what God told him to do. “I can only do what God tells me to do and speak what He tells me to speak.” Balaam said to king Balak.
 The next morning we headed up to Bamothbaal where we could see all the Israelites below.  Balaam had the men build 7 altars there and he made a sacrifice to God on each altar. “Let me go to the top of that hill and see what God wants me to say.” Balaam requested.
 So we went up the hill and God spoke to Balaam. When we came back Balaam told king Balak what God had said and the king was not very happy! God told Balaam that the Israelites were his chosen people and that they were set apart for God’s purposes. And that they would become more numerous than the stars in the sky.
 King Balak turned bright red! “I asked you to curse my enemies and you blessed them instead!”
 “I tried to tell you that I can only speak what God wants me to speak.” Balaam replied.

 King Balak took Balaam to another place where we could see about half of the Israelites. “At least curse half of my enemies.” King Balak said. But again God told Balaam to bless the Israelites. So the king took us to another place and the same thing happened. King Balak was furious. He shouted at us. “I asked you to curse my enemies three times, but all three times you have blessed them instead! Get out of here! I am not going to pay you a single penny! God has just stopped you from becoming a very rich man!”

 Balaam responded to king Balak’s ranting and raving. “Even if you gave me all the gold and silver in your kingdom, I could only do what God wanted me to do and speak what God wanted me to speak. We will go now, but God wants me to say one more thing before we go.... 'The Israelites will conquer many nations on their way to the promised land. The nations will be destroyed by God’s mighty hand including this one!"  Then we left king Balk there and headed home.
 Balaam was right. The Israelites, led by Moses, continued to win one battle after another on the way to the promised land. They took all the gold, silver and animals from each nation that they conquered. Balaam was killed in one of the battles and the Israelites took me and 61,000 other donkeys back to their camp. Moses had divided the Israelites into 12 tribes and then divided all the gold, silver and animals among God and the twelve tribes. God got the first of everything. One tribe took care of God’s stuff. That was the tribe of Levi. I ended up in the tribe of Judah. ( The ancestors of Jesus!)
 Moses called all the Israelites together. He told them that he was 120 years old and that he wouldn’t be with them for too much longer. He appointed Joshua to be the next leader to take the people into the promised land. Then Moses wrote a song about how God had freed them from slavery and all the things that He did for them along the way. The song of Moses is recorded in the Bible in Deuteronomy chapter 32. He wanted everyone to learn the song and teach their children and grandchildren the song so that they would never forget how God freed them, saved them and loved them.  Then Moses blessed the people. After that Moses went to a the top of Mount Nebo where God showed him the promised land. Then Moses died on top of the mountain.
 “There has never been another prophet like Moses whom he Lord knew face to face. The Lord sent Moses to perform miraculous signs and wonders in the land of Egypt against Pharaoh, all his servants, and the entire land. And it was through Moses that the Lord demonstrated His mighty power and terrifying acts in the sight of all Israel.” (Deuteronomy 34: 10-12)  

Two lessons we can learn today. One: That God has a big plan (His sovereign plan) and nothing or no one can stop it. He also has a small plan (individual plan) for each of us. This is where we can choose to do the will of God or not. God’s small plan for us is part of His big plan. If God can’t use us because we choose not to, he will make life hard for us or find someone else. Either way we lose out on the blessing that God has for us when we do follow Him.
 The second lesson is that God wants us to remember what He has done for us. Moses wrote a song so that the Israelites would never forget. Stop and think about all the great things that God has done for you and has given you. Then thank Him every day.

Some interesting facts about Moses:
 (A) Moses was 120 years old when he died. His life can be broken into three forty year segments. (1) 0-40 He was raised as the son of the Egyptian king. (2) 40-80 He spent these years in the desert after he killed an Egyptian. (3) 80-120 He was the leader of Israel, leading them out of Egypt and to the gate of the promised land.
 (B) Moses wrote the first five books of the Bible. They are called The Pentateuch.
 (C) Moses was buried by God on the mountain and no one has ever found his body.
 (D) “Moses” means “taken out of the water"

Balaam’s Donkey (Numbers 21-22)

 Remember when Mr. BibleHead told you that there were some truly amazing stories in the Bible? Well, this is one of them....and it’s about me! My name is Jack (the Bible doesn’t tell you my name) and I’m Balaam’s donkey.  I’m giving Mr. BibleHead a break today and I’m going to tell this story because I was there!

Mr. BibleHead left off in Numbers 20. Aaron had just died at the old age of 123. Moses was still leading the Israelites. Every where they went, there was a country that wouldn’t let Moses and the people pass through on their way to the promised land.  Sometimes the Israelites would turn around or try to go around the country, but a few times they were attacked. Every time, God would give them victory over their attackers. Pretty soon the Israelites had a reputation of destroying any country that stood in their way on the way to the promised land.

 One day Balak, the king of Moab, was looking out his palace window an he saw a mob of Israelites camped out on the other side of the Jordan River. King Balak was terrified! He knew how the Israelites had destroyed anyone that stood between them and the promised land. ( We know that it was actually God that did it.) King Balak knew about a man named Balaam who said he was able to bless people and curse people.
 King Balak called in his messengers and sent them on their way with money to pay Balaam, to deliver his message and bring him back with them. When the messengers arrived at Balaam’s house, they explained how King Balak needed Balaam to curse the Israelites and that he would pay him a lot of money to do so. Balaam had to make it look good, so he said, “Let me pray about it and I’ll let you know in the morning.”

 That night, God showed up to Balaam. I bet he was surprised! God told Balaam not to go with these men because He had chosen the Israelites as His people and He had blessed them.. The next morning Balaam was still in shock that God actually spoke to him. He told the messengers that he could not curse the Israelites. So the messengers returned to King Balak.
 When the king heard what Balaam had said, he was mad. He hand picked a bunch of his officials to go back to Balaam and try again.  When the officials made it to Balaam’s house, they told him what King Balak had said. Balaam replied, “Even if the king gave me his palace filled with silver, I could not curse a people that God has blessed. But I will pray again tonight and see what God says.”
 That night, God spoke to Balaam again. This time God told him he could go with the men. God told Balaam to do only what He directed him to do.  In the morning Balaam told the men that he was going with them. I’m sure Balaam thought in his mind, “Woo Hoo! I’m going to be rich!”
This is where I come into the story. Balaam put a blanket on my back, climbed on and away we went. I could hear Balaam whistling a happy tune as we went along the road to Moab. Suddenly there was someting in the middle of the road. I knew that we couldn’t keep going, so I  bolted off the road and into a field. Balaam was not too happy with me. Couldn’t he see what was standing in the road? I guess not because he grabbed a branch and beat me. Then he tugged me back on the road. We went along a little farther and there it was again! Right as the road narrowed and there were walls on both sides! We would both be dead if we kept going straight, so I tried to squeeze by and crushed Balaam’s foot between my side and the wall. He was furious and began to beat me again. Finally we got on the road again. The road kept getting narrower and narrower. I hoped that I would not see it again, but just as I was thinking that to myself, There it was again! I had no where to run or to squeeze by so I just laid down.

Balaam began to scream at me! “Why are you embarrassing me in front of the king’s officials? You stupid donkey! If I had a sword I would kill you!”He began to beat me again.
Then God did two amazing things. First, he caused me to speak. Yep that’s right, I spoke to Balaam and I let him have an earful! “Haven’t I been faithful to you all these years? Haven’t I always done as you asked and wasn’t I always ready whenever you needed to go somewhere? Do you think that I would embarrass you on purpose without reason? Have I ever done anything like this before?”

 “No.” Said Balaam. (He answered him! I would have been like....wow! a talking donkey!)
 Then God did the second amazing thing. He opened Balaam’s eyes so that he could see what I saw. It was an angel of God standing in the road wielding a large sword!
 Then the angel spoke. “Why did you beat your donkey three times? He saved your life! I would have killed you if you would have continued on your way.”

 Then Balaam cried out to the angel. "I did not know you were there. I will go home if you want.”
 “No, go with these men, but change your attitude and your heart. You are going with these men to do as God says, not to make a lot of money.” The angel said and then he disappeared.
 King Balak was very excited when he heard that Balaam was almost there.

 Even when we do the right thing, if we are doing it out of selfishness or greed or pride, then it is the wrong thing. Balaam was doing what God said, but he was doing it for himself. That’s not good.
Do you know what “motives” are. Motives are the reason in our heart that we do things. God want’s our motives to be pure. When we help someone, or volunteer, or give away something, we do it because we love God. That’s a pure motive. (Proverbs 16:2 and 21:18)

Moses Runs out of Patience. (Numbers 17-20)

When we left last time, Moses had placed 12 staffs (with the names of 12 leaders) out in front of the holy tent where the Ark of the Covenant was. God said that the next morning, one of them would have blossoms on it.
 In the morning, Moses went to get the staffs. The 12 men were excited, because if their name was on the staff with the blossoms, their whole family would be in charge of all the offerings and sacrifices. Aaron wasn’t too worried because God had already chosen him and his family a year earlier, but the people thought that Moses had used his authority to appoint his brother Aaron, as the chief priest.
 Moses walked into the holy tent and grabbed the staffs and brought them out. He handed each man his staff and ... Guess what? Aaron’s staff had not only blossomed, but it had almonds on it as well! God sure does like to amaze us! Ephesians 2:20 says that He is able to do more than we ask, or can even imagine!

 God told Moses to take Aaron’s staff and leave it in front of the holy tent so that everyone will stop arguing and remember that Aaron is the chief priest. So Moses placed Aaron’s staff there. Then God called Aaron to a meeting. He reminded Aaron about  all the things that he and his family (the Levites) would be in charge of. The Levites also had special clothes to wear and they had to keep themselves ceremonially clean.
  The Israelites were in the wilderness for about two years when all this took place. The bible doesn’t say anything about the next 38 years, but when the story picks up again, Moses and his brother Aaron are still leading the people, their sister Miriam had just died and all the Israelites that had doubted God about the promised land had died too. Only four of the men that had left Egypt 40 years earlier were still alive. Moses, Aaron, Joshua and Caleb. Moses was now 120 years old! Aaron was 123!
  This generation of Israelites picked right up where their parents left off. They started grumbling and complaining. “We wish we would have died with our mothers and fathers.” They said. "We don’t have any water and we are sick of eating manna all the time!”
 Moses and Aaron went to God and fell on their faces before him. “God we don’t know how to keep these people happy! They are grumblers just like their parents. Please give them water before they drive us crazy!”
 God replied. “Take your staff and you and Aaron must gather the entire community. As the people are watching, command the rock to pour out water. You will get enough water for all the people and for all the cows and goats too.

 So Moses and Aaron gathered all the people . They people were still complaining and grumbling. Moses was getting very irritated. “Listen! You ungrateful trouble makers! You want water? Here’s some water!” And with that Moses struck the rock with his staff and water came pouring out! Enough for all the people and the animals.

 Did God tell Moses to hit the rock with his staff? No He told Moses to command the rock to spout water. God said to Moses and Aaron. “I know you were angry, but you did not trust me enough to let me demonstrate my holy power. Now you will not lead the people into the promised land.”
 Soon afterwards Aaron died.
God doesn’t want us to get mad and then do the wrong thing. Whenever you get mad at someone or a situation, walk away, talk to God and then act. Moses’ anger prevented him from entering the promised land. Anger can have some serious consequences that we may regret.
“Be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to get angry. Anger can lead to sin.” (James 1:19-20)

The Earthquake and Fire. (Numbers 15&16)

Last time  the Israelites just found out that God was not going to let them into the promise land because  they doubted Him, but that their children would get to enjoy it. God told the Israelites to turn around and head back into the wilderness. The people were all crying as they went to bed that night. The next morning the people told Moses, “We are ready to go into the promise land today. Let’s go!”
Moses put out his hand to stop them. “God said no,” he said.
“We are going anyway. Are you going with us?” The people asked.
Moses shook his head and pleaded with them to listen to God. “Why are you disobeying God? Again!”
Many of the men grabbed their weapons and headed toward the hills. Moses stayed behind with the rest of the men and the Ark of the Covenant. As the men crossed the hills toward the promised land, two armies saw them and rushed them. The Amalekites and the Canaanites attacked the Israelites and chased them all the way to the next city.

 If the people would have obeyed God the first time, they could have taken the land with no problem. But because they disobeyed God, they lost the battle. When we disobey God (sin), we are turning our back on Him and walking away from Him. So whatever we do in disobedience, God is not with us. On the other hand, when we do something in obedience to God, we can do anything! (Phil 4 :13)
 The people were not very happy about it, but they turned around and headed into the wilderness as God had instructed.

 One day a man named Korah went up to Moses. " Dathan, Abiram and myself have decided that you are not any holier than we are! As a matter of fact, we have brought 250 holy men to represent the people and we think that we can lead the people better than you. After all, you brought us out here into the wilderness to die and you haven’t brought us into this wonderful “promised” land like you said. And to top it all off, you appointed your own brother Aaron to be the High Priest!”
 Moses replied. “I am just following God’s instructions. He led us to the promised land but you doubted  Him, and He was the one who chose Aaron. Not me! Tomorrow, I want you and your 250 men to meet me in front of the tent where the Ark of the Covenant is and burn incense to God. Let’s get this leadership thing over once and for all!”
 The next day Korah and his 250 men met in front of the Ark with their incense burners. Many of the Israelites came out to support them too. I’m sure it made Moses sad to see so many people against him.
We know that it made God mad because He told Moses that He was considering destroying Korah, the 250 men and ALL the people that gathered with them.

Moses interceded for the people again and God spared the people. However, God did not spare Korah and his men. Moses told the Israelites to stand back as far as they could from Korah. Suddenly the ground opened up like an earthquake and swallowed up Korah and his family. Then the 250 men were consumed by fire!

 Do you think that the Israelites got the message? I think I would have! But guess what? The next day the people went to Moses complaining that he killed their “holy” men and that they didn’t believe that God had picked Aaron as the high priest. They had some men of their own that they thought would be better for the job.
“Ok.” Said Moses. “Let’s get this settled once and for all! God said to put 12 staffs in front of the Ark of the Covenant and to write the names of 12 leaders, each from a different tribe and leave them overnight. The staff that has a blossom on it will name the high priest. So Moses took the 12 staffs with the names on them and left them in the tent with the Ark overnight.

12 Men Scout out the Promised Land (Numbers13-14)

After Miriam was cured of leprosy, the Israelites journeyed to a city called Kadesh in the wilderness and set up camp. God spoke to Moses there. “The wonderful land that I promised you is just beyond the hills. I want you to send out 12 men to scout out the land.”
 So Moses chose one man from each of the tribes. He gave them a checklist of information that he wanted them to bring back. “Find out what kind of people live there and how many. What kind of land is it? Good for planting? A lot of trees? What do their towns look like? Do they have walls? Oh and, if you can, bring back a sample of their fruit.” Moses instructed them.

 So the 12 men headed north over the hill country and passed through Hebron, a city where the grandchildren of Anak lived.  Anak was a giant and his grandkids all took after him! Then the 12 men came to a valley. The valley was overflowing with fruit! The men took a cluster of grapes that was so big, they needed two of them to carry it on a pole between them! They named the valley “Eschol” which means -cluster-. They also gathered pomegranates and figs to bring back with them. All together they stayed in the promised land for 40 days then they returned back to the Israelites camp to report what they had seen.

 All the people came out to hear the scouting report. The 12 men stood before Moses, Aaron and all the people. They held up the huge cluster of grapes and the people were amazed!
 “The land really is a magnificent land!” One of the 12 men spoke up. “There are clusters of grapes and fruit like this everywhere! BUT,"...... Everyone got quiet and one of the other 12 men finished his thought. "BUT.... Some of the men that live there are giants! Their cities have huge walls with guards on them!”
Caleb was one of the twelve scouts and he could see that the Israelites were getting discouraged. “Let’s go at once and take the land.” He shouted. “We can certainly conquer it!” Joshua, one of the other scouts and Moses’ right hand man stood with Caleb. “Yes we can!”
 But the other 10 scouts agreed that the land was magnificent, but the people and the cities were too strong to conquer. They continually spread the discouraging report among the Israelites. "The land will
swallow up anyone who attempts to enter. We felt like grasshoppers next to those giants and I’m sure that’s what we looked like to them!”

 The Israelites all went back to their tents. Many of them cried all night. In the morning they confronted Moses. “We came all this way to get slaughtered by a bunch of giants?! We wish we would have stayed in Egypt and died there! We are tuning back.” The people decided to choose a leader and head back to Egypt.
 Joshua and Caleb tried to change the people’s minds. “The land is a wonderful land! The Lord will bring us safely into this magnificent place! Don’t rebel against God and don’t be afraid of the people. God is on our side and He promised the land to us!”
 But the whole community shouted insults at Caleb and Joshua. They picked up stones and were ready to kill the two men. Then God appeared to all the Israelites. “ How many chances can I give you? How many signs and miracles do you need? Time after time you doubt me and turn your back on me! I am so angry right now that I should just destroy you all and start over with Moses, Caleb and Joshua!”

 Moses pleaded with God. “Please Lord, spare these people. The Egyptians know the power you displayed when rescuing the Israelites from slavery. They know how you led the people with a cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. If you destroy all the people now, the Egyptians will think to themselves, ‘Well their God got them all the way to the hill country, but he couldn’t bring them into the promised land'.”
 God said, “I will spare all the people except the 10 scouts that stirred up the people against me. However, now only your children will be the ones to enter the promised land along with the 2 scouts, Joshua and Caleb. Tomorrow you must head back to the Red Sea.”
 Moses prayed for the people and God answered. Is there anyone that you need to pray for?

 Sometimes we focus on our situation instead of on our powerful God. It is easy to do if our situation or problem is right in front of us. The closer we are to something the bigger it looks. That’s why we need to constantly keep close to God. "When we draw near to Him, He draws near to us.” (James 4:8)

 Here is a little experiment.  Take a penny and a quarter. Which one is bigger? Right. The quarter :)
Hold the quarter in on hand and the penny in the other. Close one eye and slowly move the penny closer and the quarter farther away from your face. The penny looks larger than the quarter! Now, keeping the coins at the same distance, move the quarter behind the penny. Now you can’t even see the quarter even tho it is bigger than the penny! Cool!
 That’s how it is when we focus on our problems. They get bigger, God gets smaller. And pretty soon God disappears and we feel like we are left to take care of it on our own. God says that He will never leave us or turn His back on us in times of trouble. (Hebrews 13:5)

Why did God get so mad? He proved time and again that the Israelites could trust Him, and still they didn’t. God loved them and He wanted the best for them. God loves you and He wants the best for you too. He wants us to trust Him and not ourselves. He knows what is better for us than we do! Proverbs 3:5-6 says, “Trust in God with all your heart and not on your own ideas, and He will point you in the right direction. ( Mr. BibleHead paraphrase)
 So how do we focus on God, get close to God and trust Him more? By reading His book, the bible, and praying.