TODAY IS YESTERDAY’S TOMORROW—1. Josh. 1:1-9
Life is an unending wheel of events that spread through distinctive stages—Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow. Everyone passes through them. A day-old child is passing through the stage of a tomorrow spoken of by his yesterday even though he was in the womb then. Improving on our today makes the dream of yesterday a sweet one and invalidates the bitterness of its errors.
In Joshua chapter one we read the account of the transition of leadership roles over Israel from Moses to Joshua, his servant. We glean from these inspired pages of the word of God today, the truth that can translate us from the insignificance of our yesterday to the prominence of our tomorrow.
1. The beginning of a man’s today is after his yesterday.
Josh. 1: 1 “Now after the death of Moses … the Lord spoke unto Joshua …” The exit of Moses opened the ears of Joshua to hear directly from the Lord. He had been a leader in the shadow overwhelmingly obscured by the towering figure of Moses—the servant of God! This day came, suddenly, when his yesterday came to a full halt and his today bounced out like the butterfly from a pupa.
Every man that wakes up today has somehow been from yesterday. Don’t sit condemned by your yesterday. Don’t allow any man to measure or judge you by your yesterday for every one has it!
Remember ye not the former things, neither consider the things of old, behold I do a new thing…” Isa. 43: 18.
2. Something about a man’s yesterday must expire if his today will commence on a sweet note .
v.2 “Moses my servant is dead …” Yesterday is not always ugly or uncelebrated. It may even be a glorious success or a landmark.
However, as long as the view is yesterday, there can’t be a remarkable focus on progress into tomorrow.
If God had told Joshua, “Moses is dead” we could deduce that it was a case of “good riddance to bad rubbish.” But the Lord said, “Moses my servant is dead” i.e. “Moses my asset, my vessel, my voice, my hand against Pharaoh and his host—is dead.
Beloved, it seems that even a past asset or celebration must pass on if there will be a fresh and new beginning. The charge from Heaven to most of us today is “You have dwelt long enough on this mount …” Dt. 1:6.
Sometimes God wants us to leave even a mountain top experience if we have to possess the next inheritance. Most often we company with Peter, James and John to continue the exhilarating experience on the mountain top and forget “there yet remaineth much land to possess” Mk. 9: 1-14; Josh 13: 1.
“Moses my servant is dead” is a signal of a new begining , a new era. Failure to recognize this poses a great limitation to the great purpose of God for and through us. May we never fail Him.
MOSES MY SERVANT IS DEAD
i. This is the end to an era. “Joshua, the ministry and influence of Moses in your life has come to an end”. Once in a while we all come to a time when past influences in our lives must be frozen.
ii. “Now therefore arise.” When God says now, it is immediate. No time for university degree. When Christ called the disciples it was immediate. “The King’s business requires haste” 1 Sam. 21: 8. Time is of essence in tapping into divine opportunities. It is of high importance when God calls. He who makes a day like a thousand years can also make a thousand years like a day. We must reckon with His timing if our today and tomorrow must have a substance. He may want it in 25years for “Abraham” and “Sarah”. He may say it is now for “Joseph” and “Mary”. When He says now, He means now!
What are the “Now” instructions of God in your life? To postpone the day of response is to consciously invite indescribable loss of life’s opportunity and pain. May God deliver us from both.
