Joshua 1:1 -2
"After the death of Moses the servant of the Lord, the Lord said to Joshua son of Nun, Moses' aide: 'Moses my servant is dead. Now then, you and all these people, get ready to cross the Jordan River into the land I am about to give to them - to the Israelites.'"
Not only did Moses represent Israelites' past experience, he also represented their past failure. If you are familiar with the history of Israel, you would know that this was not the first time Israelites came to the gateway of Canaan. Forty years ago, Moses led them to the very same place, but they ended up wandering in the wilderness for forty years as a punishment of their unbelieving and rebellious hearts. To the Israelites, this was a very painful experience.
Past failures could easily cause us to be timid and to harden our hearts. Then our hearts become closed to God and we start rejecting His works in us, just like King David in the Old Testament. After he seized Jerusalem and made it the capital of Israel, the first thing came to his mind was the ark of God. He desired God and His presence, therefore he sent his people to bring the ark of God back to Jerusalem, and Bible says that he even went in a new cart. But then the ox stumbled in the middle of the journey, and Uzzah who tried to take hold of the ark of God was struck dead by the Lord. This was a big blow to David, as his effort to seek God was met with setback. Bible mentions that David became afraid and said "How can the ark of the Lord ever come to me?" Therefore he was not willing to take the ark of God to be with him to Jerusalem. His heart became closed to God and he rejected God. However, praise be to God, David's heart was not bounded by his failure. As the ark of God was with Obed-Edom of Gittite and blessed him greatly, David must have wondered why the ark of God brought blessings to Obed-Edom but troubles to himself.
I believe David learnt from his failure, because he sent the Levites to carry the ark of God instead of ox when he went for the ark the second time, just as it was commanded in the laws. Therefore he was blessed by God. Many live in their past failures or regrets today. May the Lord help us to understand that the promise of God and His blessings will always lead us to move on, not look back. Therefore, don't be constrained by your past experience or past failures, but rely on God to depart from our past so that we can experience his faithfulness.
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