IV
One day some years ago, my Houston friend Chuck Sears teased me while we were talking about the greatness of Zig Ziglar. As I talked of Zig and some of the attributes of his that I like to try to apply to my own work, Chuck quipped,
“Oh, but you are no Zig Ziglar, sir.”
“No,” I quipped back, “not yet.”
Chuck conceded his point with a laugh, because of the optimism, I guess. But I must say that – while I answered quickly so as to put to rest any premature limitations – I realized the truth of my friend’s assertion. No, I’m no Zig Ziglar; but, then again, who is? It’s just that many folks I know are a great deal closer than I.
Thinking of that conversation now, some years later, I think I know how Joshua must have felt. I understand how easy it is to feel some degree of inadequacy because of so many great presenters, orators, speakers, preachers with whom I’ve crossed paths. Joshua just happened to walk in the footsteps for years of the greatest leader the Lord ever had! When you have to pick up the slack after such a man as Moses, you have a powerful amount of slack to pick up.
But … the good news for Joshua, and the good news for you and me, is this: You don’t have to ‘be’ your great predecessor to do a great job. You really just have to be you – and lean on the Lord for the rest. In fact, our aim, in one sense, is not to reach the top but to reach the bottom. Read on.
– See you at the bottom!
“See you at the top” is the name of one of the early Zig-Ziglar books. But we’re about to see that the way to the top – in the Lord’s book – is strange, indeed. No one can deny that Moses certainly makes it to the top, spiritually. If any man ever reaches the pinnacle of spiritual excellence, this great leader does. So, when the Lord approaches Joshua with the news that Moses is now dead, we are interested in how the Lord depicts Moses. The Lord's opening to Joshua in the first verses of Joshua 1 may seem casual to us, but I doubt it is a small thing to Joshua. For in the very first sentence of what appears to be Joshua’s first direct conversation with the Lord, the Lord tells Joshua and tells us the kind of man He is looking for in His army.
“Moses my servant is dead …”
Above everything we can say about Moses, that he is God’s servant is probably the most important. It seems to rise above every other attribute that Moses seeks to attain. At his core, Moses is a mere servant. We feel a little guilty using the word “mere” in that description; but maybe that word will remind us that a servant – at least in his own mind – is not someone eating high on the hog, as they say, but someone who gladly sits at the table with the common man.
I like that the Lord is the One to note that Moses is simply a servant – Oh that he could see the same in us! – and while He could have provided any number of striking epitaphs for Moses to show the world his value, the Lord chooses the humblest of descriptions. He could speak of Moses, the great leader – or, Moses, the man who stood boldly before the angry Pharaoh – or, Moses, the flamboyant example who took the Israelites in the palm of his hand and carried them to the edge of the Promised Land with tremendous zeal and resolve.
But the Lord waves off those and a long list of other colorful epitaphs that rightly apply to Moses, and speaks to Joshua in a way that is as if to say, "If you want to do anything at all in My service, friend, try serving.”
– ‘I’m no Moses’ mentality
We can only surmise as to what Joshua is thinking as he realizes that the Lord has just passed the mantle. He's the one who has to run the final leg of the race. The baton is squarely in his hands. We likely will not be far off if we suppose Joshua's response is similar to that of Moses’ when the Lord gathers him around a burning bush and saddles him with one of the most difficult assignments the Lord has ever given a man. Who can blame Joshua if he feels ill-equipped to step into the gap? To him, Moses is the far better candidate. He is a hundred things Joshua isn’t. Joshua has not stood for nearly half a century “face to face” with God repeatedly, enjoying a closer communion with God than perhaps any man who ever lived. He is not a construction genius who receives the intricate specifications of God’s tabernacle and has the brilliant ability to orchestrate the building of it with perfect precision. He is not the great leader Moses is, able to judge every matter – big or small – that arises in Israel’s camp. And Joshua certainly is not the as meek and mild as the man the Lord has just buried in the valley of Mount Nebo.
But, let us be clear, though: Joshua has his own abilities and graces, and the Lord is about to put those attributes to good use.
What Joshua is, first and foremost, is Moses’ minister. Joshua 1:1: “… the Lord spoke unto Joshua the son of Nun, Moses’ minister …”
You have to love how the Holy Spirit says so very much in a single word.
‘ … but I AM Moses’ Elisha’
Long before Joshua comes to this critical juncture in his life, he enters the work of the Lord as Moses’ right hand man. Joshua becomes Elijah’s Elisha, Paul’s Timothy or Silas, Peter’s Mark. Early in Moses’ journey with the Lord and in the journey to Canaan, the Lord becomes angry with the Israelites and refuses to “go up in the midst” of them. However, God receives Moses and appears unto him in the tabernacle that Moses has relocated outside the camp of the people. As soon as Moses enters into the tabernacle, God’s glory descends and “stood at the door” – if we can even imagine that – and the Lord talks there with Moses – Exodus 33:3 -11. Moses not only speaks with the Lord, but he speaks to Him “face to face.” Moses’ direct communion with God on that occasion comes to an end, and Moses must leave the tabernacle. But he does not leave the tabernacle empty:
His “servant Joshua, the son of Nun, a young man, departed not out of the tabernacle”
(v. 11).
We note that these events take place in the early going of the journey to Canaan. So, for the better part of forty years, our Joshua is Moses’ servant and assistant. Literally, he is Moses’ “workman.” Whenever we find a man who lays claim to being a man of faith, we should see standing before us a servant. A minister. A man of marked humility.
There are many things we are to learn about faith as we go along, and we note this one here: There are certain places we are likely to find strong faith, and there are places we should not expect to find it. We likely are not going to find faith in the king’s chamber sitting high on a throne. We won’t have to climb up a steep flight of stairs to get to a king or a man in high standing to find faith. Expect, rather, to find it when we come to the door.
Faith, you see, is that servant who greets us at the door with a smile, kindly takes our coat, and then asks politely that we have a seat. “Sit over there by that pail of water,” faith says, “and take off your sandals.”
– Taking the road to the top
Amazingly, it is a man such a Moses, or Joshua – men who can wash the feet of the people symbolically – as the Lord does literally, who can say humbly with Mr. Ziglar: “I’ll see you all at the top!” Such leaders, such men who willingly step into the gap, such 'workmen' of great faith – these understand very well just where the “top” is. They realize well that there is only one way to reach the top in God’s plan.
We have to take the road to the bottom.
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