When God called to Moses from the burning bush in Exodus 3, He said, “Do not draw near this place. Take your sandals off your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground” (NKJV). God then asked Moses to return to Egypt where the Lord would perform miraculous signs and wonders. Moses argued with God and gave excuses as to why he couldn’t speak to Pharaoh. Eventually, God convinced Moses. He then spoke to Pharaoh, God performed 10 plagues and the Israelites were set free from their bondage because of the things God did.
Fast forward 40 years and Israel is finally permitted to enter the Promised Land. They cross the Jordan and begin to prepare to attack Jericho. While Joshua is surveying it, the Lord appears to him in Joshua 5:15 and says, “Take your sandal off your foot, for the place where you stand is holy.” Did you catch the difference? When Moses met God, he had to remove both sandals. When Joshua met with Him, he only had to remove one. I believe it’s because with Moses, God was doing all the work, and with Joshua they were going to work together to subdue Canaan.
I believe God wants you and I to participate with Him in living an overcoming life. We can’t sit back and wait for Him to do all the work. You and I are going to have to step out and face some giants. We are going to have to attack some walled cities in our life. The great news is that God will fight our battles if we’ll have enough faith to get onto the battlefield. If we’re going to live An overcoming life, we’re going to have to quit making excuses and letting fear make our decisions. If God is for you, who can be against you? It’s time to quit camping by the Jordan and to fight for the land God promised you.
Photo by Ioana Cristiana on Unsplash
I’m enjoying a day of rest today. I hope you enjoyed this devotional I wrote previously. I’ll return with a new devotional tomorrow.
Devotions by Chris Hendrix 
This is wonderful, brother. We must have enough faith in God to show up on the battlefield. School is about to start again, and the reminder to not make excuses or be guided by fear is a good one. Thank you, and God Bless!
Be guided by the Holy Spirit as you enter your mission field. Your classroom is holy ground and the students that step foot in there will know that something is different in your room.
To further agree with your assumption about the difference between Moses and Joshua…For Moses – God parted the sea before they started across. For Joshua, the priests had to first step into the river before God parted it. Just another observation between those two and how God required action from Joshua.
Great point!