When Those Who Came Before Disappoint

You looked at me with tears in your eyes.  Or anger.  Or sadness.  Because your parents had disappointed you.  Because the generation who came before you failed you.  Because some collection of adults who were supposed to protect you, educate you, set an example for you had let you down.  You told me your story as you choked back, clenched your fists, threw your hands in the air.

"What am I supposed to do now?" you asked.

(Stuart McClymont/Getty Images)

I wish I had a solution.  I wish my words were more than just words of comfort, more than just pointing in the direction of truth, more than the promise that no matter what, I'm here.  I'm listening.  I believe you.  But for now, all I can say is:  you are not alone.

There is a passage I turn to in times of high anxiety, when big life-changing decisions loom and wisdom feels elusive.  Whether for good reasons or bad, when the torch has been passed to me, I read the first chapter of Joshua in the Bible.

The Bible begins with five books, often referred to collectively as the Pentateuch, which contain the origins of the Jewish people.  In a book of firsts, Genesis introduces us to God, to the creation of the world, to the first man and the first woman.  After Adam and Eve name all the animals and, I assume, figure out exactly how God intended them to be fruitful and multiply, we encounter the first sin.  Eve takes the apple, the only thing that is forbidden, and, in the first ever recorded instance of FOMO, Adam eats it too.  I have to wonder, knowing what I do about human nature, just how long it took them to break the rule.  Was it after years and years of temptation?  Was it the first time God walked off into the Garden?  Either way, Adam and Eve receive a curse and must leave Eden.  Within a generation, we learn of the first blood feud, followed soon by the first diaspora, the first flood, the first promise God makes to a man to never flood the earth again.  Then we meet Abram, the man chosen by God to father an entire group of chosen people, a man credited with righteousness because of his faith, the first person to be given a new name by the Lord.  We see God honor that promise through Abraham's son and grandson.  We see Joseph sold into slavery by his jealous brothers and making a place for himself in Egypt.

Now this actually becomes a big deal as Genesis ends and Exodus begins.  Joseph's entire family moves to Egypt due to a famine in their own land, and they find the conditions perfect to greatly grow in number, just as God intended.  For hundreds of years, God's people, the descendants of Abraham, flourish in this foreign land.  Then a pattern, which has been carried out again and again across human history, begins.  The native Egyptians mistreat the descendants of Abraham.  They feared them because of their large numbers, so they enslaved them.  They ordered the wholesale murder of all their infant sons so they could be further dominated.  In spite of this, the chosen people continue to increase in number.  And the Bible tells us that they cried out to God, and He heard them.

God raises up one of their own, a baby boy who escapes the infanticide of Egypt and grows up inside Pharaoh's palace, a man whose name is Moses.  God calls Moses from his self-imposed exile in the wilderness to lead the people out of slavery and into freedom.  God makes a covenant with Moses that builds upon His promise to Abraham.  Now that His people number in the millions, God has chosen a place for them to call their own, a Promised Land flowing with milk and honey where they can worship the God of their ancestors and govern themselves according to His Holy law (aka the 10 commandments).  And so, after throwing up a few flimsy excuses and trying to evade his God-given job, Moses returns to Egypt and tells Pharaoh to let his people go.  There are some plagues against the stubborn Egyptians and some harsh punishments against the slaves as a result, but eventually Moses leads the entire population of Jews out of slavery and into the desert.  It doesn't take long for the people to start complaining about how good they had it in Egypt, in spite of God's constant presence and constant provision.  He takes them to the edge of the Promised Land, and then Moses chooses 12 men to spy out the current occupants.  Two of the spies return, full of hope and wonder, with reports that the land really is as good as God promised, with the certain belief that they can conquer it.  The other ten are not so optimistic.  They saw giants where the others saw bounty; they saw defeat where the two saw victory.  Word quickly spreads among the people, and a full-on rebellion begins to form.  No one except Joshua and Caleb believes that God will fulfill His promise, and so God makes a decree.  The entire generation will die in the desert before their children will inherit the Promised Land.

It shocks me every time I read it.  They were there, they were so close...and they missed it.  Not because of their sin, like the time they worshipped a golden calf at the foot of Mt Sinai.  Not because they were lazy or stupid or worthless.  It was because they didn't believe God's promise.  So they live like refugees, in camps in the middle of nowhere, for FORTY YEARS.  Their children grow up without permanence, without role models, without the free-flowing milk and honey.

This is where the book of Joshua begins.  Moses is dead.  He is the last of the faithless generation.  And now God speaks to Joshua.

 2 He said, “My servant Moses is dead. Get ready now, you and all the people of Israel, and cross the Jordan River into the land that I am giving them. 3 As I told Moses, I have given you and all my people the entire land that you will be marching over. 4 Your borders will reach from the desert in the south to the Lebanon Mountains in the north; from the great Euphrates River in the east, through the Hittite country, to the Mediterranean Sea in the west. 5 Joshua, no one will be able to defeat you as long as you live. I will be with you as I was with Moses. I will always be with you; I will never abandon you. 6 Be determined and confident, for you will be the leader of these people as they occupy this land which I promised their ancestors. 7 Just be determined, be confident; and make sure that you obey the whole Law that my servant Moses gave you. Do not neglect any part of it and you will succeed wherever you go. 8 Be sure that the book of the Law is always read in your worship. Study it day and night, and make sure that you obey everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful. 9 Remember that I have commanded you to be determined and confident! Do not be afraid or discouraged, for I, the Lord your God, am with you wherever you go.”

Joshua is the keeper of the faith, and now he is the leader of millions.  He is tasked with the job his elders couldn't accomplish.  He will finally lead the people into the Promised Land.  When he stands before them to make his first big speech, I have to wonder what he was feeling.  Did the weight of his new responsibilities feel heavy?  Did he worry that he would fail just as Moses and all the others had?  Did he have even a moment when he broke down and cried because it was all so much and he was just one man?  Or did the words God spoke to him break through all the self-doubt?  Did a fire burn in his chest as he repeated them to himself:  "Be determined and confident!  Do not be afraid or discouraged, for I, the Lord your God, am with you wherever you go"?

Do those words speak to you in this moment, does your heavy heart feel lighter, does the path forward seem clear?  Because Joshua did exactly as he was told, and the Promised Land became his home.  He and Caleb settled within the borders and brought their people in.  God did what He promised, and went with Joshua through all of it, the battles, the long nights, the strategy sessions.  Joshua conquered the land where giants dwelled and he knew peace in his lifetime.