Tuesday, April 26, 2005

Faithful Footprints

You cannot see faith, but you can see the footprints of the faithful. We must leave behind "faithful footprints" for others to follow. Dr. Dennis Anderson

The children of Israel really struggled with their faith. The times they found they were rewarded were when they faithfully followed the divine will of God. Looking at the lives of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and later Moses and Joshua a common thread that links them to God is their belief in God and their trust in his divine intervention when they were in need. Joshua had spent many years under the shadow of Moses. Joshua had been extremely faithful and close aid of Moses through out the 40 years in the wilderness. He had come to know and understand the ways of God through the leadership of Moses. Moses had been able to effectively groom Joshua to succeed him.

St. Paul says that everything was written for us so that through the experiences that our spiritual fathers went through , it may encourage us to have perseverance, that leads to endurance, that leads to Hope (Romans 15:4).


Joshua had been faithful to God all his life. He was one of the two living eye witnesses of the plagues in Egypt. When 12 scouts had initially been sent to see Jericho, only Joshua and Caleb returned to say that they could conquer the land. As Joshua stood over the flowing banks of the river Jordan and saw the city of Jericho, he must have wondered what now Lord?? There were no bridges, boats, airplanes or hovercrafts to take them across. But Joshua knew that if he remained faithful to God, that He would show a way. Lois the mother of a good friend of mine laid these encouraging words in my heart,Where there is no way, God has promised to show a way.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Why did Joshua need 40yrs of training? Was Joshua a slow learner? God needed Joshua to learn by watching and helping Moses. Joshua did an excellent job as a leader except for not choosing a successor as Moses did.

Mani Pulimood said...

We are all servants of the Living God, whether we are leaders or just followers.Death is the leveller of all leaders. When the call to be a leader comes to someone, they should be willing to accept it humbly as the will of God. It does not matter when the call comes. The important consideration being, God is working through us as leaders or servants to accomplish his vision for the larger community of faith. An effective leader will be able to see this vision and direct all his efforts to its fulfillment.One of the important aspects of leadership is to train successors and nurture them to become good leaders.

Anonymous said...

Prayer

Help us lord to leave behind the right footprints and not the wrong
ones which can lead others to futility

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