Today’s Reading: Num. 26-28 & Mark 8
Today’s Reflection: Numbers 27:18 And the LORD said unto Moses, Take thee Joshua the son of Nun, a man in whom is the spirit, and lay thine hand upon him;
It was time for Moses to begin the process of preparing the next leader of Israel to take his place. He asked The Lord to set a man over the congregation who, in essence, would be a shepherd to the house of Israel, leading them in and out, going before them as he leads. As Moses spoke with The Lord about this, he identified Him as “the God of the spirits of all flesh," knowing that only God would know what man among them had the right spirit with which to lead. It was important to have someone that was approved of God, and not someone that just appeared outwardly to be good leadership material according to men’s standards. So, God responded to Moses’ prayer in verse eighteen with these words, “Take thee Joshua the son of Nun, a man in whom is the spirit…” When asked who had the right SPIRIT…or one might say, the right HEART with which to lead, God already had a man in mind, whom He had already been preparing against this day. It is important now to note that when God looks for a leader, the only thing He is looking for is someone “in whom is the spirit,"; that is, someone who possesses the kind of spirit that is subject to and sensitive to the Spirit of God. Consider, for example, the prayer of King David (who, by the way, was a man after God’s own heart) in Psalm 51:10, who said, “Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.” It was this kind of attitude David had that made him “King material," and it was this same kind of attitude that made Joshua the kind of leadership material good enough to follow in the footsteps of Moses. The word spirit literally means wind, breath, & mind. It carries with it the idea of possessing life in the soul and guidance in the mind by the very breath or Spirit of God. This brings to mind when The Lord formed Adam of the dust of the ground, and when he breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, he became a living soul. That said, our text would imply that Joshua’s spirit wasn’t just a troubled and famished spirit isolated from God’s presence and guidance, but rather that he was, as close as an Old Testament saint could be, filled with (or at least guided by) the Spirit of God for the purpose for which he was placed on this planet. Now, today’s question is this: Do you have the kind of spirit that God would select and use for His glory? Or, is your spirit all fouled up and out of sorts with God’s purpose for your life? Surrender!
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copyright © by Gary D. Caudill
