In 1952, a young woman named Florence Chadwick attempted to swim the 42 kilometers (26 miles) from Catalina Island to the California coast. Just two years earlier, she had broken the world record for her swim across the English Channel.
On her swim, she was flanked by a number of boats, ready to help her in case of sharks or exhaustion. During her swim, a thick fog settled in, preventing her from seeing the shoreline. After about fifteen hours, exhausted mentally and physically, she begged to be taken out of the water. When they reached the shore, she discovered that she had been less than a kilometer from her destination.
At a news conference the next day, Florence Chadwick told reporters, “All I could see was the fog…if I had seen the shore, I would have made it.”
Two months later, she tried the long Swim again. Once more, the fog settled in, but this time, Florence Chadwick kept a clear vision in her mind of the shoreline, enabling her to overcome the fog and reach her destination.
Just as a clear vision enabled Chadwick to gain victory over tremendous obstacles, so a clear vision will enable us to gain fullness and victory over the temptations, discouragement and spiritual opposition that we daily confront from the world in which we live.
Today, many of us do not enjoy a full life in relationship with God because we do not have a clear vision of what God intends for us and for the world around us. Instead of living in victory, we wander around in the fog of the world’s lies and delusions so that we become lost and discouraged and defeated.
We can take important lessons in this challenge from the story of Joshua and his leadership of the people of Israel as they took the Promised Land against forbidding odds. This is land that God had promised to the people of Israel long before Joshua took leadership. Hundreds of years earlier, God had promised this land to Abraham and his descendants and again to Moses and later to Joshua (Joshua 1:3-5).
Now the moment was at hand to enter the Promised Land, and we are told that Joshua took God at His word: “Thus Joshua took all this land: the mountain country, all the South, all the land of Goshen, the lowland and the Jordan plain-the mountains of Israel and its lowlands…” (Joshua 11:16, 23). It was hard work, but Joshua persisted and was victorious because he trusted the promises of God.
The various kinds of landscapes presented different challenges to Joshua-valleys, plain land and mountains. These different challenges faced by Joshua are good lessons for us as we face our own challenges in life:
First, Joshua took the valleys. Victory did not always come easily. There were moments of disappointment when the enemy resisted more strongly than they anticipated. Although God promised victory, they had to press on even though the difficulties of the moment seemed to speak of defeat rather than victory.
For seven years, Joshua and the Israelites faced continuing odds as they fought and subdued 31 different kings. It was a long and tiring task, In spite of these difficult and trying circumstances, they had God’s continuing vision and promise given to Abraham, Moses and Joshua. This helped to give them patience and persistence as they labored to implement the vision and promises that God had given them.
All of us face valleys in life. We all face trials and disappointments. Will we allow the circumstances of the moment fog our vision, or will we clearly envision God’s promises that carry us through to eventual victory?
Second, Joshua took the plains. Taking the plains represents the ordinary experiences of daily life that appear to offer no particular challenge. With no apparent challenge, it is easy to grow complacent and trust in our own strength rather than God’s. The ordinary experiences of life can present our biggest challenge and biggest opportunity for failure because the dangers of complacency are often hidden. This is when we can lose our moral focus and sacrifice personal time with the Lord for lesser things.
Even in these ordinary experiences, Joshua and the Israelites kept the vision before them as they subdued the enemies in the plains.
Third, Joshua took the mountains. Mountains speak of challenges to do great things for God. Many times, we are too satisfied with mediocre victories and small achievements when God intends greater things for us.
We cannot rest upon yesterday’s laurels. We must continually commit ourselves to do great things for God in order to strengthen our faith in God. Too many people do not want to commit themselves to do great things for God because it takes time and effort. But with the promises of God, we can go forward in faith knowing that God is faithful to His word.
Not even old age should keep us from overcoming the mountains of life. God had promised Caleb the city of Hebron and surrounding provinces as a permanent residence. At 85 years of age, Caleb was still willing to claim the inheritance that God promised to him when he was in the wilderness with Moses more than forty years earlier.
To claim the promises of God and conquer Hebron, he had to drive out the giants who dwelt there. Three of those giants, sons of Anak, were named Sheshai (who I am), Ahiman (what I am) and Talmai (what I can do). These giants signify our struggles as believers in subduing the giants of self that stop our progress.
None of us achieves great things for God overnight. All of us must subdue things within and outside of ourselves. But in the struggle, we have the promises of God for full and complete victory. It is in the daily struggle of taking all the land that we learn habits of trust in God and develop maturity, discovering the fullness of God and true joy in life.
Keeping the vision and promises and God before US,
Let us take the entire land of India for the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Let us go forward under the provision of God’s power that He freely gives us as we depend upon Him.
Let us be true to God’s vision rather than o own.
Let us focus upon God’s power rather than up our weakness.
Let us forget those things that drag us down.
Let us go forward and proclaim the Good News to the people of the valleys, plains and mountain regions of India.
