Passing the Baton

 Greetings to you all in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ,

     Joshua 1:8-9 says, “This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success.  Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the LORD thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest.”

     I used to run races on the high school track team and one of the evens was the mile relay where four guys would run a quarter mile and then pass a baton over to the next runner.  The passing of the baton had to be a certain way and within a certain distance.  The new runner would not look back, but put his hand out and the previous runner would place the baton in the palm of the next runner.  Races could be won or lost in the passing of the baton.  We are often found passing the baton to someone else in other areas other than physical races.

     We have “inaugurations” after a presidential election and a new president is ushered into office in an official ceremony.  In the above passage, a new leader is becoming the head of the nation of Israel and to proceed into the land that had been promised to the Israelites under the leadership of Moses but is now being transferred over to Joshua.  We can recall that only Joshua and Caleb had positive reports about the land ont the first spy trip.  The passage has a direct application to Joshua and his leadership into the new land.  It also has an indirect application to us as believers due to the immutability of God.  The Lord Jesus Christ also spoke of the Word of God as being sure and stable and that not one jot or tittle would pass away.  The Word of God, and in the above passage, the law of God or the commandments given to Moses, was not to depart from Joshua's mouth but he was to meditate on it day and night.  By so doing, Joshua would be guaranteed success in the battles that would take place.  Of course, he and the people had to do exactly what God said.  Aachan decided to do his own thing and it cost him and his family their lives.  Knowing the Word of God is one thing, but doing it is quite another.  The world system wants us to measure our success by the number in our bank account or the number of people working for us, or the number of assets we might have in this life, but this is not the measure by which God says we should look but to that which is in line with the Word of God.  On what will you think or meditate today?  Will our minds be filled with the Word of God?  Will we seek to do the Word in all of our “battles” today?  Praise God today for the Bible. May we meditate on it and do it in our lives.