“After the death of Moses the servant of God, God spoke to Joshua, Moses’ assistant: “Moses my servant is dead. Get going. Cross this Jordan River, you and all the people. Cross to the country I’m giving to the People of Israel. I’m giving you every square inch of the land you set your foot on—just as I promised Moses. From the wilderness and this Lebanon east to the Great River, the Euphrates River—all the Hittite country—and then west to the Great Sea. It’s all yours. All your life, no one will be able to hold out against you. In the same way I was with Moses, I’ll be with you. I won’t give up on you; I won’t leave you. Strength! Courage! You are going to lead this people to inherit the land that I promised to give their ancestors. Give it everything you have, heart and soul. Make sure you carry out The Revelation that Moses commanded you, every bit of it. Don’t get off track, either left or right, so as to make sure you get to where you’re going. And don’t for a minute let this Book of The Revelation be out of mind. Ponder and meditate on it day and night, making sure you practice everything written in it. Then you’ll get where you’re going; then you’ll succeed. Haven’t I commanded you? Strength! Courage! Don’t be timid; don’t get discouraged. God, your God, is with you every step you take.” (Joshua 1:1-9 The Message Bible)
Resilience…resilience is the ability to bounce back. Some of you have seen where mothers bounced back from not finding much in the refrigerator, but showed resilience and made a notable meal out of seemingly nothing! And do you recall how we used to bang on pots and pans and would use the rubber bands, wrap them around our newspapers or empty boxes to form guitars and make music when our parents were not around? We did not let a lack of money to buy toys stop us. Down and disappointed for a minute, but we bounced back. We showed resilience. A few years ago I thought about the Rubberband Man in a song sang by a group that my younger brother played bass for, backing up the famous R& B recording artists letting the lyrics flow out of their mouths in beautiful sounds. That prompted my initial thought about resilience. I surmised, somewhat deducted, and swiftly concluded at first that “The Rubberband Man” just might have come to the point where he realized that regardless of how his turmoil, troubles and tough times had tossed him around, he had to bounce back and realize that he was gifted to bring joy to others, help others release their stress, help others forget about their struggles, help others lose themselves in the rhythm of his jamming sounds, and bounce back from the log jams of troubles in their lives that they had face or were about to face. There is some relevancy here! Be real, alright! You see, there is a need for each of us to find that little rubberband man that exists in each one of us. We all need some resilience! We all need to bounce back from something! It might be disappointment! It might be a disease of the body, but not the soul. It might be the death of a loved one or a long-time friend. It might be a dying relationship where we think that the spark cannot turn to flame again! Maybe, we let the Lord down, by laying out our mess-ups, repenting, but we have yet to let go of the burden of guilt and the dirtiness of sin that we have been cleansed of! We need resilience! Yes, we all need to bounce back from something! It might be we are drained of great energy or devastated by “one more thing I have to worry about!” It just might be we have not stayed in the way of the Lord, but we have strayed away from the Lord! It might be depression that has resulted in the repression of recognized thoughts of how the Lord has blessed you and is in fact is blessing you right now! Maybe you just woke up physically and had to be persistent in your plan to come into the house of the Lord on this day, July 4th , and wake up spiritually, but you aren’t quite there yet! Well, you need to bounce back, quickly! You need some sure resilience right now! Perhaps It might be definite shock that came when you realized that you really are set aside, designated to do something to satisfy/please the Savior, our Lord Jesus Christ. Our verses relate to Joshua, the son of Nun who had to bounce back from the loss of Moses. Yes, we could have taken the one leper out of ten who bounced back, came back and experienced salvation! We could have used Peter who had to go from denial to a sense of duty to feed Jesus’ sheep! We could have used Job who bounced back from ruin to riches! We could have used Lazarus who bounced back from the place where dead folks hang out before Jesus called His name, telling him to come forth! It could have been the thief on the right side of the cross, deservingly paying for His crime, but He bounced back to a place where His hope turned to Christ Jesus and he became positioned, no longer just physically positioned on Golgotha, but positioned spiritually and on his way to Paradise! Sampson who had to bounce back and regain new strength! Oh, my Lord! We could have used the woman suffering from the issue of blood, and how she showed resilience after nothing else worked and she touched the hem of Jesus’ garment! So many choices in the Bible! However, as you meditate this morning, look at Joshua. Be inspired to show resilience in your life! Bounce back! Enjoy this holy day and the holiday! Be blessed!
Still committed to the climb,
Mark L. King