I want to believe that there are better days ahead, as Joshua believed in the Biblical book. These past two years have been fraught with disease, economic woes, isolation, political chaos, and world anxiety. Because Joshua listened to God, God led Joshua’s people over the River Jordan, broke down the walls of Jericho, and began to build the land that we call Israel today. God gave them rest, and no enemy stood before them. Every good thing came to pass for Israel because they believed in God’s promise for a new season, a new birth, a new inheritance. We are children of God, and because we are His children, we can receive our inheritance by believing in Him.
“In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise.” (Ephesians 1: 13-14 KJV) By our faith, we may sit at the Lord’s table, He knows us by name, and all the things He has promised us will come to pass. Through my prayers these past two years, I have begun to see a light beginning to shine again where there was sickness, darkness, pain, anger, and isolation. I can feel a promise of new life, new spring, and new growth. God did not want us to be separated by religion, race, ethnicity, creed, or politics; He wanted us to be one in Jesus Christ. “And if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.” (Galatians 3: 28-29 KJV) The Holy Spirit, which is in our hearts, tells us that we are heirs, heirs to God, and joint-heirs with Jesus Christ to our Heavenly home. When we suffer with Jesus Christ, we are glorified together. What Christ receives, we receive.
I have often wondered when we would see the beginning of the end of the pandemic and its encircling problems. Days turned into months and months into years. As a world, we seem to be tamping down the raging illness, and more people are getting the shots, if only as a result of experiencing COVID rather than listening to those who know science. Perhaps if more would have listened, there would not be so many disconnects with our families, friends, and neighbors as to how we could have gotten through these health issues.
Because Joshua listened to God, his people crossed over the river to claim their inheritance, God’s promise of better things to come. Too many people today know nothing about God or refuse to acknowledge a power higher than themselves. They refuse to be faithful to God because somewhere in their lives someone told them He doesn’t exist. They stumble and fall as they cling to old beliefs and past history. Others don’t believe that their lives could be any better, that they’d be called different or weird because they believe, or that there is no such thing as Eternity. Those of us who do believe see God as bringing us out of sin and darkness and leading us towards the light and our salvation. Life has been hard these past two years, but by faith, God is guiding us towards the light and a brighter future.
What the pandemic did to the world is cause guilt, fear, worry, loneliness, and much confusion about our identities as individuals and families, about our life goals and what really matters, and about what we need to do to save each other and our planet. As with many major difficulties, the naysayers gained much territory in our minds as those who could have done good were pushed into the furthest corners of our small thoughts. I truly believe that if the world had set aside its differences when COVID began and believed more in God who dwells within us, that love would have been perfected in all of us. As such, only a few glimpses of love seemed to break through our individual needs and those of the most needy. “And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.” (1 John 4:16 KJV)
As I have said countless times before, we, collectively as a world, need to say “NO” to the negative voices and “YES” to God’s message of hope. A new light, a new life, and a new world is blooming in our hearts where God reigns. We have only to open the door to Him to claim our inheritance.
Anna Hartt
