Becoming One of A Thousand Men for God

By David Rhea

Becoming One of a Thousand Men for God looks at some of the people in the Bible that God selected for specific tasks, positions, and jobs. Even though the world is patriarchal in nature, God has always looked at each person's heart. In this book, I will look at both men and women, and frankly many of the women showed greater courage in the moments of crisis. This book isn't a comparison but rather a set of stories expounded upon to show that God uses any and/or all of us according to our heart that He sees regardless of our gender.

It also looks at the struggles and the learning curves of faith during these events and times. It also looks at how the struggle changes and how even after great victory, Satan does not give up but attacks on a different front, so we always need to stay in the word, in fellowship, and closely following the Holy Spirit's leading.

In my books, I often ask the reader questions for them to go look at their own faith. "Do you want to be healed?" is one of those questions taken from a miniseries "The Chosen." It is a question we all must ask ourselves, knowing the only place healing comes from is Jesus.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Apr 4, 2023
• ISBN: 9798888325155

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Becoming One of A Thousand Men for God

David Rhea

ISBN 979-8-88832-514-8 (paperback)

ISBN 979-8-88832-515-5 (digital)

Copyright © 2023 by David Rhea

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods without the prior written permission of the publisher. For permission requests, solicit the publisher via the address below.

Christian Faith Publishing

832 Park Avenue

Meadville, PA 16335

www.christianfaithpublishing.com

Printed in the United States of America

Table of Contents

THE FAILURE OF TEN

THE REBELLION AT THE BORDER AND CONSEQUENCES

FLOOD STAGE FAITH

JOSHUA'S FAREWELL AND COVENANT CHALLENGE

GIDEON

WHAT IF GOD IS NOT PICKING YOU?

GOD TURNS AWAY AND LETS THEM BE OPPRESSED

CONFRONTATION, CONVICTION, AND JUDGING

GOD'S TIMING, NOT MY TIMING, IS PERFECT

POSITIVE THINGS YOU CAN DO

A QUICK STORY

WORK ON GROWING YOUR FAITH EVERY DAY

FORGIVENESS, SHAME, AND LACK OF CONFIDENCE

WALK IN STRENGTH AND ASSURANCE

LESSONS FROM OUR CHILDREN

DO THE DEMONS KNOW OF YOU?

WHAT IF MORE GIANTS SHOW UP?

WHAT HAVE WE LEARNED SO FAR?

DO YOU WANT TO BE HEALED

WHY PEOPLE WALK AWAY

About the Author

Throughout biblical history, God has chosen select people (men and women) to accomplish His will for this world. None have been perfect; all have failed at times. Only Jesus the Son of God was perfect, never having sinned or failed. All of the others have struggled with their faith, all have failed at one point or at several points, but as they have confessed and repented before God, He has remained always faithful, gracious, and true to His promises, and He has used them in mighty ways.

Pastor Rich Villodas said, I'm deeply grateful that scripture isn't a collection of sanitized stories of holy people. It's rather a collection of stories of ordinary, broken people loved by God, and made holy through a righteousness outside of themselves.

What does it mean to you if you are not one of a thousand for God? I'm not saying or even implying that you are not saved, nor that you aren't going to heaven, nor am I saying you won't be one of a thousand for God at some other time. We each get decisions every day concerning our daily obedience to the Holy Spirit's leading. How you respond or even understand that leading is dependent upon your spiritual maturity and how closely you are following after Jesus.

As I considered this book, I thought of the title Becoming One of a Thousand Men for God. Think about that: one of a thousand. That means you would stand out as significant for God out of a thousand others. It also means that you would have a bull's-eye on your back for that very same reason. Being one of a thousand is also a very lonely place to be in light of the fact that very seldom are there two in one place at the same time. We do see examples of that: Moses and Aaron, Joshua and Caleb, David and Jonathon. The training for those positions would be arduous, often painful, with so many critics hammering at you. This book will tell stories of some of those men and women that God chose for Himself. What they accomplished for Him and the trials and struggles to accomplish those things. It will also address what I believe are many of the reasons people get chosen or not chosen.

Rich Villodas said, God calls us to go on a pilgrimage as His disciples, but too often we'd rather be tourists. A Pilgrim is led by God into the unknown and invited to trust. A tourist just wants to sight see on his or her own terms.

A pilgrim doesn't know where the pilgrimage will end or when it will end; when you read the word pilgrim, think disciple too. A tourist on vacation has a short time set and destinations to visit. The tourist also only wants to be entertained or impressed with someone else's accomplishments to be able to say, Oh, I saw that, it was wonderful and inspiring. We most often fail because we want God to acquiesce to our terms, not we to His, and it has never worked that way. As we considered being significant for God, too many of us relate that as having power over others, and that is wrong too. Being significant for God only comes with humility, faith, and courage. Remember this is God's story, not our story. We get to be helpers according to His will, and He then gives us revelation into His glory and power.

I was talking with a good friend (Lance) the other day; we talked about how crazy and frustrating our world is currently. To quote another old friend, It seems the world is stuck on stupid! (when it really is stuck on evil). I was reminded that God's way of fighting is so very different than ours is. Look at the story of Gideon in his fight against the Midianites in Judges 6–8. We will get to this story later in the book. Prayerfully you will discover through the course of this book that the Bible is not just a bunch of random books containing dusty old stories. Rather, it is a very rich tapestry of interwoven stories, with ordinary, human-connected characters in timely order. It is an accurate and often painfully true record of events that have shaped our structures and faith even to today.

You see when God is trying to take you places, you will have your Judas, toxic friends and family, the Jezebels, Delilah's, the naysayers and the haters that will try to come against you. But they will lose every time they keep your name in their mouth because God will deliver you from your enemies and exalt you above those who rose against you.

(Unknown)

(Authors note: You will see the word if italicized throughout the book. Why? Because the if always carries with it a caveat for both actions before and then a response from God.)

THE FAILURE OF TEN

To really understand what's going on with Gideon, we need to go back to Joshua first. Joshua and Caleb were part of Moses's leadership structure through the whole exodus. They were two of the twelve spies who went into the promised land to spy it out. They were the only two who said, We can do this. The other ten counseled, No, we cannot do this. The ten men were afraid of the giants, sons of Anuk, who lived there.

I wonder about the twelve spies' conversations before they came back across the river. There had to have been very intense conversations. The ten couldn't have just been spontaneous in their refusal to go back, and the arguments they presented influenced an already disgruntled group that the promised land was untenable. Yet Joshua and Caleb felt completely different about it. Think about the group dynamics, the peer pressure against Joshua and Caleb to just go along with the other ten, and the courage it took for them to hold fast to what they saw God leading them to against the other ten men.

Because of the ten and their cowardly arguments, the Israelites refused to enter the promised land. It was their free will but a disobedient choice. God got pretty angry with them, and Moses had to intercede on their behalf. While God didn't kill them outright, He did send them back out into the wilderness to wander for forty years, so a whole generation died off out in the wilderness. Only Joshua and Caleb lived to enter the promised land. That's like two out of how many million people? Bad choices and cowardly choices have terrible consequences, and the Bible is full of examples for us to look at. Think for a minute that the people's cowardly decision cost millions of them their lives. Oh, they lived a full life in years, but wandering in the desert, not living in the promised land. Where are you living your life? As a pilgrim actually following the Holy Spirit's leading or wandering in the wilderness because of your disobedience and living a pretty insignificant life? The significance of anyone's life lived before God is based on His judgments. He knows your heart; He knows the whys of your choices. You really cannot declare yourself a godly person. That is up to God.

To be fair, if you follow God's leading, much of it will still be in the wilderness. But with God, that is a time of preparation for great and significant things for God. If it's because of disobedience or cowardice, it will be fruitless and insignificant. To believe that what we do or choose to do isn't important or count much is really naïve. Our choices all have consequences. They can be really good to really bad consequences, depending on what we choose to do. The books of Joshua and then Judges give examples of that very concept. Therefore, because of Joshua and Caleb's faithfulness over the whole exodus including going back out into the wilderness for forty years, God chooses them to lead the Israelites into the promised land.

How does God fight His battles there? This is the first example. Read Joshua 2. For the city of Jericho, God has the tribes march around the city for seven days, carrying the ark of the covenant with them. On the seventh day, they march around Jericho seven times and then blow their trumpets, shout, and the walls fall down. They then take the city, saving only Rahab and her family.

Rahab (the harlot) was one of a thousand

Earlier in the story in Joshua, the harlot Rahab had hidden Joshua's two spies and let them down in a basket from the walls. She then lied to the king of Jericho (a lesser leader to the city of Jericho only, more like a governor or mayor) to protect the two spies but an act nevertheless punishable by death. Rahab helped them escape and told them where to go hide, so they won't get captured. She and the spies made a covenant for her and her family's safety, so she tied a red sash from her home and her whole family was spared. She is listed in the lineage of Jesus; see Mathew 1:5.

Rahab married Salmon from the tribe of Judah and their son was Boaz, husband of Ruth. They are in Joseph's bloodline, Jesus's earthly father Joseph. Rahab is spoken of for her faith in Hebrews. Her faith was that when she heard the forty-year-old stories of the exodus and the Red Sea miracle, she believed in them and in God. When the spies came to her house, she acted on that faith, and not only hid them but also put herself in a place of extreme danger by hiding them, then helping them get away, and later lying to the king to keep them safe.

Don't get hung up on her lies to the king. All of us are with sin; all of us need to be forgiven for our faithless acts that we do because of our lack of faith. That is what grace covers, and we all need that forgiveness. Ask yourself this question: why did Joshua's spies come to her? The city had over three thousand people. They could have gone anywhere, but they arrived at her door. The perfect door at that moment. She could have given them up too, but she didn't. God was in control then; He is in control now. And that is a powerful takeaway on this story.

Jericho had roughly around three thousand inhabitants at the time of the siege according to Britannica.com. Notice that part of this story is that God saves Rahab, who by her heart obeyed and saved Joshua's spies from a story (the Red Sea miracle) which had occurred over forty years before. Who and what is she? She is from the bottom of the social strata, labeled as a harlot, or in some translations a prostitute. God saves the Israelites using a person from the bottom of the social status, showing us that it is His power through us and not our human status or personal strength. God wants our faith. After the fall of Jericho, she joins the nation of Israel and marries a man named Salmon from the tribe of Judah. They produce a son named Boaz, who marries a widow named Ruth. Ruth is the grandmother of Jesse, the father of King David. Most importantly, that by God's grace and her obedience, she is in the messianic line (Matthew 1:5).

God uses who He chooses to use for His purposes. The point here is to follow what God tells you to do, even if it looks foolish, mundane, and people make fun of you for it. God has the authority here always. His plans never fail. His timing is perfect.

THE REBELLION AT THE BORDER AND CONSEQUENCES

But we still have our free will; we can choose to be disobedient out of pride, ego, even fear. So when the Israelites refused to go into the promised land the first time, God sent them back out into the wilderness for forty years. I imagine Moses, Aaron, Joshua, and Caleb, and I'm sure some others, were pretty frustrated. Look just at Moses and Aaron's faith journeys; look at their struggles just to follow God's direction through such a difficult process with Pharaoh. Go back and read of the miracles God provided. Realize the enormity of those things and the process God brought Moses and Aaron through to be obedient. I am amazed when I go back and reread those stories with the perspective of God calling Moses from a burning bush to the journey back to Egypt and the confrontations with Pharaoh and his magicians.

God specifically speaks to Moses during these times and tells Moses what to do and say. Moses uses Aaron to do the speaking because Moses still feels inadequate to talk in public at this time but is comfortable to speak with God! Consider Moses's staff, which when Moses throws it down it becomes a snake; when he grabs it by the tail, it becomes a staff again. Look at the magicians who conjure up snakes from their staffs. Can you see the spiritual contest here? Who do you think the magicians are serving? You can see that the devil has power, and he can mimic miracles, so he will continually throughout history be trying to confuse and lead people astray. I love that Moses's staff, when it's a snake, consumes the magician's staffs; and when Moses picks up his staff, it is a staff again. Then as the story progresses, the miracles, in the form of plagues, just get more and more dramatic. Several things are occurring here; God is teaching both Moses and Pharaoh lessons in how awesome He is. Moses's faith is growing as well as his confidence in God's leading and purpose for this time. Moses is growing in faith into the calling from God.

Can you imagine the conversations he and Aaron had together during those times? How they must have encouraged each other to continue, how they must have discussed each day's events and their portent. The faith journey culminates in the Red Sea miracle. Interestingly, the actual journey for the tribe of Israel to the border of the promised land is pretty short. Walking and camping with that size of a group is slow by nature.

It is 361 miles from Egypt to the border of Canaan with the population around 1.6 million people. It probably took about three months because of the animals, elderly, and children. Then they send the spies into Canaan and waited for them to come back. Only when the tribe of Israel rebelled did they went back out into the desert to wander for forty years. Don't forget that during that entire time God provided a pillar cloud by day and a column of fire at night, and He fed them daily. Their clothes didn't wear out for forty years. God provided healing and solved their day-to-day problems even in their rebellion and cowardice before Him. The takeaway here is that God provided what was needed, when it was needed, and He had never stopped. We can always count on Him, even when we are so less than faithful as we will look at now.

Also realize God was preserving the next generation, those who were under twenty years of age, to be the tribe that obediently entered the promised land. But also look at the wasted generation of people who actually witnessed so many miracles performed right in front of them yet still chose to cowardly refuse to obey and cross over into the promised land. Ask yourself now: where am I in my faith journey?

Look at the continued grief the Israelites put Moses, Aaron, Joshua, and Caleb through with their whining and complaining and then to cowardly back out at the edge of the promised land. Sadly, Moses, Aaron, Joshua, and Caleb with their families also had to go back out into the wilderness to shepherd the flock. What God intended for Joshua and Caleb got put on hold for forty years, not from their bad choice but because of Israel's bad choice. So people's choices have consequences that often go beyond our own personal space. Ask yourself today: where are you in being obedient to the Holy Spirit's leading in your life?

In Numbers 13, the twelve spies were named and their tribe identified. It says that ten of the twelve gave a bad report; only Joshua and Caleb gave a good report. Joshua and Caleb said they could overcome the giants and take the land as God promised. But In Numbers 14, the people rebelled, complained, and demanded a new set of leaders to take them back to Egypt after all of the miracles God had performed in their sight. Moses and Aaron fell prostate on the ground; Joshua and Caleb tore their clothes. Israel had rebelled against God again. The confrontation grew so violent that the people decided to stone Moses and Aaron, along with Joshua and Caleb. But God intervened here; His glory appeared in the tent. Moses must then intervene with God for the people. God agreed not to kill the people in Numbers 14:11. Then the LORD said to Moses, How long will these people reject Me? And how long will they not Believe Me, with all of the signs which I have performed among them? I will strike them with pestilence and disinherit them, and I will make of you a nation greater and mightier than they!

But Moses convinces God to be long-suffering and abundant in mercy in Numbers 14:13–44. Take a moment here and read that again. Moses pleads with God to be long-suffering and merciful. I believe God had brought Moses's faith to that place of understanding, where Moses gets on the same thought pattern God has had all along, and God Has taught Moses here and not the other way around. Remember God is timeless. He knows the past to the future, so this rebellion was never a surprise to Him. But He uses it to teach and train those He loves to become more like Him. God tells Moses no one over the age of twenty will make it to the promised land because of their continued rebellion. There is an important message here; disobedience to God has serious consequences. In this case, an entire generation is sent back out into the desert to wander for forty years.

Now God meets their food and clothing needs every day for those forty years, but they never make it to the promised land. As they wander from campsite to campsite, they take the ark of the covenant with them and the temple made out of tents. At each site they have their jobs setting up the temple correctly, and though it is important work, it isn't what God primarily wanted them to be doing for forty years. I wonder if