I’ve always wondered what Moses did that led God to call him His friend. When you read the Old Testament books that Moses appears in, you see him doing things like:

• Pushing back against his calling: Exodus 3:11, 13; 4:1, 10,13
• Arguing with God: Numbers 14:13-16
• Became impatient: Numbers 20:10-12

Yet he was also a man who passionately went after what God had for him. He also wasn’t afraid to ask God for more.

• He saw God: Exodus 33:23
• Show me Your glory: Exodus 33:18
• He asked for help: Numbers 11

I think this is why God called Moses His friend. Moses was real. Creating that short list reminded of David in the Psalms. Here I am, God. All my emotions and thoughts, laid before You. But what made Joshua even more?

Joshua had the faith to go into Canaan and see what could be rather than what was. He had the faith to believe that God would do all that He had promised and more. So the people in Canaan are tall? My God is bigger. So they are many? My God has promised to go before us. All we have to do is go. He would need this type of unshakeable faith in 40 years when God instructed him to take the land by leading the warriors in a silent march around Jericho…not once, but seven days.

When God asks you to do the crazy, you have to already know His character. If you don’t, you’ll be like the ten spies who couldn’t see any future other than death if they entered the Promised Land. They ultimately got what they envisioned. Only it was death without the promise. Proceeded by 40 years of circles. In a desert.

Joshua did not leave the tent.

The Bible doesn’t say what happened after Moses left the tent to return to the people of Israel. I imagine God remained. The tent was His residence on earth. And Joshua never left.

He.

Did Not.

Leave.

He stayed in God’s presence.

That will build the faith to see the world through God’s eyes. To see what’s happening on a deeper level than your physical eyes can see. I don’t live like that consistently. But I want to. What do you think that looks like today?

Father, help me to live in a way that I never leave Your presence…no matter where I am. That You are always with me, because I am always with You. Amen.

You might also be interested in my post on living with a different spirit and this one on what made Joshua and Caleb different.