My Dear Shepherds,

Recently, I learned a new word. Jacki, an interior designer who specialized in public spaces, told me that the focus of her master’s degree had been wayfinding, "the strategies that people use to find their way in familiar or new settings,” like signage or the layout of interior spaces in a building, or the way we tell someone what landmarks to look for to find our house.

When she explained this, Joshua came to my mind.

Now then, you and all these people, get ready to cross the Jordan River into the land I am about to give to them … from the desert to Lebanon, and from the great river, the Euphrates … to the Mediterranean Sea. (Josh. 1:2-4)

Forty years earlier, Joshua, along with Caleb, had helped spy out that land and he’d been waiting for what seemed like a lifetime to return. He remembered the hill country, which towns were fortified, and which weren’t, what both people and soil were like. I assume he’d peered into the unrestrained wickedness of the Canaanites. He’d seen the three giant sons of Anak in Hebron whose mere presence undid the whole Israelite nation. And he could still taste the grapes, pomegranates, and figs. It was a land flowing with milk and honey, promised to Israel by God. Finally, the time had come to take it.

We all remember when God first entrusted our flock to us and charged us with wayfinding for them. We became their lead pastor, in a shepherding sense of the word. My first sermon series was the Book of Joshua, and I preached the first chapter to myself, “The Sermon in the Study,” with the congregation listening so they’d know what God had gotten me into. In my second church, a fractured flock, I began with 1 John, then went to Joshua.

The theme of God’s charge to Joshua is repeated four times in chapter one, beginning with this:

I will never leave you nor forsake you. Be strong and courageous, because you will lead these people to inherit the land I swore to their ancestors to give them. (vv. 5-6)

Jacki taught me that wayfinding requires reassurance points—signals that you’re still on the right track, that you haven’t gotten lost. Just before Israel crossed the Jordan River,

… the officers went throughout the camp, giving orders to the people: “When you see the ark of the covenant of the LORD your God, and the Levitical priests carrying it, you are to move out from your positions and follow it. Then you will know which way to go, since you have never been this way before. (Josh. 3:2-4)

Pastors have the duty of carrying the New Covenant high in front of the church so that our congregations “know which way to go.” Week after week, sermon after sermon, in board meetings, coffee chats, and counseling, we echo and embody God’s word to Isaiah, “this is the way, walk in it.”

What’s so hard about that? With such robust wayfinding promises from God and such clear reassurance points all along the way of the God-blessed life in Christ, why is it even necessary to “be strong and courageous”? Ah, there’s the rub. I’m not sure just what takes the most courage—facing the enemies, shepherding God’s people, or obeying the trust-testing commands of the LORD. They’re all daunting.

We weren’t called to shepherd because of our strong personalities or fierce ambition. The strength and courage God requires doesn’t come natural, fortunately. But there we are, at the front of our flock, with the promises of God waiting to be claimed.

Be ye glad!

Lee Eclov recently retired after 40 years of local pastoral ministry and now focuses on ministry among pastors. He writes a weekly devotional for preachers on Preaching Today.