“15 So Moses appealed to the Lord, 16 May the Lord, the God of the spirits of all flesh, appoint a man over the community 17 who will go out before them and come back in before them, and who will bring them out and bring them in, so that the Lords community wont be like sheep without a shepherd.”
Numbers 27:15-17
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The sovereignty of God is no small thing, it is not to be only occasionally regarded or appealed to as if we are playing a card in our relationship with Him. The name that Moses uses here for God, in the commissioning of Joshua, is an admission, a petition and a plea.

Moses is admitting that God is indeed sovereign over all. He is all powerful, in command and the One to whom we all owe our existence. His sovereignty, by definition, knows no bounds. If it exists, it answers to Him. There is nothing outside of His control, and it was so very important that Moses begin this commissioning of Joshua by calling God who He is over both Joshua and himself. Moses was the human leader of the people, but he was never in charge. God has always been at the point, leading, guiding, instructing. God is sovereign. It is just as vital for us to acknowledge this in our everyday lives, as well. To live outside of this knoweldge/faith is to deny a foundational aspect of the character of the Immortal God. We cannot call Him God and pretend to be in control of Him.

Moses also, in calling God, “the God of the spirits of all flesh” is acknowledging that in His sovereignty, God is the One that we come to with our concerns and desires to be vetted and either approved or disapproved by Him. Moses could not have, on his own, commissioned just anyone he wanted to be the new leader of the people. This position was not his to give. True authority belongs to God, never to any human being. So, Moses petitions God to do what He would in their community and Joshua, that He would be the One to make this change. As Christ-followers, we must also bring all of our desires, all of our wants directly to God, before we act on them. We seek His guidance, in His sovereignty, to do what He wills. We do not come to Him and ask Him to work according to our desires, or to endorse what we are already doing. Instead, we come to Him before anything else and seek His counsel.

And, because I’m a preacher, and a 3 point approach comes naturally, we see that Moses makes a plea to God here in these opening lines of Joshua’s commissioning. Since he has led these wandering masses for so many decades, His heart really and truly lies with them, and he wants to see them come into their inheritance. This is a deeply emotional, personal and difficult moment for Moses. If He and Aaron had simply obeyed God at Meribah, this wouldn’t be happening yet. He would have been the one leading the people into the Promised Land, Aaron would probably still be alive, and all these decades of effort would have seen their cathartic conclusion. But he had been disobedient, very publicly disobedient and disrespectful toward God. And so now he is beginning to reap the consequences of those attitudes and behaviors. Joshua would take his place early, and Moses would be left out of the reward and the joy that came with it. So, this is a deep, heartfelt plea for Moses, deeply hopeful & deeply painful. As we walk with Jesus daily, we must be aware that everything we do matters. God is not petty and vengeful, we do operate within grace, but we do not for a moment even presume to take advantage of that rich mercy. Every petition we take to God should be based in our deep love and involvement with Him. Every desire based in His will, and every hope for the future placed in His hands.

Because God will see His will done. Either we will be Moses entering the Promised Land, or Moses handing over leadership to Joshua. What happens in us is a direct result of our submission to God’s sovereignty, our desire to see His will done and done through us so that He would be glorified over our own self. We are called to GoLove in Jesus’ Name, spreading the good news of the Gospel. God will see His work done, either in us or in someone who will do what we should have done.