Today I have rolled away the reproach of Egypt from you…
Joshua 5:9
How often have you just needed a fresh start? A clean break from the past?
Like when your middle school peers wouldn’t let you forget that mortifyingly embarrassing incident. Or that boss who could never see you as management material after the shenanigan you pulled that time.
Maybe, mercifully, your parents moved after middle school and you were able to start over in high school. Or you changed jobs, and they actually gave you a chance at the new place.
Sometimes the Lord keeps us in a hard situation so we can work through it and learn a needed lesson. But often times–many more times than we deserve–He graciously allows us a new beginning.
It’s part of His nature to give fresh starts. It’s why we call Him the God of the second chance. The God of new beginnings.
How merciful of the Lord to roll away the reproach of Egypt from His children! To close the curtain on the slavery, abuse, neglect, and suffering of their past.
He does this with individuals as well. Joseph named his firstborn Manasseh, “For,” he said, “God has made me forget all my hardship in my father’s house.” (Gen. 41:51)
I think one reason Joshua 5:9 and Genesis 41:51 are in our Bible is to give us grounds for prayer concerning the hardships, troubles, and reproaches of our past. A basis for humbly asking the Lord to close a painful chapter and let us start fresh.
We don’t demand it of Him, of course. For from that crisis He may intend fruit that has not yet appeared. But I believe Joshua 5:9, coupled with the new-beginnings aspect of His nature, tells us it is appropriate to respectfully, humbly, meekly ask Him for a new beginning. After all, it was His idea to say, “Behold, I am making all things new” (Rev 21:5).
I hope this will encourage you.