Joshua 8: 32, 35b
And he wrote there on the stones a copy of the Law of Moses, which he had written in the presence of the sons of Israel.
...There was not a word of all that Moses had commanded which Joshua did not read before all the assembly of Israel with the women and the little ones and the strangers who were living among them.
Everyone needed to know what the Law said: men, women, children, little kids, and even what "strangers" came to live with them. All were equal under the Law in that they were all accountable to obey everything that God told them. Even people who were not descended from Jacob.
Who were these "strangers"? Not of the peoples around them that they were not to fraternize with--Unless they were individuals who assimilated into the Hebrew culture and beliefs, forsaking their original ways and worships. Like Rahab and Ruth.
God loves all people, and wants them all to recognize His sovereignty and goodness.
The fields are ripe, ready to harvest. Lord, send Your workers into the fields--even send me!
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
Monday, February 5, 2018
Sunday, February 4, 2018
The Fear Of The Lord
Joshua 7: 19
Then Joshua said to Achan, "My son, I implore you, give glory to the Lord, the God of Israel, and give praise to Him, and tell me now what you have done. Do not hide it from me."
When they were going to attack Jericho and God did such a wonder for them, He had told them exactly how to do it, and He also gave them instruction concerning all the goods they would find there: it all belonged to the Lord. They were to burn up everything that would burn, and all the metals were to be put into the Lord's treasury (6:18-19).
Then God fulfilled His part, the walls fell down, and they all ran straight in and took the city (6:20).
But one of the soldiers stole what belonged to God. Achan showed a disregard and distain toward God to take these items for himself. And his family were all complicit in this, helping him to hide them. They had no fear of the Lord.
Joshua called out Achan for this disobedience, and implored him to give God the respect He deserves by confessing what he had done.
And he did.
So that this attitude of nonchalant disregard for obeying the details of God's commands would not spread, dire consequences had to happen: they stoned him and his family, then burned them up and buried them under a great heap of stones (7:24-26).
His disobedience had cost them casualties and lost the battle for Ai (7:4-5).
So even this little bit of plunder caused them to lose God's blessing and power. God wanted to live in their midst, so He wanted them to be pure and righteous, to obey His rules and directives. He wanted them to understand how much He loved them. So this rebellion had to be nipped in the bud before it could spread.
The first time I read this, I thought as the World thinks, and considered this to be cruel, an overreaction. But my civilized attitude was just as dismissing of God's holiness as Achan's was.
The more I read and studied God's ways in all that He did to teach His people, the more I came to understand how great, how powerful, how dangerous our God really is, and how we really do need to respect His justice and righteousness and authority to do everything He wills. This is the Fear of the Lord we are to have.
And I also came to understand how much God loves us, cares for us, and is persistent in continuing to reveal Himself to us so that we will want to love Him back.
God is still the same God, He still wants us to know Him. And He has now even given us His Spirit to live inside each of us who know Him, to teach us and strengthen us and help us to produce the Fruit of the Spirit in our lives (Galatians 5:22-23) in loving others the way He loves us.
This is His Law written in our hearts, as He told His people He would do in The Last Days (Jeremiah 31:31-34). It's the New Covenant that Jesus said He was instituting with His Blood as He sat at the Passover Meal with His disciples (Matthew 26:28; Mark 14:24; Luke 22:20; and John calls it a new command to love one another 13:34-35).
When we understand what Love really is, and love one another with this pure, strong, compassionate love (instead of the controlling or possessive or permissive attitude that passes for "love" in the World), then we will be obeying the spirit, the underlying foundation, of all the Commandments, Precepts, Decrees, and Laws, and not need to worry about the details. We'll be going beyond the perameters of the Law to do what is right and fair and just toward one another, as well as putting God first in our worship and adoration (see Matthew 22:37-40).
God loves us just the way we are, but He loves us too much to leave us where we are; He will work in our lives in ways we might consider "meddlin'," to shape us up into the image of His dear Son. He will burn out of us all the attitudes and frames of mind that war against His ways rebelliously. He will do interventions to draw us out of dangerous situations (as He did for Saul of Tarsus, Acts 9:1-6). God's "tough love" does to and for us what we need, even when it is painful for us.
Our love for one another must be as powerfully strong as His is for us. We must consider other before self, as He did in the sending of His own Son, which had to be as painful for the Father as it was to Jesus.
O Father, help me to know You better, and love You more every day. Teach me Your ways, that I may obey Your Law of Love. Check me when I am about to stray to the right or to the left, keep me in Your path for me. Let my Fear of God help me do right. Let Your love in me be poured out onto others, even those who have tried to make themselves unloveable.
And use my life to bring the glory to Your Name, for it is You Who are doing all these things, and You alone deserve the credit.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
Then Joshua said to Achan, "My son, I implore you, give glory to the Lord, the God of Israel, and give praise to Him, and tell me now what you have done. Do not hide it from me."
When they were going to attack Jericho and God did such a wonder for them, He had told them exactly how to do it, and He also gave them instruction concerning all the goods they would find there: it all belonged to the Lord. They were to burn up everything that would burn, and all the metals were to be put into the Lord's treasury (6:18-19).
Then God fulfilled His part, the walls fell down, and they all ran straight in and took the city (6:20).
But one of the soldiers stole what belonged to God. Achan showed a disregard and distain toward God to take these items for himself. And his family were all complicit in this, helping him to hide them. They had no fear of the Lord.
Joshua called out Achan for this disobedience, and implored him to give God the respect He deserves by confessing what he had done.
And he did.
So that this attitude of nonchalant disregard for obeying the details of God's commands would not spread, dire consequences had to happen: they stoned him and his family, then burned them up and buried them under a great heap of stones (7:24-26).
His disobedience had cost them casualties and lost the battle for Ai (7:4-5).
So even this little bit of plunder caused them to lose God's blessing and power. God wanted to live in their midst, so He wanted them to be pure and righteous, to obey His rules and directives. He wanted them to understand how much He loved them. So this rebellion had to be nipped in the bud before it could spread.
The first time I read this, I thought as the World thinks, and considered this to be cruel, an overreaction. But my civilized attitude was just as dismissing of God's holiness as Achan's was.
The more I read and studied God's ways in all that He did to teach His people, the more I came to understand how great, how powerful, how dangerous our God really is, and how we really do need to respect His justice and righteousness and authority to do everything He wills. This is the Fear of the Lord we are to have.
And I also came to understand how much God loves us, cares for us, and is persistent in continuing to reveal Himself to us so that we will want to love Him back.
God is still the same God, He still wants us to know Him. And He has now even given us His Spirit to live inside each of us who know Him, to teach us and strengthen us and help us to produce the Fruit of the Spirit in our lives (Galatians 5:22-23) in loving others the way He loves us.
This is His Law written in our hearts, as He told His people He would do in The Last Days (Jeremiah 31:31-34). It's the New Covenant that Jesus said He was instituting with His Blood as He sat at the Passover Meal with His disciples (Matthew 26:28; Mark 14:24; Luke 22:20; and John calls it a new command to love one another 13:34-35).
When we understand what Love really is, and love one another with this pure, strong, compassionate love (instead of the controlling or possessive or permissive attitude that passes for "love" in the World), then we will be obeying the spirit, the underlying foundation, of all the Commandments, Precepts, Decrees, and Laws, and not need to worry about the details. We'll be going beyond the perameters of the Law to do what is right and fair and just toward one another, as well as putting God first in our worship and adoration (see Matthew 22:37-40).
God loves us just the way we are, but He loves us too much to leave us where we are; He will work in our lives in ways we might consider "meddlin'," to shape us up into the image of His dear Son. He will burn out of us all the attitudes and frames of mind that war against His ways rebelliously. He will do interventions to draw us out of dangerous situations (as He did for Saul of Tarsus, Acts 9:1-6). God's "tough love" does to and for us what we need, even when it is painful for us.
Our love for one another must be as powerfully strong as His is for us. We must consider other before self, as He did in the sending of His own Son, which had to be as painful for the Father as it was to Jesus.
O Father, help me to know You better, and love You more every day. Teach me Your ways, that I may obey Your Law of Love. Check me when I am about to stray to the right or to the left, keep me in Your path for me. Let my Fear of God help me do right. Let Your love in me be poured out onto others, even those who have tried to make themselves unloveable.
And use my life to bring the glory to Your Name, for it is You Who are doing all these things, and You alone deserve the credit.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
Saturday, February 3, 2018
Spectacular Things
Joshua 6: 20b
...And the wall fell down flat, so that the people went up into the city, every man straight ahead, and they took the city.
Archaeologists have found Jericho's walls lying flat, having crumbled outward! They couldn't have been pushed in from outside, it fell outward. So there is no question that it was God pushing those walls down so that Israel could conquer them.
They obeyed Joshua as he told them what God had told him. This was the only time they staged a battle this way, which doesn't make much sense at all: To march around the city once each day, giving them a trumpet concert. Then on the seventh day, to extend the concert to last through seven times marching around the city; then the people shouted and the walls fell! Not a recommended battle strategy.
God always makes it obvious when He does something spectacular, doesn't He? If we're only willing to see it.
God is still the same God He was back then. He works with His Word, as He always has, and still performs miracles today. He's doing spectacular things today in the World, and we must be willing to see Him in the workings and doings that are taking place around us all.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
...And the wall fell down flat, so that the people went up into the city, every man straight ahead, and they took the city.
Archaeologists have found Jericho's walls lying flat, having crumbled outward! They couldn't have been pushed in from outside, it fell outward. So there is no question that it was God pushing those walls down so that Israel could conquer them.
They obeyed Joshua as he told them what God had told him. This was the only time they staged a battle this way, which doesn't make much sense at all: To march around the city once each day, giving them a trumpet concert. Then on the seventh day, to extend the concert to last through seven times marching around the city; then the people shouted and the walls fell! Not a recommended battle strategy.
God always makes it obvious when He does something spectacular, doesn't He? If we're only willing to see it.
God is still the same God He was back then. He works with His Word, as He always has, and still performs miracles today. He's doing spectacular things today in the World, and we must be willing to see Him in the workings and doings that are taking place around us all.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
Friday, February 2, 2018
No Longer Needed . . .
Joshua 5: 11-12
And on the day after the Passover, on that very day, they ate some of the produce of the Land, unleavened cakes and parched grain. And the manna ceased on the day after they had eaten some of the produce of the Land, so that the sons of Israel no longer had manna, but they ate of the yield of the Land of Canaan during that year.
The manna had continued to be provided even in the Land, until they could actually eat of the Land. Now that they could eat the good things from this bountiful Land, they didn't need the miracle of manna any longer.
God is making changes in my life right now. When I have come into the new situation in life, I will no longer need some of the things I had before. My hope is that I will not miss these things, or regret that they are gone; but instead rejoice in and enjoy all the good things God will provide for me then.
I want always to look forward, anticipating all the things God is doing, while enjoying today what He has given me right now. I don't ever want to long for what has passed, because what is coming is so much better.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
And on the day after the Passover, on that very day, they ate some of the produce of the Land, unleavened cakes and parched grain. And the manna ceased on the day after they had eaten some of the produce of the Land, so that the sons of Israel no longer had manna, but they ate of the yield of the Land of Canaan during that year.
The manna had continued to be provided even in the Land, until they could actually eat of the Land. Now that they could eat the good things from this bountiful Land, they didn't need the miracle of manna any longer.
God is making changes in my life right now. When I have come into the new situation in life, I will no longer need some of the things I had before. My hope is that I will not miss these things, or regret that they are gone; but instead rejoice in and enjoy all the good things God will provide for me then.
I want always to look forward, anticipating all the things God is doing, while enjoying today what He has given me right now. I don't ever want to long for what has passed, because what is coming is so much better.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
Thursday, February 1, 2018
Walk, Stand, Sit
Psalm 1: 1-2
How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, nor stand in the path of sinners, nor sit in the seat of scoffers!
But his delight is in the Law of the Lord, and in His Law he meditates day and night.
We see a progression here, from walking to standing to sitting. Once we start on something inertia carries us along, so we need to be careful to pay attention to what we're doing, what we're believing, and what and Who we're trusting in.
If we're just following our own ideas (because, after all, we're smart), then they probably aren't God's ways, because His ways are so far above ours that we need Him to lead us.
When we turn to the Lord and His Word; and we read it and study it, and think about it continually; then we will know what to ask Him for, what He wants to give us, and we will expect to receive His blessings and enjoy His bounty.
Do you have children? Don't you want to see them living good lives, enjoying what they have? God is a Good Father, a loving Parent, Who wants to see us enjoying what He provides, too.
We can get swept up in the wrath God pours out on the World that rejects Him; but if we are paying attention to what is going on around us, then we can "come out" of where people are about to be judged by the weather or climactic events (Revelation 18:4), separating ourselves from their practices and their presence.
We are told to run away from the temptations to sin (I Corinthians 6:18; 10:14; I Timothy 6:11; II Timothy 2:22), and to put on the Armor of God to resist and fight the Enemy (James 4:7; Ephesians 6:10-17).
That way we will be open to receiving the Good God wants to give us, and we will be able to rejoice, even in hardship or downturns.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, nor stand in the path of sinners, nor sit in the seat of scoffers!
But his delight is in the Law of the Lord, and in His Law he meditates day and night.
We see a progression here, from walking to standing to sitting. Once we start on something inertia carries us along, so we need to be careful to pay attention to what we're doing, what we're believing, and what and Who we're trusting in.
If we're just following our own ideas (because, after all, we're smart), then they probably aren't God's ways, because His ways are so far above ours that we need Him to lead us.
When we turn to the Lord and His Word; and we read it and study it, and think about it continually; then we will know what to ask Him for, what He wants to give us, and we will expect to receive His blessings and enjoy His bounty.
Do you have children? Don't you want to see them living good lives, enjoying what they have? God is a Good Father, a loving Parent, Who wants to see us enjoying what He provides, too.
We can get swept up in the wrath God pours out on the World that rejects Him; but if we are paying attention to what is going on around us, then we can "come out" of where people are about to be judged by the weather or climactic events (Revelation 18:4), separating ourselves from their practices and their presence.
We are told to run away from the temptations to sin (I Corinthians 6:18; 10:14; I Timothy 6:11; II Timothy 2:22), and to put on the Armor of God to resist and fight the Enemy (James 4:7; Ephesians 6:10-17).
That way we will be open to receiving the Good God wants to give us, and we will be able to rejoice, even in hardship or downturns.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
Wednesday, January 31, 2018
The Hand Of The Lord Is Mighty
Joshua 3: 16-17
The waters which were flowing down from above stood and rose up in one heap a great distance away at Adam (15 miles upstream)...completely cut off. So the people crossed opposite Jericho. The Priests (not the Kohathites who usually carried it) who carried the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord stood firm on dry ground, until all the Nation had finished crossing the Jordan.
So the Lord caused the River to stand up like He had done with the Red Sea. The Priests carried the Ark, and the people had to be at least 3,000 feet away from it at all times (see verse 4), so they crossed up- and down-stream 1,000 yards from the Ark. They always had to be protected from the dire effects of God having rested on it, on the Mercy Seat between the Cherubim.
4 :18
...The waters of the Jordan returned, and went over its banks as before.
Just like the Red Sea had collapsed suddenly on the Egyptians, drowning them with no chance to escape; now the Jordan River also is suddenly released to flow normally again. Just like God stopped it with His hand, then took His hand away again. No natural explanation fits, it was obviously God.
4: 14
On that day the Lord exalted Joshua in the sight of all Israel; so that they revered him, just as they had revered Moses all the days of his life.
God made sure that the people would listen to this new leader, so they wouldn't be scattered like sheep without a shepherd. (We are like sheep, aren't we!)
4: 24
That all the peoples of the Earth may know that the hand of the Lord is mighty, so that you may fear the Lord your God forever.
God wants all the peoples of the Earth to know Him, and love Him, and live by His ways! He always did.
When God first made Man upon the Earth, they all knew Who He was, and when they turned away from Him they incorporated a lot of what they knew about Him into their own religions and sacred writings. That's why there are some similarities between them and God's Word. But only God's Word is trustworthy and can be depended on to tell us Truth without any error.
Our Creator and Maker is a God of Truth, and He wants us to know the Truth, because only His Truth can set us free from the chains and addictions of this life (John 8:32).
I know, because He set me free from my relationship addiction five decades ago, and that addiction has never returned, regardless of the varying circumstances in my life all those years. God is faithful to me, and I want to be faithful to Him, too.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
The waters which were flowing down from above stood and rose up in one heap a great distance away at Adam (15 miles upstream)...completely cut off. So the people crossed opposite Jericho. The Priests (not the Kohathites who usually carried it) who carried the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord stood firm on dry ground, until all the Nation had finished crossing the Jordan.
So the Lord caused the River to stand up like He had done with the Red Sea. The Priests carried the Ark, and the people had to be at least 3,000 feet away from it at all times (see verse 4), so they crossed up- and down-stream 1,000 yards from the Ark. They always had to be protected from the dire effects of God having rested on it, on the Mercy Seat between the Cherubim.
4 :18
...The waters of the Jordan returned, and went over its banks as before.
Just like the Red Sea had collapsed suddenly on the Egyptians, drowning them with no chance to escape; now the Jordan River also is suddenly released to flow normally again. Just like God stopped it with His hand, then took His hand away again. No natural explanation fits, it was obviously God.
4: 14
On that day the Lord exalted Joshua in the sight of all Israel; so that they revered him, just as they had revered Moses all the days of his life.
God made sure that the people would listen to this new leader, so they wouldn't be scattered like sheep without a shepherd. (We are like sheep, aren't we!)
4: 24
That all the peoples of the Earth may know that the hand of the Lord is mighty, so that you may fear the Lord your God forever.
God wants all the peoples of the Earth to know Him, and love Him, and live by His ways! He always did.
When God first made Man upon the Earth, they all knew Who He was, and when they turned away from Him they incorporated a lot of what they knew about Him into their own religions and sacred writings. That's why there are some similarities between them and God's Word. But only God's Word is trustworthy and can be depended on to tell us Truth without any error.
Our Creator and Maker is a God of Truth, and He wants us to know the Truth, because only His Truth can set us free from the chains and addictions of this life (John 8:32).
I know, because He set me free from my relationship addiction five decades ago, and that addiction has never returned, regardless of the varying circumstances in my life all those years. God is faithful to me, and I want to be faithful to Him, too.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
Tuesday, January 30, 2018
Faith's Rewards
Joshua 2: 11b
The Lord your God, He is God in Heaven above and on Earth beneath.
This is Rahab's faith, the hotel owner who concealed the Hebrew spies when they were checking out Jericho. Verses 8-11 record what she told them: That God had given them the land, and everyone was terrified of them, because the Lord had dried up the Red Sea for them, and how He gave them victory over the powerful kings who lived on the East side of the Jordan.
Hearing the news of how God had done these things convinced her, and she completely renounced all the gods and idols she had previously worshiped and put her faith in the God of Israel as the only True God Who is worthy of worship.
And she proved her faith by putting herself in danger by helping the spies.
God rewarded her for her faith by saving her and her family from death when, "the walls come a'tumblin' down" and the Israelites each walked straight in and conquered the city (6:20).
And she was even granted to be in the direct line of Messiah! She married Salmon, and gave birth to Boaz, who then married Ruth and had Obed, who was the father of Jesse, who's youngest son was King David (Matthew 1:5-6; I Samuel 16:6-13).
God knows who are His in every Nation, every tribe, every family; and every person who recognizes Him for Who He is and puts their trust in Him fully, God will call to repentance and faith (John 3:16-17). Even back then, when Israel was the only Nation to worship God, individuals from other Nations would come to know Israel's Lord God and renounce their local gods and idols to put their faith in the Great YHWH (Yahweh or Jehovah), the Lord God in the Old Testament Who we know as Jesus.
Rahab and Ruth were both foreigners who put their faith in the Lord God of Israel, and they are both in Jesus' ancestry.
God knows how to reward His children for their faith. He will never leave us on our own, He's always here with us to show us the way.
I want to get to know Him so well that I will have no doubt or hesitancy in following Him. I know He has a plan for my life that is so much better than anything I can think of, and I don't want to miss out on any of the blessings He wants to give me, no matter how scary the path may seem at times. I want to persevere and carry on, until I reach the end of my Earthly road, when He calls me home or I meet Him in the air.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
The Lord your God, He is God in Heaven above and on Earth beneath.
This is Rahab's faith, the hotel owner who concealed the Hebrew spies when they were checking out Jericho. Verses 8-11 record what she told them: That God had given them the land, and everyone was terrified of them, because the Lord had dried up the Red Sea for them, and how He gave them victory over the powerful kings who lived on the East side of the Jordan.
Hearing the news of how God had done these things convinced her, and she completely renounced all the gods and idols she had previously worshiped and put her faith in the God of Israel as the only True God Who is worthy of worship.
And she proved her faith by putting herself in danger by helping the spies.
God rewarded her for her faith by saving her and her family from death when, "the walls come a'tumblin' down" and the Israelites each walked straight in and conquered the city (6:20).
And she was even granted to be in the direct line of Messiah! She married Salmon, and gave birth to Boaz, who then married Ruth and had Obed, who was the father of Jesse, who's youngest son was King David (Matthew 1:5-6; I Samuel 16:6-13).
God knows who are His in every Nation, every tribe, every family; and every person who recognizes Him for Who He is and puts their trust in Him fully, God will call to repentance and faith (John 3:16-17). Even back then, when Israel was the only Nation to worship God, individuals from other Nations would come to know Israel's Lord God and renounce their local gods and idols to put their faith in the Great YHWH (Yahweh or Jehovah), the Lord God in the Old Testament Who we know as Jesus.
Rahab and Ruth were both foreigners who put their faith in the Lord God of Israel, and they are both in Jesus' ancestry.
God knows how to reward His children for their faith. He will never leave us on our own, He's always here with us to show us the way.
I want to get to know Him so well that I will have no doubt or hesitancy in following Him. I know He has a plan for my life that is so much better than anything I can think of, and I don't want to miss out on any of the blessings He wants to give me, no matter how scary the path may seem at times. I want to persevere and carry on, until I reach the end of my Earthly road, when He calls me home or I meet Him in the air.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
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