Live with Courage

 DEVOTION

JOSHUA

LIVE WITH COURAGE

Josh 8:1-8

8:1 Then the LORD said to Joshua, "Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged. Take the whole army with you, and go up and attack Ai. For I have delivered into your hands the king of Ai, his people, his city and his land. 2 You shall do to Ai and its king as you did to Jericho and its king, except that you may carry off their plunder and livestock for yourselves. Set an ambush behind the city." 3 So Joshua and the whole army moved out to attack Ai. He chose thirty thousand of his best fighting men and sent them out at night 4 with these orders: "Listen carefully. You are to set an ambush behind the city. Don't go very far from it. All of you be on the alert. 5 I and all those with me will advance on the city, and when the men come out against us, as they did before, we will flee from them. 6 They will pursue us until we have lured them away from the city, for they will say, 'They are running away from us as they did before.' So when we flee from them, 7 you are to rise up from ambush and take the city. The LORD your God will give it into your hand. 8 When you have taken the city, set it on fire. Do what the LORD has commanded. See to it; you have my orders."

NIV

The LORD spoke to Joshua, and his first words were, “Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged”. From Genesis to Revelation, the phrase, “Do not be afraid” appears sixty-nine times. God told Abraham, Moses, Joshua, and Elijah. Daniel, David, Joseph, Mary, the disciple, Paul, not to be afraid, just to name a few. Six times the phrase, “do not be discouraged” appears, with the word courage showing up twenty-one times. We learn here that we should live without ever being afraid or becoming discouraged about anything, but instead live with courage, for the Lord is with us. There are two ways we could understand, “The Lord is with us”. First, if the Lord is with us that would mean he is not against us. It would be like if we were a group of men and we had to choose sides for a game of sports, we would ask who is with us, step forward, those who are not with us will be against us. Therefore we can have confidence the Lord is on our side, or we could say we are on his side, either way, the Lord is with us. Second, we could see the Lord being with us, as being within us. We have been given the Holy Spirit who dwells within us. He is the third person of the Triune Godhead; therefore we would be right to think God dwells within us. That should shake us to the core, yet at the same time give us great comfort, knowing we have nothing to fear,  no reason to be afraid or discouraged, but rather free to live a life of courage. The other phrase, “Listen carefully” appears six times, with “Listen” showing up over two hundred times. This would give us a clue as to why we could not be afraid or discouraged, but instead, be free to live with courage. Listening carefully to the word of the Lord.  It is one thing for the Lord to be with us, and dwell within us, but if we close our ears, and more importantly our hearts to his voice, we will not fully grasp the truth about living without being afraid or discouraged, and we will not live freely with courage. Let us listen carefully and not be afraid, but live with courage. 

No hiding from God

 DEVOTION

JOSHUA

NO HIDING FROM GOD

Josh 7:13-26

13 "Go, consecrate the people. Tell them, 'Consecrate yourselves in preparation for tomorrow; for this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: That which is devoted is among you, O Israel. You cannot stand against your enemies until you remove it. 14 "'In the morning, present yourselves tribe by tribe. The tribe that the LORD takes shall come forward clan by clan; the clan that the LORD takes shall come forward family by family; and the family that the LORD takes shall come forward man by man. 15 He who is caught with the devoted things shall be destroyed by fire, along with all that belongs to him. He has violated the covenant of the LORD and has done a disgraceful thing in Israel!'" 16 Early the next morning Joshua had Israel come forward by tribes, and Judah was taken. 17 The clans of Judah came forward, and he took the Zerahites. He had the clan of the Zerahites come forward by families, and Zimri was taken. 18 Joshua had his family come forward man by man, and Achan son of Carmi, the son of Zimri, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, was taken. 19 Then Joshua said to Achan, "My son, give glory to the LORD, the God of Israel, and give him the praise. Tell me what you have done; do not hide it from me." 20 Achan replied, "It is true! I have sinned against the LORD, the God of Israel. This is what I have done: 21 When I saw in the plunder a beautiful robe from Babylonia, two hundred shekels of silver and a wedge of gold weighing fifty shekels, I coveted them and took them. They are hidden in the ground inside my tent, with the silver underneath." 22 So Joshua sent messengers, and they ran to the tent, and there it was, hidden in his tent, with the silver underneath. 23 They took the things from the tent, brought them to Joshua and all the Israelites and spread them out before the LORD. 24 Then Joshua, together with all Israel, took Achan son of Zerah, the silver, the robe, the gold wedge, his sons and daughters, his cattle, donkeys and sheep, his tent and all that he had, to the Valley of Achor. 25 Joshua said, "Why have you brought this trouble on us? The LORD will bring trouble on you today." Then all Israel stoned him, and after they had stoned the rest, they burned them. 26 Over Achan they heaped up a large pile of rocks, which remains to this day. Then the LORD turned from his fierce anger. Therefore that place has been called the Valley of Achor ever since.

NIV

This is the rest of the story. Although they came tribe by tribe, family by family, and man by man, the LORD knew exactly who he would call out and his name. Achan was the man the LORD was waiting for a confession of guilt. What happened is not part of our lives as we live under grace. We do not need to be concerned that the church will take us outside and stone us and then burn all our possessions, in fact, that is so far from how we live by faith today. Yet, there is this one idea that causes us to ponder. First, Achan coveted this robe from Babylonia and about five pounds of silver and about one and a half pounds of gold and he took them and buried them in the ground within his tent. We wonder what good that silver and gold would be if it was buried in the ground. Was it that Achan just knew he had it and that was enough? But the truth here is about coveting. We live in a culture where we are exposed to so many things. We can shop in any store in the world in our pajamas when we scroll the internet. We can see so much we would like to have that we do not even recognize we are coveting. Yet, are we disobeying God, as Achan did? The Israelites were specially commanded not to take anything, but to destroy everything which included all that is devoted to destruction. We are simply told not to covet what belongs to someone else, whether that is his salary, education, or fame. We cannot allow ourselves to be jealous of someone’s good looks, the car they have, or the position in the body of Christ. However, are we wrong to want what we see in the store when we have the funds to buy it? Is that coveting? It is just a thought. Yet, the other truth that is staring at us is the idea that Achon tried to hide his sin. The Lord knew who it was before the confession took place. There is nothing hidden from the Lord God Almighty, for if there could be anything hidden from him he would not be the Lord God Almighty. We can hide things, even our sins from other people, but we cannot hide anything from our Lord. We might try to bury something deep within our hearts, as men can only see our exterior, while God sees deep within our hearts. David knew this truth when he penned Psalm 139. He asked the Lord to search him for He knows him, and that the Lord knows when we sit and when we rise and He perceives our thoughts from afar. The Lord discerns our going out and our lying down and the Lord is familiar with all our ways. He knows before a word is on our tongue. David knew the lord knows us completely. We cannot hide anything, even our thoughts from the Lord. Let us be aware of the grace we live within, however, we also need to be aware of living with the Living God Almighty who dwells within us as the Holy Spirit, who knows everything about us, although we do not need to live in fear of God, yet in reverence of him because of grace. Let us never even attempt to hide anything from God.

 

Get Rid of Them

 DEVOTION

JOSHUA

GET RID OF THEM

Josh 7:6-12

6 Then Joshua tore his clothes and fell facedown to the ground before the ark of the LORD, remaining there till evening. The elders of Israel did the same, and sprinkled dust on their heads. 7 And Joshua said, "Ah, Sovereign LORD, why did you ever bring this people across the Jordan to deliver us into the hands of the Amorites to destroy us? If only we had been content to stay on the other side of the Jordan! 8 O Lord, what can I say, now that Israel has been routed by its enemies? 9 The Canaanites and the other people of the country will hear about this and they will surround us and wipe out our name from the earth. What then will you do for your own great name?" 10 The LORD said to Joshua, "Stand up! What are you doing down on your face? 11 Israel has sinned; they have violated my covenant, which I commanded them to keep. They have taken some of the devoted things; they have stolen, they have lied, they have put them with their own possessions. 12 That is why the Israelites cannot stand against their enemies; they turn their backs and run because they have been made liable to destruction. I will not be with you anymore unless you destroy whatever among you is devoted to destruction.

NIV

We are still in the portion where some devoted things, false gods, and hidden things from the plunder of Jericho are the main topics of this chapter. Because the fighting men were routed by their enemy, Joshua and the elders prostrated themselves before the ark of the LORD. But the Lord told Joshua to stand up and informed him there were things in the camp devoted to destruction and unless they were destroyed, Israel would not be able to stand; in fact, the Lord will no longer be with Joshua or the people. That is harsh, and it seems easy to glean a truth for our lives. We know that Jesus said that he would never leave us nor forsake us and that we have the Spirit dwelling within us, however, there is something we need to ponder. Is it possible that we have anything that we have hidden from the Lord? Are we putting value in or on something that takes our face from the Lord? We know we are warned in Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians about eating the communion unworthily, which caused many of them to be sick and even some fell asleep, or died. We are to examine ourselves before we take communion and see if we have any unconfessed sin in our lives before we partake in the Lord’s supper. However, what about our daily lives? Why are there not massive amounts of healing in the church? Oh, we see scenes from some churches where hundreds are under the influence of the Spirit, and many healings are happening, but is it real, or are the people under the influence of some false teacher? Still, we do wonder why we do not see many healings in our local churches. Are we hiding anything from the Lord? Are we trusting in anything more than the Lord? Have we put more value on anything than on Jesus? Is the Lord our utmost important focus in our lives? This is not to say we cannot enjoy things, but what or who is the reason we have those things? We are told to seek first the kingdom of God, that is our first and foremost focus is supposed to be on the Lord and His kingdom, our spiritual journey being influenced by the Spirit. We are told to forget what is behind us and strain toward our goal, the prize, the kingdom of God. Yes, we have to live in this world and engage in daily activities, some of which may not appear religious or spiritual, but that does not mean we have forgotten or should not mean we should forget the presence of our Lord. Maybe, just a thought, not a judgment, if we faced the Lord instead of some hidden thing, we would see more healing. God told them to rid themselves of anything of destruction, and we might consider if we have anything in our lives we need to get rid of. 

A Treacherous Act

 DEVOTION

JOSHUA

A TREACHEROUS ACT

Josh 7:1-5

7:1 But the Israelites acted unfaithfully in regard to the devoted things; Achan son of Carmi, the son of Zimri, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, took some of them. So the LORD's anger burned against Israel. 2 Now Joshua sent men from Jericho to Ai, which is near Beth Aven to the east of Bethel, and told them, "Go up and spy out the region." So the men went up and spied out Ai. 3 When they returned to Joshua, they said, "Not all the people will have to go up against Ai. Send two or three thousand men to take it and do not weary all the people, for only a few men are there." 4 So about three thousand men went up; but they were routed by the men of Ai, 5 who killed about thirty-six of them. They chased the Israelites from the city gate as far as the stone quarries and struck them down on the slopes. At this the hearts of the people melted and became like water.

NIV

Chapter seven deals with the unfaithful act of one man who took some of the plunder from Jericho and hid it under the ground of his tent. We will find out all about that as we go further into this chapter, but we can now see that unfaithfulness has a cost. Instead of three thousand fighting men taking the city of Ai, they were routed and about thirty-six of them were stuck down, and then the men of Ai chased the Israelites and struck them down on the slopes. We would think that means all the rest of the two or three thousand Israelites leaving none of them alive. We do live in the age of grace because God sent Jesus to reconcile himself to his creation and to redeem us. However, even though our sins are forgiven, there is a difference between sin and unfaithfulness. When we examine the Hebrew word translated as unfaithful, ma’al, its direct meaning, is to betray trust, which we think would be a purposeful choice to be unloyal or disobedient to God. However, isn’t all sin we commit a choice we make? Do we not know what sin is? Of course, we do because we know the word of God and what is right and wrong in the eyes of the Lord. Still, is it possible for us to live free of all sin? That is doubtful, and we can be sure that we sin, that we do that which we do not want to do, and that we do not do that which we should do. Even the Apostle Paul struggled with that same issue. Yet it is a treacherous act when it is a decision of our will, knowing something is wrong to simply say to ourselves, we don’t care, we want to do this thing or act this way, think these thoughts, or say these words anyway. Sure, we all make mistakes and we seek the Lord’s forgiveness. But to willfully act against God, and keep that a secret, hiding in the ground under our tent, so to speak, as we will find out what happened, is where we run into danger, into the dark side, not allowing the light of God to expose our sin. Let us try, with the strength of the Lord, and the power of the Spirit to always walk in the light so that our sins are covered by the blood of Jesus. Let us never commit a treacherous act against God. 

Promised Homeland

 DEVOTION

JOSHUA

PROMISED HOMELAND

Josh 6:22-25

22 Joshua said to the two men who had spied out the land, "Go into the prostitute's house and bring her out and all who belong to her, in accordance with your oath to her." 23 So the young men who had done the spying went in and brought out Rahab, her father and mother and brothers and all who belonged to her. They brought out her entire family and put them in a place outside the camp of Israel. 24 Then they burned the whole city and everything in it, but they put the silver and gold and the articles of bronze and iron into the treasury of the LORD's house. 25 But Joshua spared Rahab the prostitute, with her family and all who belonged to her, because she hid the men Joshua had sent as spies to Jericho — and she lives among the Israelites to this day.

NIV

Of course, Rahab lived among the Israelites to this day, as they lived in their Promised Land, their true homeland. She was to become the mother of Boaz, the kinsman redeemer. Still, more importantly, he was the father of Obad who was the father of Jesse, who was the father of David, whose throne would be the throne forever, as Jesus came through the line of David, and thus through the line of Rahab who was spared when Jericho was completely destroyed. Let us use this to see that we are now in the line of Jesus, because He is in us. We are in Him, as He has stated as John records in his gospel. Jesus also said that if we remain in Him, He will remain in us. He are co-heir with Jesus and we could then say that we are in the same family, as we are in the family of God, with the right to be called children of God. In some sense, we are in the line of Rahab, but it goes back much farther, as we are in the line of Abraham, Noah, and Adam, unlike those before us who died, we will live forever with our Lord Jesus. We all have a human heritage, an ancestral line that some can trace back perhaps five, six, or even maybe ten generations. Most of us are proud of our ancestry with the ability to know our ancestral homeland, and when they migrated to this country. However, we are both proud and humbled that we are true ancestral line is in Jesus. Our humility comes from the fact our salvation is a free gift from God because of what Jesus did on the cross. But we should also be more proud of being in the line of Jesus, than all our other ancestors. He came from the true homeland that we will someday live in, as He is coming back to take us where He is so that we will live with Him. That is the Promised Land, our Promised Homeland, for we already live in the kingdom of God. Rahab was saved and lives with Israel to this day, and we are saved and will live forever in our promised homeland.

Loud Voices

 DEVOTION

JOSHUA

LOUD VOICES

Josh 6:12-21

12 Joshua got up early the next morning and the priests took up the ark of the LORD. 13 The seven priests carrying the seven trumpets went forward, marching before the ark of the LORD and blowing the trumpets. The armed men went ahead of them and the rear guard followed the ark of the LORD, while the trumpets kept sounding. 14 So on the second day they marched around the city once and returned to the camp. They did this for six days. 15 On the seventh day, they got up at daybreak and marched around the city seven times in the same manner, except that on that day they circled the city seven times. 16 The seventh time around, when the priests sounded the trumpet blast, Joshua commanded the people, "Shout! For the LORD has given you the city! 17 The city and all that is in it are to be devoted to the LORD. Only Rahab the prostitute and all who are with her in her house shall be spared, because she hid the spies we sent. 18 But keep away from the devoted things, so that you will not bring about your own destruction by taking any of them. Otherwise you will make the camp of Israel liable to destruction and bring trouble on it. 19 All the silver and gold and the articles of bronze and iron are sacred to the LORD and must go into his treasury." 20 When the trumpets sounded, the people shouted, and at the sound of the trumpet, when the people gave a loud shout, the wall collapsed; so every man charged straight in, and they took the city. 21 They devoted the city to the LORD and destroyed with the sword every living thing in it — men and women, young and old, cattle, sheep and donkeys.

NIV

Six days they were to march around the city once and then on the seventh day everything would happen just as the Lord had commanded. Interestingly, the Lord had them work for six days, and then on the seventh, they received the blessing of God. Even though they marched seven times on the seventh day, at the sound of the trumpets, the city walls came down just by their voices, their spoken words, as a loud shout, although we are not sure what that sound was like, it could have been like a war cry. They were also commanded not to take any of the devoted or the Hebrew word, which could mean accursed things, foreign gods within the walls of Jericho. This was a brutal assault on the city killing every living thing, all people, men, women, children, and all livestock. We cannot even imagine the horrific scene this would have been. What lesson can we learn from the narrative of the walls tumbling down? There could be two ways this might be relevant in our lives. First, there was a time when we built a great wall around our hearts and minds. We kept everything inside, and what was there was not devoted to God but to our passions. Yet, by the word of God, and He did not have to shout, although his voice was loud and clear, the walls around our hearts came tumbling down. Jesus entered straight into our hearts and killed everything that was devoted to self, forgiving all our sins, and putting them to death, but unlike the citizens of Jericho, Jesus gave us life. Secondly, we could see this as the walled city of Satan, and the evil of this world. We have the authority to speak to that evil in the name of Jesus and see it crash down. We have the authority to tell Satan, "Get behind me!” and he has no other choice than to obey our words. We also think there might be a third way this shout could be used and that is all the things devoted to this world. There are many loud shouts, or voices in this world that could cause our walls to come tumbling down, but that will never be the case as long as we are safe in the fortress of our God. Their voices may seem loud, but they are mute to us, we cannot hear them anymore, or at least we should not, for if we were to pay attention to the loud shouts of this world, it may not cause the walls to come down, but it might cause us to stumble, to get tripped up, lose our footing, and get off the path of God. Let us only hear the words of our Lord, and we will be safe and sound within the city of God. No matter how loud the world shouts, or how many times it tries to march around us, or blow any trumpets,  we will pay them no attention for we are only going to hear the trumpet of God when Jesus calls us home.

Living By Instructions

 DEVOTION

JOSHUA

LIVING BY INSTRUCTIONS

Josh 6:1-11

6:1 Now Jericho was tightly shut up because of the Israelites. No one went out and no one came in. 2 Then the LORD said to Joshua, "See, I have delivered Jericho into your hands, along with its king and its fighting men. 3 March around the city once with all the armed men. Do this for six days. 4 Have seven priests carry trumpets of rams' horns in front of the ark. On the seventh day, march around the city seven times, with the priests blowing the trumpets. 5 When you hear them sound a long blast on the trumpets, have all the people give a loud shout; then the wall of the city will collapse and the people will go up, every man straight in." 6 So Joshua son of Nun called the priests and said to them, "Take up the ark of the covenant of the LORD and have seven priests carry trumpets in front of it." 7 And he ordered the people, "Advance! March around the city, with the armed guard going ahead of the ark of the LORD." 8 When Joshua had spoken to the people, the seven priests carrying the seven trumpets before the LORD went forward, blowing their trumpets, and the ark of the LORD's covenant followed them. 9 The armed guard marched ahead of the priests who blew the trumpets, and the rear guard followed the ark. All this time the trumpets were sounding. 10 But Joshua had commanded the people, "Do not give a war cry, do not raise your voices, do not say a word until the day I tell you to shout. Then shout!" 11 So he had the ark of the LORD carried around the city, circling it once. Then the people returned to camp and spent the night there.

NIV

We know this story about the walls of Jericho, in fact, there is a children’s song with the Chorus, “Joshua fought the battle of Jericho, Jericho, Jericho, Joshua fought the battle of Jericho and the walls came tumbling down”. Yet there is something in the beginning of this narrative about the walls of Jericho that causes us to reflect on our walk with Jesus. God spoke to Joshua and confirmed what He would do for Joshua and all the people of Israel. God was the one who would deliver the city to Joshua. God is the one who would fight the battle against the walls of the city that were all shut up. Of course, God gave specific instructions for the part that Joshua and all of Israel. Here is where our lives intervene into this narrative, or where we find our life lesson. First, it would be wise on our part to stand still or be still and know He is God. We should know that God has always had a plan and a purpose for our lives. He has spoken to us through several means over the years. First, we have His divine word giving us instructions on how we are to live by accepting Jesus as our Lord and Savior. That is our general style or format of life, but God also has an individual plan for each one of us. This is where we need to stand still or stay in camped or camped out in place until we hear Him tell us to move out, metaphorically speaking. If we agree with God and believe He is the Lamp onto our feet, then we are to follow the path in life that He shines the Light. Just as He led the children of Israel out of Egypt and through the wilderness with a pillar of fire by night and a pillar of smoke in the day. When the pillar stood still, they camped until the pillar moved then they broke camp and moved out following His light. How can we dare make the choice to stay or move without having the Light direct our way? This should apply to the three major aspects of our lives, where we live, work, and worship. On more occasions than we dare count, we have seen believers leave a job, or a church over hurt feelings, putting themselves before the plan of God, who had called them to worship in that particular church. We must always be in accordance with His purpose for us, where and why we live where we do, and why and where we worship, and what gifts He has empowered us with to serve in the body of Christ exactly as He has determined. We must obey His leading, just as Joshua did exactly as God instructed him. Let us always live according to how He instructs us.