God Fights for His People Who Stand Strong In Him - JOSHUA


A recent news item reported the most highlighted passage in the YouVersion Bible App in 2017 was the following verse:

 Joshua 1:6–7 (NLT) “Be strong and courageous, for you are the one who will lead these people to possess all the land I swore to their ancestors I would give them. 7 Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the instructions Moses gave you. Do not deviate from them, turning either to the right or to the left. Then you will be successful in everything you do.

It is clear people need strength and encouragement today. We want to be strong in a world that attacks us in a hundred different ways several times each day. Can we stand strong in our calling and purpose amidst the noise all around us?

 Welcome to the book of Joshua.

 The book opens fresh off the death of Moses and launches Joshua into the future with fervency. There will be no more looking back or longing for the good ole' days. God tells Joshua several times to be strong, to be courageous and to fight well. 

 What do we take from God's words to Joshua here? First I notice that God's promises are fulfilled by His people. That is a large point! We often want God to do things for us but God is always asking His people to act according to His promises and do it themselves! "You are the one who will lead these people to possess all the land I swore to their ancestors I would give them." Are you sitting a waiting for stuff to happen in your life or are you activating faith in the promises He has made?

 Secondly, we move forward in God with active reflection and careful contemplation of the Word God gave us. Joshua's success was not predicated on military insight. It was predicated on Scriptural insight. How often in the age of information do we allow ourselves to be convinced that knowledge of a field is the most essential ingredient to success in that field. God does not agree. 

 The wisdom of God undergirds the proper care and use of all that God has made. So every field is really a theological enterprise for all things were made by Him. You cannot program a computer or build a building to the uttermost degree without first understanding why you should do it and what good will come of it. Where do we find those answers? In God's Word. 

 If there's something Christians do less and less today it is considering God's Word FIRST in all their ways. God tells Joshua, "Be careful to obey all the instructions." Are we doing that? His Word is important and His Word is life. Ignoring it is NOT being careful with OUR lives. It is important to see that everything in this passage is focused on the success of Joshua and the people of God. God is FOR YOU not against you. He speaks to us so that it will go well with us. We can rail against God and disobey but it is never going to cost Him anything, it will only cost us.

 Thirdly, there will be options to depart from God's Word on both the right and left! Do not deviate from them, turning either to the right or to the left." The enemy will come with one temptation or another to make sure we have ample opportunity to depart from God's command. I also think that sometimes the enemy's primary tactic is simply distraction. Business, overcommitments, a love of money or self or notoriety or power. There will be distractions offered. Be careful to stay on course. 

When we are strong in the Lord's command and focused on what He wants to do for us, He fights for us and brings us the victory. He wants this to happen for you. Receive that Word and live it out boldly.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

God’s View of You

Sometimes I think we imagine that God is mostly disappointed with us. That He puts up with us and bears with us because He has to (after all He is love), but most of the time our glaring weaknesses weary Him and make His day miserable. Of course, this is the devil’s doing in our minds. The truth of scripture bears out that the world has to get staunch-raving evil before God is totally weary of us. And the stories in the Old Testament remind us with each passing character that God is patient, loving and kind to His very flawed inconsistent servants. Saul is a case study of this. His lineage will not hold the kingdom, that has already been stated from the mishap of offering the sacrifice instead of waiting for Samuel to arrive in 1 Samuel 13. His next great gaff will happen in the chapter to come in 1 Samuel 15 where his own kingship will be taken from him and the anointing placed on one soon to come. Yes, God will regret making Saul king and we’ll talk about that next. But for now...
Read more

The Stain of Slavery

One of the greatest pains in my heart over the history of the church is the fact that many "Bible-believing" Christians used the Bible to promote, continue, and enable slavery in America's past. It may have happened elsewhere, but I'm an American, and I know it happened here. Then, some repeatedly make the claim because of a tiny amount of verses where God informs Israel on how to take slaves, it means the Bible is a pro-slavery document. How absurd. The overarching narrative of the Bible is that God sets the slaves free. The second book testifies to this part of God's character.  Getting to Jeremiah's day, one of the reasons Israel's nation was handed over to exile was because they enslaved each other. This attitude was so engrained into the culture of Israel that they had a hard time giving up slavery even in the face of national catastrophe.  In Jeremiah 34, the king is promised that he will die in Babylon, but he will die in peace. Jeremiah 34:3–5 (ESV...
Read more

Leaders Who Later Fail

Remember Johanan from Jeremiah 41? The man who saved many others from the threats of the murderous coup? He seemed like a noble leader. But time reveals a lot.  Jeremiah 42:5–6 (ESV)  Then they said to Jeremiah, “May the LORD be a true and faithful witness against us if we do not act according to all the word with which the LORD your God sends you to us. 6 Whether it is good or bad, we will obey the voice of the LORD our God to whom we are sending you, that it may be well with us when we obey the voice of the LORD our God.” These are the words of the presumptive leaders of Israel in the land while the nation is in exile. The previous chapter saw a hero arise to protect a few remaining survivors. His name was Johanan. On the surface, he seems like a good man, seeking the will of the Lord in his leadership position. Jeremiah returns with directives from the Lord: Jeremiah 42:10 (ESV) If you will remain in this land, then I will build you up and not pull you down; I will plant y...
Read more