God Delivered Israel (Josh. 24:5-7)

11/20/2009 9:06 AM

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY

 

My Worship Time                                        Focus:  God delivered Israel

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                        Reference:  Joshua 24:5-7

 

            Message of the verses:  “5  ‘Then I sent Moses and Aaron, and I plagued Egypt by what I did in its midst; and afterward I brought you out. 6  ‘I brought your fathers out of Egypt, and you came to the sea; and Egypt pursued your fathers with chariots and horsemen to the Red Sea. 7  ‘But when they cried out to the LORD, He put darkness between you and the Egyptians, and brought the sea upon them and covered them; and your own eyes saw what I did in Egypt. And you lived in the wilderness for a long time.”

            In this small section of three verses God, through Joshua, reminds this second generation that came out of Egypt, a small history lesson of how they got to where they are now.  It actually began a few verses before verse five, but from verse five and following God reminded Israel about sending Moses and Aaron and how God used them to bring about ten plagues to Egypt and even after Pharaoh let the people go he sent his army after them and all of his army drowned in the Red Sea as God protected Israel from them.  Verse seven concludes by saying that they lived in the wilderness for a long time, as some of them lived most of their entire time in the wilderness.

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I have been reminded two times this week about the importance of looking back, of remembering my salvation and what it costs the Lord to provide salvation for me.  Dr. Wiersbe writes:  “It does a believer good to remember what it was like to be in bondage to sin and then to rejoice in the redemption that was purchased so dearly for us on the cross.  It’s a dangerous thing to take the gift of salvation for granted.”  I think that when I am reminded a couple of times in a week of something this important that I must conclude that the Holy Spirit is trying to get my attention to be thankful for so great a salvation that has been provided from me at the cost of Jesus Christ. 

            One of the unfortunate things that I am experiencing is that I think of the enjoyment that I experienced from some of the “sinful” things that I did before I became a believer and it is difficult for me at the time to realize that these things were sinful and that I want to think about these things in the light of the Word of God.  God’s laws are there to protect me and when I break them whether or not they are enjoyable at the time they are still going to be a problem for me sometime.  It is written of Moses in the book of Hebrews:  “than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season.”  Moses knew that sin was pleasurable for a while, but only for a while.  Moses also knew that even thought sin was pleasurable for a while that following God was pleasurable for eternity, and that is sometimes hard for me to remember.

 

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:

 

 

1. Give myself to the Lord for worship and service.
2. Trust the Lord to guide my path today.
3. Praise the Lord for seeing me through and giving me a good day yesterday as an answer to prayer.
4. Remember that sin is only pleasurable for a season.
5. Remember the days before I was a believer that I was in bondage to sinful pleasures.
6. Put on the spiritual armor to protect me in the battle today:  The belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, the shoes of the gospel of peace, take up the shield of faith, put on the helmet of salvation, take up the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God.
7. Continue to learn contentment.

 

11/20/2009 10:13 AM