11/5/2009 8:14 AM
SPIRITUAL DIARY
My Worship Time Focus: Their honest concern
Bible Reading &
Meditation Reference: Joshua 22:9-10
Message of the verses: “9 The
sons of Reuben and the sons of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh returned home
and departed from the sons of Israel at Shiloh which is in the land of Canaan,
to go to the land of Gilead, to the land of their possession which they had
possessed, according to the command of the LORD through Moses.
10 ¶ When they came
to the region of the Jordan which is in the land of Canaan, the sons of Reuben
and the sons of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh built an altar there by the
Jordan, a large altar in appearance.”
This is the
second main division in chapter eleven of “Be Strong,” which is a commentary on
the book of Joshua by Warren Wiersbe. As
this chapter began Warren Wiersbe points out that the two and a half tribes who
lived on the west side of the Jordan River
would do something that would almost cause another war, even though what they
did was actually well meaning in and of itself.
What they did is described in verse ten.
While going
over the book of Numbers, and what is going on here is found in Numbers
thirty-two, I wrote how it was probably not a good thing for these two and a half
tribes to live outside of the Promised Land, especially because they had cattle
and this land that they chose to live in was good for raising cattle. In Warren Wiersbe’s commentary he writes that
Moses did not ask God if it was all right for these people to settle on the
west side of the Jordan River, yet in verse nine of Joshua twenty-two it says
this was done “according to the command of the LORD through Moses.” I do not think that it was the right thing to
do, and yet there are times when God seems to let us go our own way even though
it is not really good for us to go that way and this seems to me what happened
here.
They were
going to be away from the people of Israel and their feasts and so they though
it would be a good idea to build an altar on the banks of the Jordan River to
remind them that they to belonged to Israel.
Now if they would have chosen not to live on the West side of the Jordan
Spiritual meaning for my life today: Living in northeast Ohio has never made me
happy because where ever I have went in my limited travels around our country I
have always liked it better there than where I have lived all of my life, and
yet it seems that God has not allowed me to move from here. I guess that if I wanted too I could sell my
house and move to another location, but for one reason or another I have not
ever done that. I have been trying to
learn contentment as Paul writes about in Philippians 4:11, and I believe that
I have made some strides in learning contentment, believing that God is in
complete control of our my life and nothing will come into my life that is not
allowed or ordained by the good hand of the Lord, but living where I do seems
to be something that I struggle with as far as being content and after going
over this passage, being reminded again that it was for the wrong reasons that
these people chose to live where they were living I have to again look at why
it is that God seems to be wanting me to stay put. Family and church are the two main reasons
that I am here, so until the Lord makes it clear to Sandy and to me that He
wants us to move I will continue to have to learn contentment in being where
God wants me to be. I will need His
grace to do so.
My Steps of Faith for
Today:
- Continue to learn contentment, especially in living where I am living.
- Give thanks to God for all of the wonderful blessings that He has given to me each day as I live here on His planet.
- Give myself to the Lord for worship and service.
- Trust the Lord to guide my path.
- Put on Christ’s yoke in order to be yoked with Him to find rest because of the inheritance that I already have in Him.
- Put on the spiritual armor: The belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, the shoes of the gospel of peace, the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation, and take up the sword of the Spirit.
- Take off the old and put on the new.
11/5/2009 9:12 AM
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