Judah's Borders & Cities + More of Caleb's Faith (Josh.15)

10/23/2009 9:26 AM

SPIRITUAL DIARY

My Worship Time Focus:  Judah’s borders and cities & more of Caleb’s faith 

Bible Reading & Meditation                        Reference:  Joshua 15:1-63

          Message of the verses:  This chapter is mostly about the boundaries of the tribe of Judah and the cities that were in the land given to the tribe of Judah.  In the middle of these two sections is another story about Caleb which demonstrates more of his faith in the Lord, and it also demonstrates how he was teaching the younger generations about faith in the Lord. 

            Caleb had a daughter and Caleb wanted his daughter to marry, so he offered his daughter to the man who would attack Kiriath-sepher:  “16  And Caleb said, ‘The one who attacks Kiriath-sepher and captures it, I will give him Achsah my daughter as a wife.’”  Now the man who did this was actually Caleb’s nephew, the son of his brother:  “17  Othniel the son of Kenaz, the brother of Caleb, captured it; so he gave him Achsah his daughter as a wife.”  Othniel became a judge in the land of Israel.  Caleb’s daughter wanted some land with springs on it in order to water the land:  “18  It came about that when she came to him, she persuaded him to ask her father for a field. So she alighted from the donkey, and Caleb said to her, "What do you want?" 19  Then she said, "Give me a blessing; since you have given me the land of the Negev, give me also springs of water." So he gave her the upper springs and the lower springs.”  This shows that his daughter had some of the same faith that Caleb had.

            One more point I wish to make before giving the lesson from Dr. Wiersbe’s book “Be Strong,” and that comes from the very end of this chapter:  “63  Now as for the Jebusites, the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the sons of Judah could not drive them out; so the Jebusites live with the sons of Judah at Jerusalem until this day.”  I think that it is possible that the reason that Judah did not drive out the Jebusites is that most of them did not have faith like Caleb, but that is only my opinion.  The Jebusites remained in Jerusalem until the time of David and they bragged that no one could drive them out, but by the grace of God and faith of David he conquered the city of Jerusalem.  There were still some Jebusites living there in the city of Jerusalem because David would buy some property from a Jebusite in order to stop a plague that was from God that was the fault of David.  The story picks up in 2 Samuel 24:16 and actually goes to the end of 2 Samuel:  “16  When the angel stretched out his hand toward Jerusalem to destroy it, the LORD relented from the calamity and said to the angel who destroyed the people, "It is enough! Now relax your hand!" And the angel of the LORD was by the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite. 17  Then David spoke to the LORD when he saw the angel who was striking down the people, and said, "Behold, it is I who have sinned, and it is I who have done wrong; but these sheep, what have they done? Please let Your hand be against me and against my father’s house.’

    “18 ¶  So Gad came to David that day and said to him, "Go up, erect an altar to the LORD on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite." 19  David went up according to the word of Gad, just as the LORD had commanded. 20  Araunah looked down and saw the king and his servants crossing over toward him; and Araunah went out and bowed his face to the ground before the king. 21  Then Araunah said, "Why has my lord the king come to his servant?" And David said, "To buy the threshing floor from you, in order to build an altar to the LORD, that the plague may be held back from the people." 22  Araunah said to David, "Let my lord the king take and offer up what is good in his sight. Look, the oxen for the burnt offering, the threshing sledges and the yokes of the oxen for the wood. 23  "Everything, O king, Araunah gives to the king." And Araunah said to the king, "May the LORD your God accept you." 24  However, the king said to Araunah, "No, but I will surely buy it from you for a price, for I will not offer burnt offerings to the LORD my God which cost me nothing." So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver. 25  David built there an altar to the LORD and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. Thus the LORD was moved by prayer for the land, and the plague was held back from Israel.”

            Now for lesson #4:  “The older generation must provide for the next generation, not only materially but most of all spiritually. ‘Senior saints’ must be examples of believers and encourage the younger generation to trust the Lord and wholly follow Him.”

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I wrote a lot about the faith of Caleb in yesterday’s SD, and that faith can also be seen in today’s SD, but I want to write this morning about a sermon that I heard a very long time ago from a man who began Open Door Church in Elyria Oh.  His name was Ralph Neighbor and he was on the radio while I was growing up, but this sermon was given sometime latter around 1975.  In the sermon he spoke about being able to compare Scripture with Scripture in order to get more out of God’s Word.  I believe that this SD was what he was talking about in the sermon and by the grace of God and some hard work I know more about the Word of God than I did in 1975.  God has given me a great desire to study His Word and I am grateful for the desire that God has placed in my heart.

            Another thing that I want to write about is the sovereignty of God as it is seen in His Word.  It may have been the lack of faith in God from the tribe of Judah that they did not drive out the Jebusites, but this was still in the sovereign will of God that they remain there as seen in the passage in 2 Samuel.  If it was sin on the part of the tribe of Judah then they must answer it.  There are some things in the Word of God that are very hard to figure out and I don’t think that He wants us to try, but what He does want all believers to do is to trust Him and obey His Word:  “29  "The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our sons forever, that we may observe all the words of this law.”

My Steps of Faith for Today:

1. Give myself to the Lord for worship and service for this day.
2. Trust the Lord to guide my path.
3. Trust the Lord even when I don’t know all of the answers.
4. Continue to learn contentment.
5. Put on the spiritual armor for protection in the battle today:  The belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, the shoes of the gospel of truth, the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit.
6. Trust the Holy Spirit to search my heart and convict me of hidden sin in my life.

10/23/2009 10:33 AM

Caleb a Man of God (Josh. 14:6-15)

10/22/2009 8:50 AM

SPIRITUAL DIARY

My Worship Time                                       Focus:  Caleb a man of God

Bible Reading & Meditation                        Reference:  Joshua 14:6-15 

          Message of the verses:  “6 ¶  Then the sons of Judah drew near to Joshua in Gilgal, and Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite said to him, "You know the word which the LORD spoke to Moses the man of God concerning you and me in Kadesh-barnea. 7  "I was forty years old when Moses the servant of the LORD sent me from Kadesh-barnea to spy out the land, and I brought word back to him as it was in my heart. 8  "Nevertheless my brethren who went up with me made the heart of the people melt with fear; but I followed the LORD my God fully. 9  "So Moses swore on that day, saying, ‘Surely the land on which your foot has trodden will be an inheritance to you and to your children forever, because you have followed the LORD my God fully.’ 10  "Now behold, the LORD has let me live, just as He spoke, these forty-five years, from the time that the LORD spoke this word to Moses, when Israel walked in the wilderness; and now behold, I am eighty-five years old today. 11  "I am still as strong today as I was in the day Moses sent me; as my strength was then, so my strength is now, for war and for going out and coming in. 12  "Now then, give me this hill country about which the LORD spoke on that day, for you heard on that day that Anakim were there, with great fortified cities; perhaps the LORD will be with me, and I will drive them out as the LORD has spoken." 13  So Joshua blessed him and gave Hebron to Caleb the son of Jephunneh for an inheritance. 14  Therefore, Hebron became the inheritance of Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite until this day, because he followed the LORD God of Israel fully. 15  Now the name of Hebron was formerly Kiriath-arba; for Arba was the greatest man among the Anakim. Then the land had rest from war.”

            Caleb is one of my favorite people in the Bible and the reason why that Caleb is had great faith in the Lord and he stood up for what the Lord had promised him.  He reminded Joshua of what Moses had told him when he, Joshua and the other ten spies came into the Land to spy it out, and of course this was the turning point of the children of Israel as they believed the other ten spies and so all of the first generation with the exception of Joshua and Caleb died off during the next thirty-eight years of wondering in the wilderness.

            Caleb was from the tribe of Judah and was given a very important piece of property, for Caleb was given what is now known as Hebron and it was because of Caleb’s great faith that he was able to conquer this land.  Verse fourteen sums this up:  “14  Therefore, Hebron became the inheritance of Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite until this day, because he followed the LORD God of Israel fully.”  

            Lesson number three in Warren Wiersbe’s book “Be Strong” from this section states:  “We are never too old to make new conquests of faith in the power of the Lord.  Like Caleb, we can capture mountains and conquer giants if we wholly follow the Lord.  No matter how old we become, we must never retire from trusting and serving the Lord.”

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  One of the great joys that I have is to read of someone who has great faith in the Lord and follows the Lord such as Caleb did, and therefore he is someone that I want to copy my life after for he fully followed the Lord and He had great faith for the things that the Lord had promised him and then went out and acted on that faith and was rewarded because of it.

My Steps of Faith for Today:

1. Trust the Lord to protect me through the putting on of the spiritual armor; the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, the shoes of the gospel of peace, taking up the shield of faith, and putting on the helmet of salvation, and taking up the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God.
2. Trust the Lord to guide my path today.
3. Continue to learn contentment.
4. Keep my mind set on the things above where Christ is seated.

10/22/2009 9:26 AM

           

Obeying the Lord (Josh. 14:1-5)

10/21/2009 9:22 AM

SPIRITUAL DIARY

My Worship Time                                        Focus:  Obeying the Lord

Bible Reading & Meditation                        Reference:  Joshua 14:1-5

            Message of the verses:  “1 ¶  Now these are the territories which the sons of Israel inherited in the land of Canaan, which Eleazar the priest, and Joshua the son of Nun, and the heads of the households of the tribes of the sons of Israel apportioned to them for an inheritance, 2  by the lot of their inheritance, as the LORD commanded through Moses, for the nine tribes and the half-tribe. 3  For Moses had given the inheritance of the two tribes and the half-tribe beyond the Jordan; but he did not give an inheritance to the Levites among them. 4  For the sons of Joseph were two tribes, Manasseh and Ephraim, and they did not give a portion to the Levites in the land, except cities to live in, with their pasture lands for their livestock and for their property. 5  Thus the sons of Israel did just as the LORD had commanded Moses, and they divided the land.”

            I have made the decision not to follow the outline that is in “Be Strong” to the fullest because it goes over too many verses at a time.  I will continue to read from the book and use the insights that are in it but will cut down the number of verses done each day until the book takes less verses in the different sections it goes over.

            In these five verses it is again repeated about the Levites not gaining a section of land, but given cities to live in, and this I went over in yesterday’s SD. 

            What I have gotten from this section mainly comes from verse five where it speaks of the sons of Israel fully obeying the Word of the Lord that was given through Moses as they began to divide the land as an inheritance among the different tribes that were to be assigned on the West side of the Jordan, that is the remaining nine and a half tribes.

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  There are times when it is easier to obey the Word of the Lord than other times, and in the case of Israel this must have been an easy time obeying the Word of the Lord for they were receiving their long awaited inheritance that was promised to Abraham over four hundred years ago and so this must have been a special day for them as they were eager to obey the Lord.  There are times when it is difficult to obey what it is the Lord wants me to do and that is when I have to rely by faith that what I am doing will work out for His glory and my good as Romans 8:28 promise.  I must totally trust the Lord at all times for all occasions.

My Steps of Faith for Today:

1.     Put on the spiritual armor of the Lord, the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, the shoes of the gospel of peace, the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit.

2.     Give myself to the Lord for worship and service today.

3.     Trust the Lord to guide my path.

4.     Continue to learn contentment.

5.     Think on things from above where Christ is seated.

10/21/2009 9:57 AM

Giving land to the 2 1/2 Tribes in the East (Josh. 13:7-33)

10/20/2009 7:22 AM

SPIRITUAL DIARY

My Worship Time                              Focus: First assignment: Two and a half                                                                                                                                            tribes east of the Jordan

Bible Reading & Meditation               Reference:  Joshua 13:7-33

            Message of the verses:  I will not copy and paste the verses in this SD because of the length of them.

            As Dr. Wiersbe moves into this chapter in his book he covers a great deal of the book of Joshua, actually chapters thirteen through twenty-one in this one chapter of “Be Strong.”  The Promised Land is divided up among the tribes of Israel in from two different places, the first being at Gilgal and the second is at Shiloh, which is the second main division in this chapter of “Be Strong.”  Perhaps it was because Shiloh was more in the middle of Israel that Joshua moved there to finish the division of the land.  It is important to note that the Levites were not assigned any of the land like the rest of the tribes, because they were to assist the priest and they were also to give out the Word of God to the other tribes throughout the land of Israel.  This was a fulfillment of prophecy given by Jacob in the latter chapters of Genesis.  Simenon would eventually become a part of Judah and thus loose their identify as a tribe, which was also prophesied by Jacob.  I believe it was these two brothers who had taken revenge on one of the Canaanite nations because of what happened to their sister, for she was raped by a Canaanite and he then wanted to marry her. 

            Dr. Wiersbe points out concerning the division of the land that “there were four main stages in the distribution of the land; and in each of those stages, you will find spiritual lessons for God’s people today who want to enjoy their spiritual inheritance in Christ.”  Now the first lesson is a lesson about the two and a half tribes that had already received their inheritance, which was on the East side of the Jordan River.  Dr. Wiersbe writes of this situation saying, “we’ll learn that while their choice may have been good for their cattle, it created serious problems for their children.”  It was because these tribes raised cattle and the land on the East side of the Jordan was good for raising cattle that they wanted that land which had already been conquered by Moses earlier. 

            I will now quote the lesson to be learned from this section from “Be Strong”:  “Lesson #1.  Don’t become a ‘borderline believer.’  Enter into the inheritance God appoints for you and rejoice in it.  ‘He will choose our inheritance for us, the excellence of Jacob whom He loves’ (Ps. 47:4, NKJV).  The will of God is the expression of the love of God and is always the best for us.”

            One more thing I want to mention from this section of Scripture and that is the mention of Balaam in verses 22-23 of Joshua 13.  Balaam was a man who was paid to curse Israel, but God would not allow it, and he had to bless Israel, but Balaam’s sin was to influence the people of Moab to entice the children of Israel to come to one of their religious feasts and the men of Israel came back with foreign wives and this caused a great deal of trouble for Israel.  Reuben was the tribe from Israel who received land from the Moabite people after Moses battled and won a victory over them.  Moab is mentioned in Genes as Lot had incest wit both of his daughters and Moab was the result of one of these relationships.  Moab is also where Ruth comes from and is in the bloodline of Christ.

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I need to be a whole hearted believer, not a borderline believer, for I cannot live with one foot in the world and one foot as a believer, for that will never work.  Whole hearted is what I need to be!

My Steps of Faith for Today:

1. Not be a borderline believer.
2. Give myself to the Lord for worship and service today.
3. Trust the Lord to guide my path today.
4. Trust the Lord to continue to teach me contentment, and for me to learn contentment.
5. Put on the spiritual armor today.
6. Think on things above and pray that Roy Wills will do the same.

10/20/2009 8:12 AM