12/10/2009 9:24 AM
SPIRITUAL DIARY
My Worship Time Focus: Obeying the enemy Part 1
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Judges 2:6-13
Message of the verses: “6 ¶
When Joshua had dismissed the people, the sons of Israel went
each to his inheritance to possess the land. 7
The people served the LORD all the days of Joshua, and all the days of
the elders who survived Joshua, who had seen all the great work of the LORD
which He had done for Israel.
8 Then Joshua the son of Nun, the
servant of the LORD, died at the age of one hundred and ten. 9 And they buried him in the territory of his
inheritance in Timnath-heres, in the hill country of Ephraim, north of Mount Gaash.
10 All that generation also were
gathered to their fathers;
and there arose another generation after them who did not know the LORD, nor
yet the work which He had done for Israel. 11 Then the sons of Israel did evil in the sight
of the LORD and served the Baals, 12 and
they forsook the LORD,
the God of their fathers, who had brought them out of the land of Egypt, and
followed other gods from among the gods of the peoples who were around them,
and bowed themselves down to them; thus they provoked the LORD to anger.
13 So they forsook the LORD and served
Baal and the Ashtaroth.”
The
question that I have is how did this happen so fast, how could the next
generation, which is the third generation from the time that Israel came out of
Egypt turn their backs on the Lord to serve the Canaanite gods? Going back to chapter one of Judges it is
seen that the children of Israel failed to drive out the Canaanites from the
land that the Lord had given to each of the tribes, and then the Angel of the
Lord came to them to tell them that He was going to bring judgment or perhaps
discipline on them because they had disobeyed the covenant that they had agreed
to keep. Dr. Wiersbe writes these true
words “the sin in our lives that we fail to conquer will eventually conquer
us.” This is a true statement, one that
I need to think long and hard about at this time in my life.
This
generation of Israel
forgot what it was that the Lord had done for them and thus they forsook the
Lord as seen in verses eleven through thirteen.
There is another quote from Warren Wiersbe’s book on Judges, “Be
Available,,” that is taken from a very popular novel written by George Orwell
“1984.” “Who controls the past controls
the future: who controls the present controls the past.”
Spiritual meaning for my life today: It seems that I am at a crossroads in my life
and that the Holy Spirit has caused me to listen to some messages and read from
some books and also remember a lesson that He taught me a long time ago. The two messages were from John MacArthur on
the tenth chapter of Hebrews, and also the lesson on the justice of God from
Chip Ingram in which he spoke about the judgment seat of Christ. The lesson that was taught to me a long time
ago was comparing salvation and walking with the Lord to when Joshua and the
children of Israel
came into the Promised Land. As seen in
the book of Joshua Israel conquered the Canaanites and took possession of the
Land but at that time did not drive out all of the Canaanite nations but were
told to do it as they begin to settle into their possession. I picture salvation as when Israel was
given their inheritance from the Lord and driving out the rest of the
Canaanites as walking by faith in the Lord to conquer the rest of their
enemies, (the old nature). God would
give them the power to do this if they asked Him, but it seems that Israel became
to comfortable in their new land and forgot to do as the Lord had commanded
them to do.
It
seems to me that I am in a battle to drive out some of the “Canaanites” in my
life, and I need to make some changes in my life in order to do that, mainly
getting rid of our cable and have a talk with Bob Liston. By God’s grace I will be successful and when
I am at the judgment seat of Christ I will receive rewards for things done in
this body so that I will be able to throw them at the feet of the Lord who
provided my salvation and gave me the power to be a good steward of what He has
entrusted me with.
My Steps of Faith for Today:
- Follow the plan that I believe that the Lord has laid out for me to follow.
12/10/2009 10:01 AM
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