Some of the Land Still to be Conquered (Josh. 13:1-6)

10/19/2009 9:03 PM

SPIRITUAL DIARY

My Worship Time           Focus:  Some of the land still to be conquered

Bible Reading & Meditation                        Reference:  Joshua 13:1-6

            Message of the verses:  “1 ¶  When Joshua was an old man, the LORD said to him, "You are growing old, and much land remains to be conquered. 2  The people still need to occupy the land of the Philistines and the Geshurites— 3  territory that belongs to the Canaanites. This land extends from the stream of Shihor, which is on the boundary of Egypt, northward to the boundary of Ekron, 4  and includes the five Philistine cities of Gaza, Ashdod, Ashkelon, Gath, and Ekron. The land of the Avvites in the south also remains to be conquered. In the north, this area has not yet been conquered: all the land of the Canaanites, including Mearah (which belongs to the Sidonians), stretching northward to Aphek on the border of the Amorites; 5  the land of the Gebalites and all of the Lebanon mountain area to the east, from Baal-gad beneath Mount Hermon to Lebo-hamath; 6  and all the hill country from Lebanon to Misrephoth-maim, including all the land of the Sidonians. "I will drive these people out of the land for the Israelites. So be sure to give this land to Israel as a special possession, just as I have commanded you.”

            After taking so many verses in the SD from yesterday I choose today not to take as many as were in Dr. Wiersbe’s book for this section.  He has taken the entire thirteenth chapter of Joshua.  These first six verses did not seem to me to be under the theme that he had and that is why I wanted to do these verses by themselves.

            The age of Joshua at this time could be right around 100 years old as he lived to 110 years old before he died, which is recorded at the end of the book of Joshua.  He must have been a bit younger than Caleb who was around eighty-five years old at this time.  It must have taken about seven years to conquer the amount of land that had already been conquered and so it probably will take another ten years in order to give Israel their inheritance.  God is the owner of the land and Israel is only leasing it from the Lord.  Lev. 25:23 “‘The land must not be sold permanently, because the land is mine and you are but aliens and my tenants.”  (NIV)

            In these six verses the Lord gives to Joshua a list of what still needs to be conquered over the Promised Land and then in verse 6b He tells Joshua “I will drive these people out of the land for the Israelites. So be sure to give this land to Israel as a special possession, just as I have commanded you.’”

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I truly love reading the promises that the Lord gives to people in the Scriptures and then see Him fulfil those promises.  God has given to me many precious promises in His Word, and the promises concerning the gift of Salvation and being with the Lord forever are some of my favorites in all of the Scriptures.  I think of being in heaven serving the Lord and not having to deal with sin or a sin nature are ranked up high on my list of promises from the Lord that I am looking forward to the most.    10/19/2009 9:46 PM

 

Interlude (Josh. 10:29-12:24)

10/18/2009 8:05 AM

SPIRITUAL DIARY

My Worship Time                                                 Focus:  Interlude

Bible Reading & Meditation                        Reference:  Joshua 10:29-12:24

            Message of the verses:  This may be the most verses that I will ever go over in my SD, but I am trying to follow the outline that is in Warren Wiersbe’s Be book as I do go through the Bible in this kind of a format.  His book for Joshua is called “Be Strong” and that is a very good title for the commentary on the book of Joshua, for not only did Joshua need to be strong, but also the entire army of Israel needed to be strong in order to claim the inheritance that was from the Lord.

            As I read through these two plus chapters and also the commentary from “Be Strong” I saw that Israel defeats enough of the land in order to begin to occupy the land, the Promised Land.  I saw that it was the Lord who was leading Joshua and his army in order to defeat these kings, actually thirty-three in all that are recorded in these chapters.  The other thing that stands out from these chapters is that Joshua obeyed the Lord in all that the Lord had told him to do.

            Some who read this and find out that Joshua was told by the Lord to kill all of the people whom they were fighting against is hard to understand, that God is a God of love and would not want this to happen. God is also a God of justice, and judgment is a part of justice.  God had told Abraham in “Ge 15:16  ‘Then in the fourth generation they will return here, for the iniquity of the Amorite is not yet complete.’”  This shows that God is a God of mercy for he gave these people four hundred years to repent and they did not and now judgment has come upon them and their judgment brought glory to the Lord.

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  The book of Joshua is a picture of claiming my inheritance in Jesus Christ which is spoken of in the first three chapters of the book of Ephesians.  I believe that it also pictures the need to continually be in the battle as Joshua will tell the nation that although much of the land had been conquered there were still pockets of enemies that need to be destroyed, and this pictures my need to continue in the battle each day and to put on the spiritual armor as spoken of in Ephesians six.  My salvation was a gift of God, but there are still battles to be fought as my walk with the Lord goes on while on this earth and this is to be done by faith:  “Therefore as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him.”

My Steps of Faith for Today:

1. Give myself to the Lord for worship and service.
2. Put on the whole armor of God.
3. Continue to learn contentment.
4. Trust the Lord to guide my path today.
5. Think on things from above where Christ is seated.  10/18/2009 8:39 AM

Joshua's Call to His Army (Josh. 10:16-28)

10/16/2009 9:27 AM

SPIRITUAL DIARY

My Worship Time                              Focus:  Joshua’s call to his army

Bible Reading & Meditation               Reference:  Joshua 10:16-28

            Message of the verses:  “16  Now these five kings had fled and hidden themselves in the cave at Makkedah. 17  It was told Joshua, saying, "The five kings have been found hidden in the cave at Makkedah." 18  Joshua said, "Roll large stones against the mouth of the cave, and assign men by it to guard them, 19  but do not stay there yourselves; pursue your enemies and attack them in the rear. Do not allow them to enter their cities, for the LORD your God has delivered them into your hand." 20  It came about when Joshua and the sons of Israel had finished slaying them with a very great slaughter, until they were destroyed, and the survivors who remained of them had entered the fortified cities, 21  that all the people returned to the camp to Joshua at Makkedah in peace. No one uttered a word against any of the sons of Israel. 22  Then Joshua said, "Open the mouth of the cave and bring these five kings out to me from the cave." 23  They did so, and brought these five kings out to him from the cave: the king of Jerusalem, the king of Hebron, the king of Jarmuth, the king of Lachish, and the king of Eglon. 24  When they brought these kings out to Joshua, Joshua called for all the men of Israel, and said to the chiefs of the men of war who had gone with him, "Come near, put your feet on the necks of these kings." So they came near and put their feet on their necks. 25  Joshua then said to them, "Do not fear or be dismayed! Be strong and courageous, for thus the LORD will do to all your enemies with whom you fight." 26  So afterward Joshua struck them and put them to death, and he hanged them on five trees; and they hung on the trees until evening. 27  It came about at sunset that Joshua gave a command, and they took them down from the trees and threw them into the cave where they had hidden themselves, and put large stones over the mouth of the cave, to this very day.

    “28 ¶  Now Joshua captured Makkedah on that day, and struck it and its king with the edge of the sword; he utterly destroyed it and every person who was in it. He left no survivor. Thus he did to the king of Makkedah just as he had done to the king of Jericho.”

            There are some more stones in this section of Joshua, and it seems like there are a great many stones described in the book of Joshua, and they are a monument to the faithfulness of the Lord to that generation of Israel, and as others read this wonderful book they can be a great reminder to them too that the Lord will keep His promises in spite of our sometime disobedient to Him.

            Joshua would call his army to him of which all with the exception of Caleb was younger than him and give them an example of the faithfulness of the Lord to His people Israel.  The five kings that they were chasing hid themselves in a cave and were then trapped there by placing stones in front of the cave until the “mopping up” of the rest of their armies was complete and then Joshua had them removed and some of the officers put their feet on the necks of these kings symbolizing humiliation to them and victory for Israel, and then they were killed and hung on a tree until that evening and then buried in the cave and there were these stones put against the mouth of the cave and remained there to the day of the writing of the book of Joshua and longer.

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  Joshua is a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ and these victories picture the Lord Jesus Christ defeating all of His enemies and He will some day return to complete the “mopping up” of His victory over His enemies at His second coming. 

            The Lord Jesus Christ has given me victory because of His victory over sin, Satan, and the world, and although it does not seem like it all of the time, that is where faith must come into play, and that is where I must continue to trust the Lord for victories in my life just like Joshua trusted the Lord for victories for the young nation of Israel.

            Like Joshua I too will make mistakes, and yet because I belong to the Lord He can make those defeats turn into victories for me, like he did for Joshua’s mistakes, as he turned the problem with the Gibeonites into a great defeat over those five kings and their people.

My Steps of Faith for Today:

1. Give myself to the Lord for worship and service today.
2. Trust the Lord to guide my path today.
3. Put on the spiritual armor for today’s battles, 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, and take up the Sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God.
4. Think on things above, and seek to have the Spirit search my spirit for unconfessed sin.

10/16/2009 10:06 AM

The Prayer (Josh. 10:12-15)

10/15/2009 9:28 AM

SPIRITUAL DIARY

My Worship Time                                                 Focus:  The Prayer

Bible Reading & Meditation                        Reference:  Joshua 10:12-15

            Message of the verses:  “12  Then Joshua spoke to the LORD in the day when the LORD delivered up the Amorites before the sons of Israel, and he said in the sight of Israel, "O sun, stand still at Gibeon, And O moon in the valley of Aijalon." 13  So the sun stood still, and the moon stopped, Until the nation avenged themselves of their enemies. Is it not written in the book of Jashar? And the sun stopped in the middle of the sky and did not hasten to go down for about a whole day. 14  There was no day like that before it or after it, when the LORD listened to the voice of a man; for the LORD fought for Israel.

    “15 ¶  Then Joshua and all Israel with him returned to the camp to Gilgal.”

            This section speaks of the day the earth and the moon and the sun stood still for an extra twenty-four hours.  It takes faith to believe that this happened the way it is described in the book of Joshua, and faith come by hearing, and hearing from the Word of God.  Why is it so hard to believe that the God of the Bible who created the heavens and the earth could not stop the earth for a day in order to answer the prayer of a godly man who needed more daylight to finish a job that the Lord had given him to do for His honor and glory.  Christians look into the first chapter of Genesis and believe that it was the Lord who created all that is described there and this was a great miracle, and yet as the Bible records further miracles like Abraham and Sara having the miracle baby when they were past the time of being able to have children, and all of the miracles that happened in order to remove Israel from Egypt including the crossing of the Red Sea, and all of the other miracles recorded in both the OT and NT and some of these Christians have to find a way to figure out how God did this.  This is a total lack of faith in their part and therefore dilutes the God of the Bible and therefore dishonors Him.

            This was the last and greatest miracle that is found in the book of Joshua.

           

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  The greatest miracle that has ever happened to me is when the Holy Spirit called me to be a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, who paid for my sin on the cross almost 2000 years ago, who became sin for me so that I could receive His righteousness, who suffered on the cross while His Father took out His wrath on Him in order to pay for the sin that I was born with and the sin that I sin each and every day, and God was satisfied with His death for my sins and proved it by raising Him from the dead and now He sets at His Father’s right hand and intercedes for me.  This miracle that happened to me is similar to the raising of Lazarus from the dead for I once was dead but now I am alive in Christ and I can’t explain this wonderful miracle, but I believe it and want to live for my Lord for the rest of my life and serve Him and bring honor and glory to Him forever.

My Steps of Faith for Today:

1. I give myself to the Lord from this day forth, all that I have, all that I own, that I may bring honor and glory to the One who called me, a spiritually dead sinner to be a child of the King.
2. I want to continue to learn contentment.
3. I put on the spiritual armor today to be protected in the battle today, the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, the shoes of the gospel of peace, I take up the shield of faith, and put on the helmet of salvation, and take up the Sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God.
4. I want to keep my mind on the things above where Christ is seated and not on the things below.

10/15/2009 10:00 AM