Joshua 10; He Holds it all together

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By today, I have read through Joshua chapter 16 and I hope those who are reading with me have kept up too! I want to jump back to chapter 10 which is probably my favorite chapter thus far in the Old Testament. I love it because it shows Joshua’s faith, God’s power, and God’s control over His own creation.

Joshua’s Faith:
Take a look at the whole chapter to get the jist of the events unfolding. Joshua is leading the Israelites in victory after victory as they are conquering the Promise Land and defeating the pagan nations in their way. Verse 8 says that the Lord told Joshua outright that they would defeat the enemy and not to fear one bit. Easier said than done, right? Not for Joshua for he had seen the Lord come through time after time and this instance was no different. So, to buy them more time for victory, Joshua just plainly commanded the sun to stand still-and it did!

Joshua 10:12-14
12 On the day the LORD gave the Amorites over to Israel, Joshua said to the LORD in the presence of Israel: “O sun, stand still over Gibeon, O moon, over the Valley of Aijalon.”
13 So the sun stood still, and the moon stopped, till the nation avenged itself on its enemies, as it is written in the Book of Jashar. The sun stopped in the middle of the sky and delayed going down about a full day. 14 There has never been a day like it before or since, a day when the LORD listened to a man. Surely the LORD was fighting for Israel!

Now, please don’t miss read this. Joshua, in no way himself, made the sun stand still. He simply had the faith to speak it knowing God would make it happen.

God’s power over His creation:
The Lord stopped that sun just as Joshua asked. But, think about it… He basically stopped the rotation of the earth and the orbit around the sun. You might be thinking: so what? So, what do you think happens when the earth stops its rotation and orbit-probably chaos! God made this earth to function so precisely. Its like the dials on an old car radio. He set the dial specifically to sustain life on this planet. Dials of gravitational force, atoms and particle size, amount of gases in the atmosphere, and many more factors, some that we won’t ever even know about. In Joshua 10, God adjusts these dials to accomplish His purposes-He is the creator and can do any thing He wants with His creation. So, instead of everything going haywire when the “sun and the moon stood still,” God held it all together, no major cataclysmic effects of this happened.

So, if the Lord can hold the complexities of the earth together, don’t you think He can hold the complexities of your life together? Its no big deal for Him!

I thought back to when Greg first got word that the Army wanted him back. We had so many unanswered questions which was not unusual for the Army. The thing is, we used to be accustomed to uncertainty when we were still in the Army. But, over the years, Greg and I were blessed with a certain amount of simplicity in our life. Well, God threw a wrench in that and our life was almost up in chaos-not unlike Joshua’s sun standing still! Over time, the Lord spoke to our hearts and ministered to our need for answers. Things fell into place and we are doing just great during this deployment. It took faith on our part to tell that chaos to “stand still” and we believed God would hold us all together during the potential turbulence!

I challenge you to take up bold faith like Joshua and believe that God’s got you covered.

Deuteronomy 29-31, The Road Ahead

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As we are just about finished with the book of Deuteronomy, the Israelites are on their way to the Promise Land of Canaan. You will remember from Exodus that Moses did not get to step foot on the land because of His disobedience. So, before he dies, Moses commissions Joshua to be the new leader of Israel. I just love Joshua and his faith. It seems so simple and real. He was a real guy with real fears, yet he chose to believe God. The words that the Lord spoke over Joshua just always touch my heart and I think we can all glean some encouragement through them.

Deuteronomy 31:7-8

7 Then Moses summoned Joshua and said to him in the presence of all Israel, “Be strong and courageous, for you must go with this people into the land that the LORD swore to their forefathers to give them, and you must divide it among them as their inheritance. 8 The LORD himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.”

Check out verse 8. “The LORD HIMSELF goes before you.” Did you catch that? The LORD Himself! Not the Lord’s messenger. Not the Lord’s substitute. The LORD HIMSELF!

He did, in fact, go before us…Jesus walked this earth over 2000 years ago. Before He died on the cross for our sins, Jesus experienced everything we do as humans. He knows what it is like to be us. He is Emmanuel-God with Us! The very creator of the universe empathizes with us and we can draw great strength in that.

God with US:

Not God who creates and leaves us to fend for ourselves .
For Us, not against us (Romans 8:31), He only wants the best for us .

The gospels give many accounts of Jesus interacting with Us (humans, his creation, disciples, Israelites, etc).

Jesus cried, needed diaper changes and nursed his mother’s breast just like any other baby.

Jesus walked with Us along the dusty country roads of Judea; he nursed blistered feet as he preached, healed, and gave hope.

Jesus danced and celebrated with Us at weddings, hoisting the bride and groom up on the wedding chairs. He also took part in the Mitzvah dance with the bride.

Jesus mourned with Us over His good friend, Lazarus lying dead in a tomb before He raised that friend back to life.

Take heart and know that the LORD knows the road ahead and He goes before you. That road might, at times, take sharp turns or unexpected detours, but it will always be traveled by your LORD first.

Deuteronomy 28, Pure Obedience

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I have to be perfectly honest, I have had a hard time writing devotional thoughts around the book of Deuteronomy! I know that every word in the Bible is pertinent, but this has been a slow one for me. I just know the Lord will reward each of us for our diligence in soaking up His Holy Word.

Chapter 28 is a good reminder for us as New Testament believers. Please note that, as followers of Christ, we do not live under the same laws stated in Deuteronomy. But, these laws serve us well to help us always remember what kind of God we serve.

He is perfectly holy, unprecedentedly pure, and completely set apart from His awesome creation. He is above everything and everyone.

These laws in Deuteronomy were given to make the Israelites pure before their Lord. Because God is everything stated above and more, He requires everything in His presence to be pure as well. With out these laws, the Israelites were considered unclean and not presentable before God. Can you imagine trying to remember all the details laid out in the chapters of Deuteronomy! I would think that it was next to impossible for anyone in those days to remain pure and holy ALL the time!

This is why the work of Christ on the Cross is such good news for us! He makes us clean, pure and holy before the Lord. It is by His blood that we are allowed into the presence and before the throne of the King.

Now, this is not to say that we can be disobedient and go with out recourse. The Lord deals with each of our disobedience as He sees fit. But, once we have accepted Christ, all it takes is asking for forgiveness for the slate to be wiped clean. With a repentant heart ready to make changes, God forgives and forgets.

Be sure to thank Christ today for purifying you by His blood so that you are pure and in the presence of the one and only God.