2015-03-27
Good Morning Dear Ones,
By nature, human beings love to feel secure. As this author has gotten older, only the truth makes me feel secure. Has this been your experience? I’ve also realized that there are so many choices to make, uncertainties in this life, and variables, that there aren’t many things to make anyone feel secure. However, there are two things, the word of the Lord and the Lord Himself that fit the bill. 2 SAM 22: 28-31 bears repeating. “You save the humble, but Your eyes are on the haughty to bring them low. You are my Lamp, O Lord; the Lord turns my darkness into light. With Your help I can advance against a troop; with my God I can scale a wall. As for God His way is perfect; the word of the Lord is flawless. He is a Shield for all who take refuge in Him.” How beautiful is the truth in these words!
The nature of our lives is that just as we are feeling better, something else happens to put us off center, to tempt us, or to confuse us. I feel compelled to spend some time writing about JS 9 and 10, the story of how God used His power for good in a most remarkable way. He actually caused the sun to stand still! Joshua and his men had been commanded by God to kill all the Canaanite peoples, their animals, and not take loot before the remarkable events that brought down the walls of Jericho. Our Deity wanted the Hebrews, then the only people that worshipped only Him and no other gods, to occupy lands He had set aside for them. If they were obedient to this command, the land would be theirs for the taking. We must remember when Achan, one of Joshua’s men, had taken some of the riches of those he vanquished in JS 7, and how God directed that he not be allowed to inherit the land with the others. As it tells us in IS 46: 9-10, God will do as He pleases, and His will shall be done. Joshua and his men had also won a decisive battle against the king of Ai and his men, with God’s leadership and using an ambush between Ai and Bethel in JS 8. Joshua hung the king and his troops killed every one of the enemy.
The people of Gibeon had heard about Joshua’s victory at Jericho and resorted to a ruse [JS 9: 3-4]. They told the Israelites that they were from a distant land and wanted to make a peace treaty with them. In actuality, Gibeon was not that far away, and they were another tribe of Canaanites. In JS 9: 15, some of the Hebrew leaders made a treaty with them without turning to the Lord for His advice first. When the Hebrew assembly grumbled, the leaders who had made the treaty reminded them that this had been done in God’s presence, and we must remember what the Lord Jesus taught us about taking vows before God [MT 5: 33-37]. Joshua’s response to this was to go to the Gibeonites to call them out on their deception and told them they were now under a curse and would never stop serving the Hebrews as water carriers and woodcutters in the temple of the Lord [JS 9: 22-23].
JS 10 opens with the Hebrew alarmed, since Gibeon is a bigger city than Ai, and it’s men were under this peace treaty. The five Ammonite kings joined forces and attacked Gibeon, as the Gibeonites sent word to Joshua at Gilgal, asking for help. Remember the Gibeonites were covenant partners now, so they shared the same enemies with Israel. Joshua’s forces marched to fight the Ammonites. God told them not to fear, “I have given them into your hand. Not a one of them will be able to withstand you” [JS 10: 8-10]. The Ammorites were thrown into confusion by the Lord, Who sent down large hailstones, and Israel soundly defeated them at Gibeon. Joshua asked God to cause the sun to stand still, as well as the moon. And the Lord God had complied with his request until all the Ammorites were dead. The sun stopped in the middle of the day and delayed setting for one day (12-13). The five kings fled and hid in a cave at Mekkedah. Joshua found them there and killed each of them, hanging them on five trees until sunset (25-26). After sunset, Joshua had their bodies thrown into the cave and ordered his men to place rocks at the entrance for a day, leaving no survivors (28). This story not only demonstrates the predicaments of making covenants with the wrong people, one’s enemies, but it also reveals the kindness, compassion, and forgiveness of God’s heart. Whenever we decide to vow before God, it needs to be a carefully considered, mature, and done with obedient discernment. We can even pray to God for His worthy advice and help in this decision beforehand.
PRAYER: O Lord, we must understand the importance of obedience to You. We are grateful for Your attributes and Your heart, Your deeds and Your wise intervention in our lives. We are far from perfect [RO 3: 23], but we attempt to make improvements with an understanding of the responsibilities of our covenant relationship with You. We know the best way to be obedient is to know Your will from prayer and Your word. So thanks and praise to You, for Your patience with us and the help You give us when we remember to ask for it. Through the Atonement of Your Son, Jesus Christ, we have been given (with our faith in Him and repentance) salvation and eternal forgiveness. Even while on earth, we have the hope of the resurrection. 2 COR 4: 13-14, “It is written: ‘I have believed, therefore I have spoken.’ With the same spirit of faith, we also believe and therefore speak, because we know the One Who raised the Lord Jesus Christ from the dead, will also raise us with Jesus and will present us with You to Himself.” Your forgiveness for our sins is infinite and real. We take this opportunity to cooperate with You in our sanctification and to confess our sin, as David did. PS 51: 3-4, “For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. Against You, You alone, have I sinned, and done what is evil in Your sight, so that You are justified in Your sentence and blameless when You pass judgment.” We further pray PS 119:133, “Order my steps in Your word: and do not let any iniquity have dominion over me. “ Father, we pray that we may have good understanding of covenant responsibilities and that we may be wise in the choices we make under those covenants with both You and other believers/ potential believers. Guide us in acting to spread the Gospel message with others who have not yet come to faith in the Lord Jesus. We have not forgotten the message of 2 TIM 1:13-14, “What you heard from Me, keep as the pattern of sound teaching with faith and love in Christ Jesus. Guard the Treasure entrusted to you-guard it with the help of the Holy Spirit Who lives in us.” It is in the name of Jesus Christ that we cite PS 71: 14-16, “But as for me, I will always have hope; I will praise You more and more. My mouth will tell of Your righteousness, of Your salvation all day long, though I know not its measure. I will come and proclaim Your mighty acts, O Sovereign Lord; I will proclaim Your righteousness, Yours alone.” In Christ we pray. Amen.
NEXT WEEK: I’m led to write about more covenant behavior with the story of the consequences to David and the Israelites of Saul’s decimation of the Gibeonites from 2 SAM 21. Just as anciently-made covenants with the wrong people led to complications, so they would today. But our God looks down from heaven on us with love and a desire to see us one day back at His side in heaven, inheriting His Kingdom with the Lord Jesus [PS 33: 13; JN 3: 16; JN 6: 39-40; RO 8: 29; EPH 1: 5; 2 PET 3: 9]. Such love as He has for us wouldn’t exist on earth had it not been for Him reaching out first to us [JN 15: 13-15]. We are indeed a blessed people, when we have true faith and obedience to the Lord Jesus. He is eager for us to learn to pray often and to daily study His word [PS 86: 5, 7, 11, and 15; 2 TIM 3: 16-17]. I am always reminded that He is with a believer every hour of every day of our lives. This is because of all the intervention I personally have needed from Him and He has given me. It’s not rocket science for me to assume that we all need this and have His presence. DT 33: 27, “God has always been your Defense; His eternal arms are your support.” That gives us a reason to feel encouraged and comforted in the face of our adversities. However, we should always feel the need to share our faith with others, so that the Gospel message of salvation and peace spreads all over the world. This message is our life-saver for others. Praise and thanks be to Him! May God bless each of you every day.
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn
JS 24:25
© Lynn Johnson 2014. All Rights Reserved.
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