EXPAND TO READ: JOSHUA 5 (HCSB)
PERSONAL JOURNAL:
SIN (verse 1): Heart and courage seems to be a resounding theme for those who are truly followers of Yours in this life. In this verse, You tell of how the foreigners who were about to be invaded by Your people lost heart and their courage failed solely at the story they heard of how You parted the Jordan river. They essentially lost the battle they were about to fight before it even started due to a story about Your great power. Your people did not lose heart nor courage throughout because they trusted in You and were obedient to You. I will admit that I’ve lost heart and courage in my life since coming to faith. When I was at my lowest point just over a year ago, that was after years and years of discouragement and hardening of my heart. In no way was this an instantaneous nor overnight thing, but more/less a lengthy drawn-out process that I just kept allowing myself to delve deeper into. Please forgive me for taking so long to get my eyes back on You, Father. Continue to remind me of where I was, so that I may learn from the mistakes of my past properly to where I never repeat that horrible heart hardening process I went through.
PROMISE (verse 6): This promise was actually a promise to the first generation of people You helped escape from Egypt. You promised them that although You had led them to freedom from Egypt, that they would definitely all die off before seeing the promise land and that they would never step foot in their promised land. You promised them that it would only be the next generations of men that would step foot in the lands promised to Your people. This promise just goes to show that Your promises always come to fulfillment, even if it isn’t directed towards us specifically. You made a promise to men generations prior that their people would one day have a promised land flowing freely of milk and honey, but You never promised them that they themselves would step foot in that land. You knew what was to come and knew exactly how to make a promise that would come to fulfillment, which they may not have understood in the moment. Help me to also understand Your promises, Father, so that I may not be discouraged if Your promise does not come to fruition in my lifetime. Knowing that Your promises are always fulfilled in Your timing and Your ways are good enough for me.
ATTITUDE (verse 1): Going back to this very first verse, which led to a sin confession from me, I just wanted to ask for help, Father. Help me to abide in You so that my heart never becomes hardened again and I do not lose courage again. Help me to trust in You fully, so that I may embrace a lively heart from You and an attitude of righteous courage throughout this life. The more I lean on You, the easier it is to embrace these attitudes from You, but I also know that I am weak and can/will dip back into my flesh or influences of the world. Help me to make those dips less frequent and less lengthy, Father, so that I can recognize when/where I am failing in order to quickly get my eyes, ears, mind, and heart focused back on You.
COMMAND (verse 15): In this verse, You send the Lord’s Army to help Your people defeat the enemy and take possession of their promised land. Joshua has some interaction with the Commander of the Lord’s Army, who proceeds to inform Joshua that he is standing on holy land and needs to remove his sandals. Joshua immediately followed this command. Have I desecrated Your holy land before, Father? How do I know when I am on holy land versus not? Should I no longer be wearing my shoes when I walk into church or is that okay? Is it only when You directly speak to me that I should be concerned with removing my shoes, Father? I really do not know how to properly ingest this particular topic, Father, so any further insight You can provide is much appreciated.
EXAMPLE (verses 10-12): The example You provide in these three verses is a strong one. You show us that You will always provide for our needs. Your people were living off manna and some minor things for quite some time, which was directly provided to them from You. In this example they say that all those things “ran out” and that they were now living off what the land provided. You provided this capability as well, for them to sustain themselves properly and naturally from the land they were about to possess. You will always provide for our needs and I am so grateful to You for that as my life has been a testimony to this as well. Thank You, Father, for being so faithful and gracious to me, even when I lacked the competence and drive to return that to You.
*DAILY NOTE: The levels of stress must be ramping up a bit at this point, I would think. Your people witnessed You make a clear path through a rushing river for them. Then they were told to rest while all the men get freshly circumcised and recover. This was the start of the new beginning and life for Your people as they are brought into their promised land by You. The Lord’s Army has arrived, which to me says they are getting extremely close to the actual battle and fulfillment of a promise from You made so many years prior. It has been a long journey, but one with so many great testimonies along the way as well as the fulfillment of a massive promise. Thank You for walking me through this journey of Your people, Father. Thank You for the convictions on my heart today as well as the lesson’s I’ve learned as a result of these stories being written down so many years ago.
EXPAND TO READ: GENERAL NOTE FOR MY QUIET TIMES
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