Joshua faithfully led the Israelites to obey God. The time of the judges was a time when Israel generally didn’t obey God. This daily devotional looks at what we can learn from those two times.
Nuggets
- Each of us have a different take on Who God is and what it means to be a disciple.
- The inhabitants of the Promise Land banded together to fight Israel — but since God was fighting for them, the kings still lost.
- We are not able to serve God, but we must.
- We have to make sure we read the Scriptures to get the entire story.
- God knows when we need encouragement.
- What we think of as sin can still be used by God to further His kingdom.
What Does God Mean to You?
“… When your children ask in time to come, ‘What do those stones mean to you?’” (Josh. 4: 6 ESV)
Each of us have a different take on Who God is and what it means to be a disciple.
God reveals Himself to each of us differently. He can’t be a one-size-fits-all revealer.
You are a totally different person than I am. You have had different experiences than I have had, so if He would give you farming examples, you wouldn’t understand — being a city folk.
That doesn’t mean God has changed the law and commandment for each person. He just customizes how He reveals Himself to us.
God has to do that. He is sanctifying us — only He is starting from different spots. He meets us where we are at individually.
Father God. You love each of us individually. You love us enough to come to where we are. But You love us so much that You do not leave us there. Thank You for the Plan of Salvation. Help us to grow closer to You. Amen.
When God Is Disobeyed
“When Jabin, king of Hazor, heard of this, he sent to Jobab king of Madon, and to the king of Shimron, and to the king of Achshaph, and to the kings who were in the northern hill country, and in the Arabah south of Chinneroth, and in the lowland, and in Naphoth-dor on the west, to the Canaanites in the east and the west, the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, and the Jebusites in the hill country, and the Hivites under Hermon in the land of Mizpah” (Josh. 11: 1-3 ESV)
It is human nature to want to fight for what is ours. We get very possessive of our things.
This is especially true of our homes. We tend to fight for our way of lives.
It didn’t matter that the earthly kings banded together to fight Sovereign God. He had other plans.
God had given the Promised Land to the Israelites. The kings’ tenure in the region was over.
So, it didn’t matter how the world lined up against Him and how much they threw at Him. His Will will be what happens.
God is in control of what happens in this universe. That is 24/7/365/eternally.
Nothing is going to happen but that He allows it to happen.
Satan can marshall all his armies — and he will still lose.
God will reign supreme.
Father God. Thank You that You are in control. In Your wisdom, You know what is best for us. You have planned for us accordingly. Thank You. Amen.
When We Aren’t Able to Serve God
“But Joshua said to the people, “You are not able to serve the LORD, for he is a holy God. He is a jealous God; he will not forgive your transgressions or your sins” (Josh. 24: 19 ESV)
We are not able to serve God, but we must.
God is holy. We are not. We shouldn’t be worthy enough to serve Him.
But God wants us to do so.
In fact. We should only serve God. “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money” (Mt. 6: 24 ESV).
We can only serve God the way He wants to be served. If He asks us to do A, we need to do A. We cannot do B.
We can only serve God in the way He asks. If He wants something completed on Monday, we do it Monday.
Get the picture? We do what God asks of us to do in the way He has ordained.
Yes, we are frail and prone to evil. We are not all-powerful as God is.
We must honor God through worship by praising Him the way in which is required.
Father God. We are so unworthy. We should not be allowed in Your presence. But You have decreed that when we repent of our sins and asked Jesus to be our Lord and Savior, we are worthy. We can call You Father. Thank You, Lord, for designing the Plan of Salvation so that we can come into Your presence. Amen.
Reading All Scriptures
“Manasseh did not drive out the inhabitants of … When Israel grew strong, they put the Canaanites to forced labor, but did not drive them out completely. And Ephraim did not drive out the Canaanites … Zebulun did not drive out the inhabitants …, so the Canaanites lived among them, but became subject to forced labor. Asher did not drive out the inhabitants …, so the Asherites lived among the Canaanites, the inhabitants of the land, for they did not drive them out. Naphtali did not drive out the inhabitants …, so they lived among the Canaanites, the inhabitants of the land. Nevertheless, the inhabitants … became subject to forced labor for them. The Amorites pressed the people of Dan back into the hill country, for they did not allow them to come down to the plain. … and they became subject to forced labor” (Judg. 1: 27-35 ESV)
We have to make sure we read the Scriptures to get the entire story.
If we were to just read Judges 1, we might think that the Israelites couldn’t drive out the Canaanite’s and take over their land. It sounds like the Israelites weren’t strong enough.
Nothing is farther from the truth.
We have to keep reading until the second chapter to get the picture.
“Now the angel of the Lord went up from Gilgal to Bochim. And he said, ‘I brought you up from Egypt and brought you into the land that I swore to give to your fathers. I said, “I will never break my covenant with you, and you shall make no covenant with the inhabitants of this land; you shall break down their altars.” But you have not obeyed my voice. What is this you have done?’” (Judg. 2: 1-2 ESV).
But even that isn’t the whole story. We have to read farther to get the expanded version.
“And the people of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the Lord and served the Baals. And they abandoned the Lord, the God of their fathers, who had brought them out of the land of Egypt. They went after other gods, from among the gods of the peoples who were around them, and bowed down to them. And they provoked the Lord to anger. They abandoned the Lord and served the Baals and the Ashtaroth” (Judg. 2: 11-13 ESV).
But then, we read on and get another reason. “Now these are the nations that the Lord left, to test Israel by them, that is, all in Israel who had not experienced all the wars in Canaan” (Judg. 3: 1 ESV).
We can’t take things out of context. We have to know the particulars about what we are reading — the who, when why, and where. We have to know what came after that.
In other words, we have to study Scripture. All of it.
We can’t read it like it is a prosperity gospel. God didn’t just give the Promised Land to the Israelites. There was an expectation attached.
God expected the Israelites to obey Him.
Yes, salvation is a free gift. But there is an expectation that we will obey God. We need to read all of Scriptures to ensure that we know God.
Father God. You have provided Scriptures so that we can know You. That requires that we read all of it. Give us the desire to seek You in Your Word. Help us to understand what we need to in order to serve You. Amen.
God the Encourager
“That same night the Lord said to him, ‘Arise, go down against the camp, for I have given it into your hand. But if you are afraid to go down, go down to the camp with Purah your servant. And you shall hear what they say, and afterward your hands shall be strengthened to go down against the camp.’ …” (Judg. 7: 9-11 ESV)
God knows when we need encouragement.
Gideon wasn’t really the most confident of leaders. He said he was the weakest in his father’s house that was in a weak clan (Judg. 6: 15). He put out the fleece — twice — to determine God’s Will.
But here, God is saying, “But if you are afraid to go down …” (Judg. 7: 10 ESV). God acknowledged Gideon’s fears.
We are probably thinking that God just wants us to trust Him and boldly go where we have never gone before. Sometimes.
Other times, God knows He needs to show us that everything will be okay.
Don’t we need both times? If God hasn’t shown us that everything will be okay, are we really want to boldly go where we have never gone before just on faith and trust?
God will provide the encouragement we need so that we will do His Will. He is loving like that.
Father God. You know exactly what we need when we need it. Thank You. Amen.
What Is the Law, and What Isn’t?
“His father and mother did not know that it was from the Lord, for he was seeking an opportunity against the Philistines. At that time the Philistines ruled over Israel” (Judg. 14: 4 ESV)
What we think of as sin can still be used by God to further His kingdom.
God was adamant. Do not intermarry with the inhabitants of the Promised Land. “and when the Lord your God has delivered them over to you and you have defeated them, then you must destroy them totally. Make no treaty with them, and show them no mercy. Do not intermarry with them. Do not give your daughters to their sons or take their daughters for your sons, for they will turn your children away from following me to serve other gods, and the Lord’s anger will burn against you and will quickly destroy you” (Deut. 7: 2-4 NIV).
But here, God was telling Samson’s parents that it was okay for him to marry a non-Jew.
What gives? I can see why God has this law. Marrying someone outside the Jewish faith would more than likely get them to turn away from Him.
They did, and it did — every time.
God had His plans for Samson. He wanted Samson to have an unnamed Philistine wife. So, he did.
Why did God put in Samson’s plan something that didn’t mesh with Deuteronomy 7: 3? I am not on the pay grade to answer that question.
If I took a stab at it, I would say that God allowed Samson to choose who he wanted as his wife, knowing it broke one of His laws.
That is what sin is all about. God allows it – for now. And He uses it to further His kingdom.
Father God. We don’t understand everything we read in Your Word. We do not need to. We need to have the faith to understand that You are always in control. Amen.
What do you think?
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