Week 13: Judges, The Most Tragic of Love Stories

Judges is one of those books that was difficult to write on every day. It really has one simple theme with several cases to prove the point: Israel’s lack of love for God. They are simply not going to choose Him. At the beginning of book, God declares His faithfulness to His people, despite their unfaithfulness to Him, “I will never break my covenant with you.” We must keep in mind that God knew the Israelites would never keep their covenant with Him when He spoke these words. Woven throughout this book of disobedience and rebellion is God’s unending grace. There are words that we cannot miss that give huge implication. His Word does not say that they rebelled, it says they prostituted themselves. We must always keep in mind God’s desire from the beginning of creation. Our very purpose for existence is to live in a love relationship with our Creator. God uses the term prostitution to make clear the desire of His heart. Why they would never love Him, I will never understand. Why so many choose not to love Him today, I will never understand. But, Judges says that “They quickly turned” from God. The book of Judges records a vicious cycle where Israel turns from God, He extends His mercy, draws them back through a leader, they follow Him but as soon as the leader is gone, so are their hearts. So much could be said about the bravery of Deborah and Gideon, but it just seems to all be overshadowed by Israel’s failure. We read over and over that they “forgot their God.” The sad ending to Judges: “everyone did whatever he wanted.” It truly is the most tragic of love stories.  And it would be wise for us to examine our own relationship with God. Do we live in the same vicious cycle, never really loving Him? Is our relationship with Him based on our circumstances? We cannot read the story of Israel without looking at our own story. God is just as faithful, relentless and gracious to you and me as He was to them. He is long-suffering, hoping, longing for the day we truly love Him. You see, this book is not about the lost, it is about His children. God did not save us only for someday, He saved us to love us today. Our love for Him now should stir within our hearts an overwhelming longing to be with Him someday, to delight in the thought of the day we behold our Creator, our Savior, our Father, our Warrior. The one who loves us with unrelenting love, a love we cannot fathom, simply longs for us to love Him in return. Yet, how often do we prostitute our hearts, giving our affections to another, only to find our hearts broken, disappointed and defeated? The love you long for, only He can give. He is fighting for your heart, your love, your devotion. How many times will we go chasing what is false, abandoning what is true and real?

Week 12: Joshua Summarized

I decided to take a few days off from writing to enjoy spring break with my kids (it being impossible to write with three energetic kids running around the house had nothing to do with it!). Before I moved on to the book of Judges, I wanted to summarize some lessons I learned from the book of Joshua. This book has too much rich truth not to bring it to a conclusion. Joshua is a historical book recording the Holy Wars that God led the people to fight in order to claim the Promised Land. We see woven throughout this book the heart of God, which is to have the heart of man. “Then get rid of the foreign gods that are among you and offer your hearts to the Lord, the God of Israel.” And He is relentless in His pursuit of us. God declared these holy wars to rid the promised land of what would turn the hearts of His people away from Him. The Promised Land had always belonged to the Israelites in God’s eyes. It was the pagan peoples that had invaded the land, not vice versa. The Israelites were claiming what was theirs. They were ridding the land of what was unholy so that a Holy God could dwell among them. Do you see the parallel to our own lives? Sin was never intended to be camped out in our hearts and be a part of our lives. The Fall brought into my life something that God never intended. Just as the pagan people dwelling in the land would draw the heart of the Israelites away from God if they were not rid of, so will the sin, the idols and selfish desires that are allowed to camp out in my own life.  Be sure that God declares holy war on anything in our lives that invade our relationship with Him and prevents us from turning our hearts to Him. What is in my life that is camped out, dwelling where it was never meant to dwell? He will go to battle with it. Just as the Promised Land was their home, the place where God declared He would live in their midst, so too is my heart His home. He will not share His territory, His home or my affection with another. What is camped out in my life that will cause my heart to turn away from my God? Be sure that He will go to war with that thing. “For though we live in the body, we do not wage war in an unspiritual way, since the weapons of our warfare are not worldly, but are powerful through God for the demolition of strongholds. We demolish arguments and every high-minded thing that is raised up against the knowledge of God, taking every thought captive to obey Christ. And we are ready to punish any disobedience.” 2 Corinthians 10: 3-6

Week 12; Day 1

Joshua 3-6

WEEK 12; DAY 1
Our reading of the books of The Law has come to a close and now we begin with Joshua; the Israelites enter the Promised Land. Last week, we ended the week by reading the beginning the book of Joshua. Joshua is established as the new leader upon the death of Moses, spies are sent into the land and the prostitute Rahab spares their life, thus saving her own. Today’s reading begins on the bank of the Jordan river. God tells Joshua that what He is about to do has a twofold purpose; to establish Joshua as the new leader, “they will know that I will be with you just as I was with Moses,” and to prove His faithfulness, power and protection to His people, “You will know that the living God is among you …” What an exciting moment; we are about to witness the fulfillment of the promised covenant. God’s faithfulness is allowing this generation to witness what their fathers witnessed, the parting of waters, and what their fathers did not see, the Promised Land. A few things worth mentioning are that the Jordan river was not some wimpy body of water; think more along the lines of the Mississippi River. This is a massive body of water, at that time pumping an estimated 3 billion cubic feet of water annually. There is one major difference in the parting of the Jordan River from the parting of the Red Sea; the priests with the ark lead the parting, not the leader. I believe the purpose for this was to make no mistake that this was because of God’s power, not Joshua's. It seems that the former generation held Moses in high regard, but never seemed to get that it was God working through Moses. This generation would see the same power displayed to give them confidence in the battles ahead, however there would be no mistaking that this was about God, not Joshua. Not until the priests actually stepped into the water with the ark did the water part. Did you catch that? They had to actually step in the water before it parted. Then the waters separated and it became dry ground. Just stop, for a moment, and let this entire scene play in your mind. This is a massive body of rapidly flowing water that they step into, and then it becomes dry. Dry ground. This act confirms Joshua as God’s chosen leader and “so that all the people of the earth may know that the Lord’s hand is mighty, and so that you may always fear the Lord your God.” Beginning in Chapter 5, we read that God’s very purpose is fulfilled; the Amorites “lost heart and their courage failed because of the Israelites.” I know that the end of today’s reading is one of the most exciting and popular events in God’s Word; the battle of Jericho. However, I want to focus on a more obscure detail in chapter 5 that provides a great source of truth and hope for us today. God commands Joshua to circumcise the entire camp because this generation has not been circumcised. Remember, this is their sign of being set apart as God’s people. It is a visible reminder of what should be the condition of their hearts. When Joshua completes the task of circumcising every male in the camp, God says in verse 9, “Today, I have rolled away the disgrace of Egypt from you.” The literal meaning of this verse is that this generation could now leave behind forever the rebellion, the disgrace, of the previous generation, their parents. Egypt was their land of slavery. The symbolism and application is that we do not have to carry on generational sins. We are not our parents. For those who have come from painful family situations this is a great relief. The deeper application is that just as their physical bodies endured circumcision, the New Testament refers to our spiritual circumcision; our hearts are circumcised. All that is unclean is removed. We have discussed from previous weeks’ of reading that our land of slavery is our life before Christ; our life in bondage to sin. Please do not miss this. God circumcises our hearts, declaring that our past disgrace is forever removed from us. Just as they could now enter the Promised Land, we can now walk in victory and freedom because that past has been cut away. Leave behind forever, the disgrace and rebellion of the past. The victory of Jericho would have never occurred had they not left behind their past. Do you see the truth implied? We cannot carry with us the guilt and burden of our past if we want to step forward in victory today.  

Week 11; Day 3

Deuteronomy 24-27
The recurring theme for today; foreigners, the fatherless, the widow. God was very specific about caring for the helpless, the outcast, those in need. In the New Testament, the concept of extending God’s grace to those without hope is very specifically restated. James says that pure and acceptable religion before God is to care for the widow and orphan. The foreigner is not included because in the New Covenant there is no foreigner. The foreigner in the Old Testament was speaking in regards to those who were not part of the children of Israel. The new covenant is for all people; it is not limited to a particular people. With that explained, what do we learn about God from these verses? That He is full of grace and compassion, just as He says. When we learn something about Him, we must always evaluate whether or not we truly believe that. Do my thoughts and attitudes towards God reflect the truth about Him? Furthermore, what do we learn about our relationship towards others? There is and will always be among us those who are without hope. Do we even begin to understand that we are the mouthpiece of God, extending His compassion and love to them? We have got to stop living such self centered lives and begin to live aware of those around us. He is hope to those who have none. He is compassion to those who have received none. We are the vessel, the visible evidence, of God’s reality. They will never know Him or ever receive His love without us allowing His love to pour from our lives. God went to great effort to protect and provide for those who were helpless. As His children, we are called to extend the same love and action.  

And a P.S. from yesterday’s reading that I failed to include: Word to the Wise; it’s never a good idea to marry for looks! If the guy had never just picked the woman based only on her beauty, he would have been saved a lot of trouble. Looks can be deceiving.

Week 11; Day 2

Deuteronomy 20-23
“Today, you are about to engage in battle with your enemies. Do not be cowardly. Do not be afraid, alarmed or terrified because of them. For the Lord your God is the One who goes with you to fight for you against your enemies to give you victory.” Israelites enemies were the pagan people in their land. Our enemy today is sin and Satan. After the two weeks of situation after situation begin brought to my husband and me regarding heartbreaking tragedies in people’s lives, no one can argue with me that Satan is not a “roaring lion seeking who he may devour.” He is not only the enemy of our soul but He is the enemy of our love for God. His one desire is to devastate the heart of God and accomplishes that by ruining our lives. If He can get to us, He gets to God. There is no greater hope found than in these verses as we consider the cruel schemes of our enemy. If you think living to honor God isn’t a battle, open your eyes and then read Ephesians 6. Today and every day, we engage in a battle against our enemy. In these verses filled with hope and promise, God covers everything that Satan uses to defeat us: cowardice, alarm, fear, terror. Do not coward down to him, do not be afraid of him, do not feel overwhelmed by him. Be aware of his schemes but have confidence that your God will fight for you.

Now, in today and tomorrow’s reading, we as women tend to get defensive. We take offense to verses like “Then if you are not satisfied with her, you are to let her go….” I will try my best not to soapbox here, but I am going to shed some light on these verses. It is impossible to accurately read verses like this without considering the cultural context. In fact, we often make the mistake of reading these verses from the perspective of our own context. We live in a sexually oriented culture and therefore read ideas into these verses that have nothing to do with what they are discussing. Furthermore, when we make assumptions about their meaning, we are dismissing what we know to be true about God. What do we know to be true about God? He is entirely good. He is love. He is just. No individual is more valuable than another in His sight. Why, then, do we so quickly jump to the conclusion that we as women are getting the shaft? It is made clear from reading the instructions regarding slaves, widows and orphans that God places dignity on every human life. In fact, the ethical laws He gave to govern the Israelites placed far more value on human life than every other government during that time. When we assume that women are being treated unfairly, we reduce God to a chauvinist. Probably not the best idea. While many of us have been hurt by men, we cannot transpose our perception of  men onto our perception of God. I’m going to throw out a rant here then I’ll be done! The whole feminist movement has invaded our thinking and caused us to fear the idea of submission. If we understand Biblical submission, rather than believing some warped concept painted by those who know nothing about God, we would have an entirely different attitude. This is an example of being tarnished by the world and why we need to have our thoughts transformed. Now, let’s look at the verse I’ve quoted above.  Women were viewed as property in their culture.  A man could just see a pretty woman and claim her as his. Before you get all stirred up about this, realize that God brings dignity to the woman, just as he did for the slave and the widow and the orphan. Deuteronomy 21:14, for example, is speaking directly about a foreigner who has been taken captive and been chosen by an Israelite male to be his wife. “Then if you are not satisfied with her”; satisfied means delight and it is regarding the whole person; emotions, character, soul, mind. This is not simply sexual in nature. Next, it states “you are to let her go where she wants.” This literally means “set her free.” Remember, this passage is speaking specifically about a woman who has been taken as a captive from an enemy nation. She is released from a marriage where she will not be loved and she is released from being a captive. She go can go home. Before you jump to any conclusions about what I’m implying, do not take this as me stating that women have free pass to walk away from a marriage. Remember, if it’s not explicitly restated in the New Testament, then it’s not ours to claim. The entire purpose for this discussion is for you to correctly understand these difficult passages and understand more fully the character and nature of God. “But you must not sell her for money or treat her as merchandise, because have already humiliated her.” Remember from the previous few verses that because she was a foreigner, she’s already had to shave her head. How humiliating must that have been? Other translations state, “you must not take advantage of her.” This means, in the literal translation, “mistreat her” or “treat her as a slave.” Ladies, let’s please get rid of these absurd thoughts that women are regarded as less than men in God’s Word. We see clearly from one single verse, that God comes to our rescue. He regards us in highest esteem and fights for us when no one else will. When I hear women “go off” about submission and so forth in the Bible, I really want to just scream, STOP IT! Our thoughts about God’s Word cannot contradict what we know to be true about God. Sometimes, I think we just like being victims. Pathetic, really. Here’s the thing; are there men who are jerks? Well of course, just as there are women who are scandalous. Guess what, we are all selfish and cruel when we exist in our own nature. However, part of the sanctification process that we discussed yesterday, is living our lives in the power of the Holy Spirit. Galatians tells us that if we live in the Spirit, then we must walk in the Spirit. Every one of us who have been redeemed by Christ, live in the Spirit. It is our choice, however, to walk in His Spirit; to allow His power to work and rule and transform. Think about the fruits of the Spirit. Everything you want your husband to be, God already is. When your husband surrenders to the Spirit of God, begins walking in His Spirit, His character begins to transform your husband. Stop assuming the worst about God and about your man. Stop comparing them to lost men; lost people do lost things. Stop looking for or wishing for a better man and start praying that your husband becomes a Godly man. Perhaps if we focused more on our own character and submission to the Spirit of God and stopped looking for ways to get offended, we would find ourselves in marriages where our husband delights in us and we delight in him.  

Week 11; Day 1

Deuteronomy 16-19
From today’s reading, I want focus on two statements; “You must purge the evil from you,” “You must be blameless before the Lord your God.” First, I want to make clear the difference in our covenant under Christ and the old covenant; we are declared righteous and blameless because of the covering of Christ. Therefore, we are not trying to attain righteousness. However, there are some churchy words here that must be explained. Being declared righteous and blameless before God means that we are what theologians call justified or justification. Once we have had our sins atoned for by the death of Christ (the process of justification), we enter the process of sanctification. Simple stated, sanctification is living out what heaven already says that I am; blameless. The New Testament says that we are to live lives worthy of Christ. We bear His name and He has exchanged our unrighteousness, our guilt, for His righteousness. My life is to reflect that standing. While we do not live under the law, our purpose is the same as theirs. We are to live a blameless life by purging what is evil from our lives. There are always debates among Christians about what is acceptable and not acceptable, what is old covenant and what applies to us. There is a huge problem with our understanding of our call as a child of God if we are merely concerned with figuring out how much we can get away with as a Christian. How close to the line can I get? We saw in last week’s reading that God’s desire is our love. Let’s look at today’s reading from this perspective: think about a husband and wife. What is the greatest sign of a husband and wife’s love for one another? Their commitment and faithfulness to each other, right? A man cannot say that he loves his wife if he is not faithful to her. If he or she is trying to get away with as much as they can outside the relationship, but still hold on to the relationship, can it be called love? Absolutely not. Jesus said that those who love Him are those who obey Him. Our love for God is evident by the life we live. Just as a spouse cannot claim love if he or she is unfaithful, we cannot claim love for God if we are unfaithful to Him. Furthermore, His being adamant regarding the purging of sin is because He knows us. He gets our humanity. He’s realistic. There is no question that if we are surrounded by temptation and sin, we will be unfaithful to Him. We must stay away from what will cause us to stray. Would you want your spouse hanging around another woman and accept him saying, “oh, nothing will happen”? Good grief, no. What was missed by the Israelites and what we miss when we ask the questions, “What can I get away with in my life but still be ok with God?” is the heart of the law, the heart of our relationship with Him, the truth about our love for Him. If we are coming up with arguments to justify our actions, we do not love God and we are taking advantage of His grace. Our life is to honor Him. Out of my love for Him, I will rid myself of anything that is not worthy of His love and I will stay away from anything that will cause me to be unfaithful to Him. We must start asking the right questions in order to have the right relationship.

Week 10; Day 5

Deuteronomy 8-11
Moses spoke harsh truth to the Israelites: “You have been rebelling against the Lord from the day you left the land of Egypt until you reached this place…” “You have been rebelling against the Lord ever since I have known you.” Those can’t be easy words to swallow. You can just hear the plea in Moses’ voice saying good grief, all God wants from you is our love and devotion, why is this so hard for you to get?! “And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God ask of you except to fear the Lord your God by walking in all His ways, to love Him and to worship the Lord your God with all your heart and your soul?” To be honest, I wonder if we are as frustrating. They never understood the heart of the Law. Moses said, “Keep every command I am giving you today, so that you may have the strength to cross into and posses the land you are to inherit.” The purpose for His commands were to give them victory. He understood their humanity and knew it would not be possible for them to live as His people any other way. God gives us what we need to live the life He calls us to live. The commands were to be their strength. Today, we have the blessing of His Spirit. What He calls us to, He equips us with the wisdom and power to do. It angered the Isrealites to have to listen to God because they refused to understand why they had been given the commands. Moses says twice more that everything was about their love for God; “to love the Lord your God and worship Him with all your heart and all your soul,” “to love the Lord your God, walk in His ways, and remain faithful to Him.” Ladies, I’m not sure about you, but I don’t want to miss it like they did. He makes clear today, just as He did yesterday, that His desire is our love. The covenant may have changed, but He has not. He is the same loving, compassionate, faithful, all-powerful God, whose greatest desire is for your love. I pray that you allow Him to write these words on your heart, “He is your praise and He is your God, who has done for you these great and awesome works your eyes have seen.” Today, may He be your praise. I challenge you to look back over your life and recall the numerous time that He has been faithful to you, even when you were not to Him; recount the times He has shown Himself to you; realize the rebellion that He has redeemed; and rest in the reality that He has done these things to show you who He is and His undying, unconditional love for you.

Week 10; Day 4

Deuteronomy 4-7
This is one of those weeks of reading that I can hardly choose one thing to write about. Deuteronomy is one of the most beautiful books of the Bible, for it is here that God reveals His heart to us. It is here that God tells us why He does what He does. In this book, we learn so much about the character of Yahweh, our Creator and Redeemer. We learn, packed in just a couple of verses, the truth about Him. Have you ever considered that what you think about God just might not be true? That is one of the first realities God taught me in our walk together. What I believe about Him will determine the kind of relationship I have with Him. Take what we learn about His character in today’s reading and ask Him to replace any lies with truth. Here are just a few realities:
            ▪ No matter how I feel, He is faithful:
            you will search for the Lord your God, and you will find Him when you seek Him with all             of your heart…
            ▪ He does not abandon me:
            He will not leave you, destroy you or forget the covenant….
            ▪ His character is compassion:
            The Lord your God is a compassionate God.

Then our faithful, compassionate God goes on to tell us why He does what He does. You see, He acts on our behalf because of who He is, His character, not what we have done. As I read today’s passages, I cannot help but ask, “Why would He be so faithful to us, to me?”
            ▪ You were shown these things so that you would know that the Lord is God…
            ▪ The Lord was devoted to you and chose you, not because you were more numerous     
              than all the peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples, but because the Lord loved                you and kept His oath…
Relationships are so conditional in this life. Yet, our God loves us simply because He does and it is His love that compels His faithfulness. One of the greatest traps we fall into in relationships is that we feel like we have to earn an individual’s faithfulness. We have to be the prettiest or have the most or what have you. We cannot translate that ideology into our mindset about God. He is not devoted to me because I am the best, He is devoted to me simply because He loves me. I do not have to earn His favor. What freedom.  There is one thing that God desires from me. We as women tend to have a cynical outlook on things, a “Yeah, what’s the catch” mentality. With God, there is no catch. He clearly tells us that the one thing He desires is our love and devotion in return. Think about our relationships in this life; isn’t that all we want from those we love? Listen to our Redeemer’s words; “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. These words that I am giving to you today are to be written on your heart.” With everything thing that I am, God desires my love in return. Unbelievable. Stop and let this truth flood your heart. His love should absolutely sweep us off our feet. There is no love in this life that compares to His. There is one more statement of truth that I must point out before closing out today’s post: He let you hear His voice… He let you. I must admit that this statement stopped me cold. I have never considered what a privilege it is to hear from Him. This should establish in our hearts such a humble state. Do we consider what an undeserved honor it is that the Creator and Sustainer of the world gives me the blessing of hearing His voice? May we know the truth of God and embrace His love for us.   

Week 10; Day 3

Deuteronomy 1-3
Life can be exhausting. This beautiful book begins with a recount of the Israelites over their previous 40 years and it serves as a great source of strength to us. Recounting some of the words spoken by God, I pray that today your heart is settled. Whatever trials, temptations and battles you are facing, when God has made clear His plan for you, you can have complete trust in Him knowing that He goes before you, fighting the battle for you. We cannot get in front of Him, meagerly attempting to fight on our own. We cannot retreat. We can walk confidently in the protection of our Mighty God, knowing that we do not have to fear or fight.

See, I have set the land before you. Enter and take possession of the land the Lord swore to give you.

See, the Lord your God has set the land before you. Go up and take possession of it as Yahweh, the God of your fathers, has told you. Do not be afraid or discouraged.

Do not be terrified or afraid of them! The Lord your God who goes before you will fight for you, just as you say Him do for you in Egypt.

The Lord our God gave everything to us.

Did you catch the grammar implication in these verses? It states that the God “has set.” It does not say, “He will.” It says, “He has.” God had set before the Israelites His purpose and plan. All they had to do was trust. He had already won the battle, even before they entered the land. Stop and just think about this; the battle was already won even before it began. We are all facing different circumstances in our lives, but as His beloved daughters, He has a plan for us. He is faithful to bring about that plan and already has victory over every battle that stands against us. Whether it’s a sin that seems to have victory over you, a circumstance that is drowning you or a person that is fighting against you, the battle is His. He is our Protector, our Shield, our Warrior. He will bring about His purpose in our lives, bring us to the land He has promised. However, the choice was theirs and is ours. They had to choose to step forward in faith or fall back in fear. May it not be said of us:
But you were not willing to go up….

But in spite of this you did not trust the Lord your God…

Week 10; Day 2

Numbers 33-36
Today, God continues to make clear the importance of ridding our lives of what is not holy. Something that I thought about today, that I did not mention yesterday is the truth about relationships. We are not the children of Israel. We cannot declare a Holy War, literally. However, just as they were to get rid even of people who would cause them to stumble, we must too rid our lives of those relationships that cause us to sin. I want to be careful here not to give the idea that we abandon those who do not know Jesus. What I am talking about here is being in relationships with those who are sources of temptation in our lives. The reality is that we become like who we surround ourselves with. Purging our lives of what is not honoring to God is just as crucial for us today as it was for them, then. In our relationships, we must ask ourselves, ‘Does this person draw me to Christ or pull me away?’ In our honest evaluation, we must be ready to walk away from any relationship that is exalted above God or causes us to live an unholy life. The call to holiness is carried on into today’s reading. In chapter 33, God tells the Israelites to “demolish all their high places.” In context, this is referring to the places of worship to the pagan gods. They are told to get rid of any place that is exalted above God. Do you see the truth implied here? In our lives, only God can be exalted. We must purge our lives of the high places. What is it that I have exalted, placed in a high place of worship? Then we see God’s plan for the Messiah unfolding. How exciting! Did you catch “Caleb…from the tribe of Judah.” Perhaps I’m the only nerd who found delight in this, but Caleb was one of two spies that trusted God and he just happened to be from the tribe of Judah, that just happened to be the tribe from which our Messiah comes. Isn’t that just like God? The grace of God is clearly shown in chapter 35, when He establishes “cities of refuge.” For the sinner, He gives them a place to flee. Hebrews 6:18 states, “Therefore, we who have fled to Him for refuge can have great confidence as we hold to the hope that lies before us…” What a gracious God. One last important truth today; “Do not defile the land where you are…Do not make the land unclean where you live and I reside; for I, Yahweh, reside among you.” The way we go about living a pure and holy life is different from that of the Israelites because we have the atonement, the covering, of Christ. We live under a different covenant. Yet, our call is no different. God resides with us, therefore our lives are to be lived worthy of Him. This is a truth we’ve discussed continuously throughout these past several weeks of reading. Have you thought about this, though: “Do not make the land unclean where you live.” We know we are not to be a part of the sin in our world. We know we are to remain unspotted from the world. This goes a step further. We are not to be a part of bringing sin into our world. We are not to be the ones making the land unclean. This is a huge call to self-examination; asking myself “Am I causing sin? Am I part of the problem? Am I causing others to fall? Am I producing some kind of temptation? Are my choices, actions, attitudes making my circle of influence, the ‘land’ where I am placed, unclean?” It’s a humbling reality. This should cause us to take on a new mindset. We are not just to keep our lives from the world, we are not to be a part of bringing sin, unholiness, into the world.  

Week 10; Day 1

Numbers 29-32
This week begins with God giving His commands to this second generation; the generation that would inherit the promised land. With the exception of Joshua and Caleb, the only two spies that believed God’s promise, the entire first generation freed from captivity has died. God declares a Holy War against that pagan people of the land. During last week’s reading, we saw the decision the children of Israel made when tempted by the people of the pagan land. God’s purpose for this people was to create a holy nation set apart for His glory. That wasn’t going to happen if they lived amongst paganism. God was purging the land, ridding it of idolatry and evil. It may seem harsh, but God is serious about ridding our lives of those things that cause us to stumble and stray and sin. I must also make mention that while God had commanded that they not commit murder, there is a difference in murder and war. He was not contradicting Himself. Today we also see that there were a couple of tribes that chose not to cross the Jordan into the promised land. They saw where the rich land before the Jordan was good for their flocks. I’m sure it was a good land, but don’t you think that since God had chosen these tribes to be herdsmen that He probably also had land for them in the promised land? Remember, he had gifted each tribe with a specific purpose. However, they chose good over God’s best. It was partially an excuse for not wanting to have to go to battle, but Moses called their bluff and commanded them to fight and then gave them the blessing to return. Have you ever thought about how often we settle for good when God has best waiting? There are times when it’s hard to see past the obstacles and trust what God has in store. These tribes never saw what could have been theirs. They never saw what God had waiting for them. They never experienced His provision and His best. They settled in a good land; they played it safe. They didn’t really suffer consequences. They weren’t punished; they simply got what they wanted. I wonder how many times I’ve done the same; missed God’s best for “good.”