8/19/13

Joshua 1:8

Yesterday in church I opened up my Bible app on my phone and the verse of the day was Joshua 1:8. I am making my way through the book of Joshua so I was shocked when I was so blessed by this verse and didn’t remember ever reading it before. That is why I decided it would be my sole study today and I would write about it. 

This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success. 

Joshua 1:8

It always makes me happy when I find fantastic verses in the Old Testament because my whole life they always seemed so rare. This verse is so simple. So simple. Do not let the Bible fade from your mind because when you have it as your weapon you can always have the good conscience to do what is right and your life will flourish. But wait, we have to remember that, as Christians, a flourishing life does not mean so in the worldly sense. Doing the right thing may mean not taking that job promotion and earning less money or perhaps giving up the “cool” friends and the flashy lifestyle. 

But in keeping the Word within us and keeping with the Word, we store up treasures in Heaven and we make our hearts strong against anything that may come at us in life. This verse made me think, personally, of all the friends I’m giving up. They were not, by any means, tearing me down but they were causing me distress and I know what is in store for me by giving them up. There will be much talking behind my back about how I’m falling away from God because I’m associating with other non-Christians instead of them. So, I realized that I had to start putting even more effort behind my faith to prove to them and myself that the talk is not true. I have never felt stronger or more knowledgeable in my faith than I have in the past couple months. 

The more that happens the more I wonder if my friends were kind of holding up my faith for me and I just couldn’t live like that anymore. I should have friends with me all the time, good, positively influencing friends, but more I should have the Bible with me and within me at all times. 

8/12/13 (2)

Joshua 6

I read Joshua 6 in my devotions today. The section is entitled “The Fall of Jericho” and the entire time all I can think about is Veggie Tales: Josh and The Big Wall. I’ve never actually read the book of Joshua before, and any teaching I’ve ever heard from it has come from class on Sundays at church in elementary school. I think perhaps we may have gone through it during Wednesday night service but I’m not entirely sure. Anyway, there was one specific verse I wanted to write about from my reading today.

You shall not shout or make your voice heard, neither shall any word go out of your mouth, until the day I tell you to shout. Then you shall shout.

Joshua 6:10

This really stuck out to me. The whole chapter is about the tribes of Israel taking the city of Jericho as their own from the hand of God. I had to take that into consideration while reading the above verse. God was going to give the city into the hands of His chosen people as he had promised, but He had given them certain instructions that they needed to follow in order for it to happen. God was doing a work but first that had to do what He asked of them, in complete silence. That’s what got me. The whole silent, then shout, thing. I thought that was pretty cool. That sometimes God works silently. 

I also thought about the Veggie Tales episode and how the people of Jericho were mocking the Israelites. Just how, so often, when Christians silently obey God they are mocked and ridiculed for their faith. But when God’s requests are carried out He allows us to go out with a bang and our cause is given to us and glory is given to His name.