Leaving the Law

Deuteronomy and Joshua... Rocks of Remembrance

As we come to the conclusion of Deuteronomy, we see God preparing Moses and the Israelites for Moses' impending death. God reminds His people, through Moses, of His covenant with them and the consequences of disobedience. Deuteronomy 30:1-10 anticipates that the people would break covenant with God and be carried away to exile. They are called to return to the Lord when they realize that they have wandered away.

Moses appoints Joshua as his successor in leading Israel and we see here that Moses tell Joshua to be strong and courageous, something that is repeated to him often by God. The people are instructed to study the Book of Instruction (or the Law) often. Over and over the people are reminded to read the Law, to know it. It is important to know God's Word. We cannot obey God if we don't know His Word. God's Word brings conviction of sin which leads to repentance. "For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart." Hebrews 4:12

We must know God's Word.. we must hide it our hearts so that we may not sin against Him...(Psalm 119:11) We live in a generation of Bible illiterate people. If we can't recall it, we don't know it. We need to be women of the Word... women in the Word and women passionate for others to know the Word. There are many stories that I have hidden in my heart... stories from my childhood, my young adulthood, motherhood, etc... but none of these stories hold the power of life and death. I can recount detail after detail of lots of stories... I can call them forward at a moment's notice, Can I do the same with God's redemptive story? Do I know it? Am I passionate about it?

Next we see God's tender care of Moses. He takes him into the mountains, shows him the Promised Land then is there with him as he enters his final ultimate Promised Land. Then God buries Moses alone. I have no basis for this but I believe that God did it with His own hands. God's care for us is just that tender.. that personal.

After Israel mourns the loss of Moses, God meets with Joshua.  God tells him repeatedly to be strong and courageous. Joshua 1:6,“Be strong and courageous, because you will lead these people to inherit the land I swore to their forefathers to give them. 7 Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful wherever you go. 8 Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful. 9 Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.”

After this, Joshua sends out spies to Jericho and we meet a woman that is one of my favorite people in the Bible. Rahab. This woman is the epitome of the worst we can be. And yet her faith in the God of Israel is such that she is one of only 5 women listed in the genealogy of Jesus Christ. Rahab is a prostitute, a foreigner and a pagan. And yet she recognized the One True God and put her faith in Him. She protects the Israelite spies and trusts them to protect her and her family. It is no coincidence that she placed her trust in them recognizing the scarlet cord hanging from her window and the scarlet blood of the Passover lamb on the doorposts and ultimately the blood of Jesus for the salvation of us all. Later, after Israel takes control of Jericho, Rahab is grafted into the family of God. She marries a Jewish man, Salmon, and is the mother of Boaz, an Old Testament fore-shadowing of Christ. God takes those that are weak, sinful and very unlikely, to do amazing things. Proof that no matter what you've done, where you've been, or who you have been, God redeems.

As Israel is camped on the bank of the Jordan River waiting to attack Jericho, Joshua tells the people to consecrate themselves, or purify themselves, because tomorrow God is going to perform mighty works among them. This generation was either not alive or very young when God had parted the Red Sea. No doubt though that they were raised on stories of that miracle. This time, however, as Israel comes to the Jordan River, the waters do not part as the had for the Red Sea. This time God required them to get their feet a little wet first and show faith. With the Red Sea, Israel had been in bondage for 400 years and hadn't seen the miracles God would do. They hadn't built a history of personal trust in the Lord and His provision. This generation camped at the Jordan was different. they had seen 40 years of God's provision. They had seen manna, the pillar of cloud and fire... the preservation of their clothing and shoes... no blisters,etc... in the wilderness. God was going to require faith from them. I wonder if they stood at the bank waiting for God to part the waters first. It's always easy to walk in faith when God gives us sight first. Sometimes God calls us to get our feet wet before He decides to part the way for us. We need to be ready to do it... and to not expect God to do it the same way twice!

After the people had crossed the Jordan (and here we need to give a shout out to the priest that stood in the middle of the Jordan with the Ark of the Covenant while ALL of Israel crossed over), Joshua called twelve men, one from each tribe, to gather a rock from where the priests were STILL standing. They were to use these stones to build a memorial. Rocks of remembrance for them to remember what God had done for them. Their children would ask about the memorial and they would tell the story of God's faithfulness. It is important for us to have our own rocks of remembrance; times and places where we have seen the hand of God in our lives, times where God has shown Himself faithful to us. These remembrances build our faith, they are tangible reminders of how good God is to us. We all have times of despair or even forgetfulness. We need to remind ourselves often of God's love and care. We also need to use these rocks to tell our story to others. To leave our legacy of faith. It doesn't have to be an actual rock. It can be a journal, scrapbook, stories told along the way of our lives. They can be mental markers, but we need to make sure that we remind ourselves of everything God has saved us from.

After they crossed the Jordan, they built their memorial. God also had them place twelve stones in the river where the priests stood to mark the spot they crossed. Joshua then prepared the people by leading them to obedience. None of that generation had been circumcised and that was the next order of business. What a vulnerable state the people were in!! Their men were incapacitated in a way that we ladies cannot imagine as they waited in a new land totally at the mercy of others. Then they celebrated Passover. Obedience always precedes blessing. They were victorious at Jericho because they obeyed the Lord's commands. (We also need to take note that in Joshua 5:13-15, Jesus appears to Joshua in preincarnate form as the Commander of the Lord's Army.) Jericho then falls to Israel and Rahab and her family is spared.

Next we see how disobedience brings cursing to Israel. Achan was disobedient to the Lord and stole some of the things that were to be set apart for the Lord. No one knew about it but God and Achan. When Israel went out to defeat Ai, the Lord did not go with them and they were defeated.

God brought the truth out and Israel was called to purge the evil from their midst. Achan's sin cost him, his family and all of Israel. We cannot hide our sin from God and it affects more than just ourselves. It may seem harsh that Achan's family shared his fate, but Rahab's faith saved her household. Achan's sin condemned his. We must purge all sin and disobedience from our lives. When we do, blessing follows. After Achan and his family were destroyed, God delivered Ai into the hands of Israel.

As we ended our reading last week, we saw how important it is to seek God in all things. In Joshua 9:1-27, Israel fails to seek the Lord and end up being deceived by the Gibeonites. They entered into a treaty that was expressly forbidden and put them in a dangerous position. It is important to seek the Lord. If we don't get a fresh word from God, it doesn't mean that He approves. Silence doesn't indicate blessing. It is silence. Don't depart from the last word from God until you clearly get a new one. Silence is tough. But trust God anyway. Waiting on the Lord is far better than being out of His will.

"Wait patiently for the LORD. Be brave and courageous. Yes, wait patiently for the LORD." Psalm 27:14

"Look to the LORD and his strength; seek his face always." 1 Chronicles 16:11

Believing God in the Wilderness

Numbers... In the Wilderness

As Leviticus stresses worship and spiritual position, the theme of Numbers is a walk of spiritual progress. This book is full of modern application for believers. It would certainly be nice if, once we got saved, we reached spiritual maturity but it just doesn't happen that way. The best part is the journey with the Lord. It's the relationship we have invested along the way. We learn. We grow. We take two steps forward and five back. Other times we take two or three forward and stay there for awhile. As we read about the Israelites and how they griped and complained and whined to God, we are often quick to judge but upon closer reflection we see that we are not so different. We resemble the pattern of complaining, backsliding and utter disbelief. Sometimes we get it right, but all too often we get it wayyyy wrong.

The good news is that we do not need to repeat the wanderings of Israel in our spiritual journey. God has made full provision for spiritual success through faith.

I want to skip ahead in this lesson to the point where God sends the 12 men to survey the land. This was their Promised Land. God had already given it to them. All they were going to have to do was claim it and believe God for the rest. After all that they had seen God do for them they still didn't trust Him. Yet am I all that different?

As I was reading this passage this week I was reminded of something that happened to me a few years ago. Without going into all the gory details, I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that God called me specifically to do something. I felt it in my soul, it was confirmed by a few of my spiritual mentors and God really laid the path clear before me. I took a step of faith and quickly obstacles arose. Satan knew exactly where to get me and instead of trusting God, I crumbled. I didn't believe God. I didn't believe that He could overcome and I didn't trust that He would fight my battle. I tucked tail and ran and that disobedience began a cycle of disobedience that I have never seen before in my life and pray that I never see it again. I'm not saying that one instance of disobedience automatically brings a series of them but for me it was a very slippery slope.

As a follower of the God of the universe and the Creator of all things, I still did not trust Him when things looked insurmountable. I was afraid of losing temporal things instead of storing up things that have eternal value. I like to think that I have learned that lesson. In this world we will be asked to trust God for big things. We will be asked to choose Him over things we hold dear. We must always remember to trust Him. He will never leave us or forsake us. Just as the twelve went to spy out the land and ten of them were scared silly! Caleb and Joshua didn't look at what they might lose. They looked only at what they had to gain! They believed God was true to His word and that He was big enough to do what He said He could do. I understand the ten. I know how easy it is to look around and see everything you have to lose in order to enter the Promised Land. Our Promised Land is waiting for us. There will be giants. There will be hills and valleys. We will have to leave some things behind. But I can promise you this... IT IS WORTH IT!! I do not want to spend 40 years wandering in a desert because I didn't trust God. After my disobedience to God I experienced a desert. I know how dry I felt. I knew the Lord was there but I couldn't feel Him as tenderly as I did before. He was there but seemed so far away.

Above all else, God wants us to believe Him. It's not about following rules and walking the straight and narrow. It's about believing God. I did a study from Beth Moore called "Believing God" several years ago. The five statement pledge of faith has stuck with me and it makes more sense to me now than ever before.

1. God is who He says He is.

2. God can do what He says He can do.

3. I am who God says I am.

4. God's Word is alive and active and living in me.

5. I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength.

They all seem so simple and so, well... "Duh". But it really all boils down to the 5 things. I want to trust Him. I believe that my God is huge and can do all things. He is all powerful. All loving. All everything. I believe it. I really do. But now, I want to live like I believe it. I want my steps to be steps toward faith. Hebrews 11:6, "Without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to Him must believe that He is and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him." I want to please God. I want to earnestly seek Him and the reward is that when I seek Him, I will find Him. And He is enough. God is more than enough for me. Though the mountains shall fall and the sky may crumble... God is the same yesterday, today and forever. He will never leave.

 I know in my heart that God wanted me to share this with you. He began burning the words into my heart awhile back. I want to close this with one question. What is God asking you to believe Him for? Believe Him. When everyone else has walked away, God will still be there. And He is enough. More than enough.

"The LORD Himself will fight for you. Just stay calm." Exodus 14:14 NLT