April 3, 2012

"Go and Cry Out to the Gods Which You Have Chosen" (4/3)

Thought from today’s Bible reading from Judges 10-12.

Following their regular pattern, the Israelites fell away and “did evil in the sight of the Lord” (Judges 10:6). To punish them, God “sold them into the hands of the Philistines and into the hands of the sons of Ammon. They afflicted and crushed the sons of Israel that year” (Judges 10:7-8). Then, as they typically did, the sons of Israel cried to God for help.

“Then the sons of Israel cried out to the Lord, saying, ‘We have sinned against You, for indeed, we have forsaken our God and served the Baals.’ The Lord said to the sons of Israel, ‘Did I not deliver you from the Egyptians, the Amorites, the sons of Ammon, and the Philistines? Also when the Sidonians, the Amalekites and the Maonites oppressed you, you cried out to Me, and I delivered you from their hands. Yet you have forsaken Me and served other gods; therefore I will no longer deliver you. Go and cry out to the gods which you have chosen; let them deliver you in the time of your distress’” (Judges 10:10-14).

Time and time again, God proved His love for the sons of Israel in delivering them despite their disobedience. But they thought of God’s grace as a reason to tolerate sin, just as many do today (Romans 6:1-2).
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April 1, 2012

"Surely I Will Be With You" (4/1)

Thought from today’s Bible reading from Judges 6-7.

During the time when the Midianites were oppressing Israel, the people cried out to God. As He regularly did during this time period, God raised up one to deliver the people from their oppressors. On this occasion, God called Gideon for this task. Gideon, however, showed reluctance in accepting this role.

“The Lord looked at him and said, ‘Go in your strength and deliver Israel from the hand of Midian. Have I not sent you?’ He said to Him, ‘O Lord, how shall I deliver Israel? Behold, my family is the least in Manasseh, and I am the youngest in my father’s house.’ But the Lord said to him, ‘Surely I will be with you, and you shall defeat Midian as one man’” (Judges 6:14-16).

God nullified Gideon’s excuses with the promise, “Surely I will be with you.”
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March 30, 2012

There Arose Another Generation Who Did Not Know the Lord (3/30)

Thought from today’s Bible reading from Judges 1-2.

“The people served the Lord all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders who survived Joshua, who had seen all the great work of the Lord which He had done for Israel. Then Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of the Lord, died at the age of one hundred and ten. And they buried him in the territory of his inheritance in Timnath-heres, in the hill country of Ephraim, north of Mount Gaash.

“All that generation also were gathered to their fathers; and there arose another generation after them who did not know the Lord, nor yet the work which He had done in Israel. Then the sons of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord and served the Baals” (Judges 2:7-11).

In the days of Joshua, the Israelites were, for the most part, faithful to the Lord. This faithfulness continued to the next generation. But sadly, the following generation did not exhibit such faithfulness and dedication to the Lord. What happened?
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March 28, 2012

"The Lord Gave Israel All the Land Which He Had Sworn to Give" (3/28)

Thought from today’s Bible reading from Joshua 19-21.

After the land of Canaan was divided among the tribes of Israel, a concluding statement is made about the certainty of God’s promises.

“So the Lord gave Israel all the land which He had sworn to give to their fathers, and they possessed it and lived in it. And the Lord gave them rest on every side, according to all that He had sworn to their fathers, and no one of all their enemies stood before them; the Lord gave all their enemies into their hand. Not one of the good promises which the Lord had made to the house of Israel failed; all came to pass” (Joshua 21:43-45).

God made the promise to Abraham that his descendants would inherit the land of Canaan (Genesis 17:8). This passage shows us that God’s promise was fulfilled.
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March 26, 2012

Caleb’s Inheritance (3/26)

Thought from today’s Bible reading from Joshua 12-15.

Caleb was one of the twelve spies who believed the Israelites could conquer the land of Canaan because God was with them. Though he and Joshua were unable to convince the people, he was promised an inheritance in the land. After the land was divided among the tribes, Caleb asked Joshua to grant him what he was promised.

“You know the word which the Lord spoke to Moses the man of God concerning you and me in Kadesh-barnea. I was forty years old when Moses the servant of the Lord sent me from Kadesh-barnea to spy out the land, and I brought word back to him as it was in my heart. Nevertheless my brethren who went up with me made the heart of the people melt with fear; but I followed the Lord my God fully. So Moses swore on that day, saying, ‘Surely the land on which your foot has trodden will be an inheritance to you and your children forever, because you have followed the Lord my God fully.’

“Now behold, the Lord has let me live, just as He spoke, these forty-five years, from the time that the Lord spoke this word to Moses, when Israel walked in the wilderness; and now behold, I am eighty-five years old today. […] Now then, give me this hill country about which the Lord spoke on that day, for you heard on that day that Anakim were there, with great fortified cities; perhaps the Lord will be with me, and I will drive them out as the Lord has spoken” (Joshua 14:6-12).

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March 24, 2012

Rahab Lived in the Midst of Israel (3/24)

Thought from today’s Bible reading from Joshua 5-8.

Yesterday we noticed Rahab’s faith which led her to help the Israelite spies who had come to Jericho. Because of her actions, her life was spared when the city was destroyed.

“However, Rahab the harlot and her father’s household and all she had, Joshua spared; and she has lived in the midst of Israel to this day, for she hid the messengers whom Joshua sent to spy out Jericho” (Joshua 6:25).

Her life was spared. But what did she do next? Did she simply go her own way, leaving Jericho and departing from the nation of Israel? No. She remained with Israel and lived among the people of God.
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March 23, 2012

What Rahab Knew (3/23)

Thought from today’s Bible reading from Joshua 1-4.

When Joshua sent spies to Jericho, they received help from an unlikely ally – a harlot named Rahab. Despite her past, she would prove to be a valuable and faithful friend to God and the Israelites.

But why did she help the spies? It was because of the things she knew about God and His aid for the Israelites.

“Now before they lay down, she came up to them on the roof, and said to the men, ‘I know that the Lord has given you the land, and that the terror of you has fallen on us, and that all the inhabitants of the land have melted away before you. For we have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea before you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to the two kings of the Amorites who were beyond the Jordan, to Sihon and Og, whom you utterly destroyed. When we heard it, our hearts melted and no courage remained in any man any longer because of you; for the Lord your God, He is God in heaven above and on earth beneath’” (Joshua 2:8-11).

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