Joshua

We will be ending our series in Joshua this coming Sunday. Ending Joshua is a bittersweet endeavor (certainly so for me), but it's also quite thought-provoking as Joshua shows us what it is like to finish well. And whether you are 18 or 88, you should be thinking of finishing well. Our time in this life is so short, and we want to run our race well, and fight the good fight with strength. Joshua's...

We are in the penultimate section of the book of Joshua, and it is a particularly powerful section of our book. I will miss this book, but I am going to greatly treasure these final two portions we have to walk through before we move on to 1st and 2nd Peter. With July 4th in mind, it is proper and fitting for us to be in prayer for this land in which God has placed us. Not one of us is in this cou...

This week we will be looking at Joshua 20-21, and the installation of the "cities of refuge" that are pictured on the map below. Quite unlike our modern conception of "sanctuary cities," these cities of refuge were places that sought to preserve the rule of law, the due process of the court, and ultimately the justice of God! God's laws are good and merciful, and these passages show God fulfilling...

There is a certain thing I used to find myself doing when I worked out—I would find myself "cheating" a bit toward the end of the workout. In other words, I would start getting a bit tired (and maybe even a little bored of the routine), and I would pay less attention to my form. I would sling the weights around instead of making careful movements. My workout form would become lax and careless. And...

This Sunday we will be in Joshua 15, which is actually one of the more difficult passages in the book of Joshua. Among several themes that arise, I think this passage is a great place to lead us to consider the theme of bold leadership. Strong, bold leadership is something that the Church needs, but it is also something we frequently do not encourage (and even sometimes chafe against). I am prayin...

We cover Joshua chapters 11–12 and consider God's faithfulness in giving rest to His people—a rest that finds its fulfillment in Christ. Canaan's armies rose against Israel with hardened hearts; later, hardened crowds would cry out for Christ's death. Israel saw the ruin that sin brought on the land; later, Christ would willingly be crushed for the sins of all His children. Israel found a temporar...

This Sunday we are looking at Joshua 10 and Israel's victory over the kings of the land that are arrayed against them. In our passage, the Canaanite kings attack Gibeon, Israel quickly comes to its aid (because their new treaty), and the fighting ensues. At key points through the passage, we are reminded that the battle belongs to the Lord, which is key—and I think this dynamic is sometimes hard f...

This week we are returning to the book of Joshua, and we will be considering the defeat of Ai. There is a theme that is quite familiar in Joshua that comes to the forefront in this passage in God's wonderful instruction to his people: "do not fear and do not be dismayed." There are many things in this world that can cause us to fear, but our encouragement is that a proper fear of the Lord dispels...

The life of a Christian has certain highs and lows, occasional hills and valley, frequent good times and yet some challenging stretches. We are familiar with that sort of ebb-and-flow as individuals—where in some seasons we feel that we are tremendously growing spiritually, while in other stretches we feel like we have failed in every way possible. This is true at a church level too—there are time...

God does not tell us things without a reason. God does not do anything without a reason, for that matter, but nothing that God instructs us to do is arbitrary. God always has a good purpose in all these things, whether we can see the reason or not! In fact, an important lesson of the Christian walk is simply trusting God in that regard: recognizing that whatever He leads us to do is best. This wil...

This Sunday we will begin a two-part look at the destruction of Jericho in Joshua 6, and we will consider the idea of the "warfare of worship." These will be some challenging passages—there is bloodshed and judgment, which is always serious. I think that is one of the reasons why the idea of "worship" is so important: because we must recognize that worship always elicits a response. In many ways,...

This passage is strong on the fact that God is for God—God is the hero of the story, and we are to align our desires and plans with His. And in a very comforting way, this passage is also an encouraging recognition that we belong to God because of the blood of Christ. God is for God, and we belong to Him!

This passage is about preparation—God's people are preparing before they rush ahead into the promised land. God has set them aside and marked them with the sign of the covenant, but a vitally important factor is that the people obediently and thoughtfully prepare for their next steps. This should be a tremendous encouragement to us: God has plans for us, for our children, and for our church. He ha...

The theme of worship will be at the forefront as we make our way into Joshua 4. The worship we see exemplified in Joshua is similar to the themes of worship that we see throughout all of Scripture: worship is something otherwordly. Worship is also quite powerful, both for us and for the rest of the world. It should be no suprise that God's people are constantly called to worship, and I pray that w...

The topic of worship will become a very poignant theme in the book of Joshua as we make our way into chapter three this week (the first of a two-part account that includes chapter four). One question that these passages will answer is "how should we follow and worship God?" God's people have always been called to be bold-yet-careful in our worship, and the following passages will encourage us to r...