Tag: Joshua

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Trouble and Hope

Scripture Focus: Joshua 7.25-26
25 Joshua said, “Why have you brought this trouble on us? The Lord will bring trouble on you today.”

Then all Israel stoned him, and after they had stoned the rest, they burned them. 26 Over Achan they heaped up a large pile of rocks, which remains to this day. Then the Lord turned from his fierce anger. Therefore that place has been called the Valley of Achor ever since.

Hosea 2.14-15
14 “Therefore I am now going to allure her;
    I will lead her into the wilderness
    and speak tenderly to her.
15 There I will give her back her vineyards,
    and will make the Valley of Achor a door of hope.
There she will respond as in the days of her youth,
    as in the day she came up out of Egypt.

Reflection: Trouble and Hope
By Erin Newton

The memorial stones marking Achan’s death were called “The Valley of Achor” or fully translated, “The Valley of Trouble.” The name was fitting. Trouble came to Israel through Achan. One man’s sin caused the downfall of the community.

Joshua describes Achan’s sin as coveting and stealing. After Jericho, he took items destined to be devoted to God. Implied sins include pride and deceit. It was pride that led Achan to assume authority over what belonged to God. It was deceitfulness that caused Achan to avoid confessing until the very end.

Now just a pile of stones, thrown by the betrayed community and commanded by the betrayed God, Achan’s memorial would serve as a warning to Israel. The justice of God was not something to be overlooked. The warnings about disobedience were important.

God as a wrathful, vengeful deity is a typical assumption when reading the Old Testament. Some people reduce the testaments to the opposing picture of God: wrath in the Old, mercy in the New. This conclusion, however, neglects the fuller picture of God from Genesis to Malachi.

In Joshua, one sinful man is led into the wilderness as punishment. In Hosea, God leads the sinful people into the wilderness as a pathway of hope. The Valley of Achor reveals a more comprehensive view of God’s character: justice and mercy. Two sides of the same God.

Faced with this complex tension of two opposing characteristics, we tend to downplay one for the sake of the other. Our minds struggle to grasp how God can be completely just and completely merciful. It is a dichotomy we will never fully grasp.

How does trouble turn into hope? How does the punishment of disobedience become a beacon of mercy in the wilderness?

Justice and mercy converged on the cross. Like the punishment heaped upon Achan, the weight of our guilt was cast upon the body of Christ. But this monument of justice suddenly becomes a crimson beacon of hope. The justice required after the first Adam is covered by the mercy of the second Adam.

Whereby one man’s sin caused the downfall of humanity, the one Son of God caused the redemption of all creation.

We are not so different from Achan. Our sin would have us trudge into the wilderness to endure justice. But we are also like Israel, we are lured into the wilderness with a promise of restoration and mercy.

Divine Hours Prayer: The Morning Psalm
Seven times a day do I praise you, because of your righteous judgments.
Great peace have they who love your law: for them there is no stumbling block. — Psalm 119.165

– From The Divine Hours: Prayers for Summertime by Phyllis Tickle.

Today’s Readings
Joshua 7 (Listen 4:58)
Colossians 4 (Listen  2:21)

Read more about Distrust of God and Fraud
It is the unbelief and contempt of heaven, which make men risk it for the poor commodities of this world.

Distrust of God and Fraud :: Throwback Thursday

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From Survival to Cultivation

Scripture Focus: Joshua 5.10-12
10 On the evening of the fourteenth day of the month, while camped at Gilgal on the plains of Jericho, the Israelites celebrated the Passover. 11 The day after the Passover, that very day, they ate some of the produce of the land: unleavened bread and roasted grain. 12 The manna stopped the day after they ate this food from the land; there was no longer any manna for the Israelites, but that year they ate the produce of Canaan. 

Reflection: From Survival to Cultivation
By John Tillman

Migrants carry their world through the world. Everything precious to their lives and future is strapped to them in a backpack or a duffel bag. They often carry large amounts of cash or precious items to use for bribes and to survive on the way. I barely trust plastic grocery bags to make it from the store to my car, but migrants travel thousands of miles carrying water, food, and necessities in these bags.

After the first Passover, Israel left Egypt with considerably more than backpacks, duffle bags, and plastic grocery sacks. They had flocks and herds and wealth. Their encampment was carefully organized with strict cleanliness and purity rules. They built the Tabernacle, a magnificent mobile garden of Eden that moved around the desert with them like a mirage.

But no matter how organized or clean a migrant camp is, it is still a migrant camp. There is no planting or harvesting. There is no cultivation. There is only surviving.

At their first Passover in the promised land the people ate food from the land. They tasted the fruit of the promise. They had previously been sustained by manna, the miraculous provision of Heaven. Now they would rely on a different miracle—cultivation. They began the process of going from survival mode to cultivation mode.

Cultivation is just as miraculous as manna. We plant and water, but it is still the Lord who makes things grow. The one in whom we trust is the same one who provided manna in the wilderness.

Cultivation has a different responsibility. Manna could not be saved or shared. They gathered only for themselves. In survival mode, nothing lasts until tomorrow.

Shifting from survival to cultivation, we both save and share. Cultivation creates bounty and resources intended to bless the community and invest in the future.

There is no shame in being migrants. The Lord sustains them—often through us. (Deuteronomy 10.18-19; 24.14, 17; 27.19) But God’s calling and promise are to cultivation. (Micah 4.4) It is through cultivation of faith that we have plenty to share with those in survival mode.

Are you in survival mode or cultivation mode? 

Do you pray only in crisis? Or do you plant prayers, allowing them to grow roots and sprout?
Do you forge scriptures into weapons to fight others? Or do you form scripture into a plowshare, dragging its blades through the soil of your heart, casting out stones and weeds?

Divine Hours Prayer: The Refrain for the Morning Lessons
“Because the needy are oppressed, and the poor cry out in misery, I will rise up,” says the Lord, “And give them the help they long for.” — Psalm 12.5


– From The Divine Hours: Prayers for Summertime by Phyllis Tickle.

Today’s Readings
Joshua 5-6.5 (Listen 7:25) 
Colossians 2 (Listen  3:27)

Tuesday’s Readings
Joshua 6.6-6.27 (Listen 4:47), Colossians 3 (Listen  3:09)

Read more about Jericho’s Wall
God isn’t interested in destroying people we call our enemies

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When we cross over the Jordan with Christ, the land has no enemies to be defeated.

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Melted Hearts

Scripture Focus: Joshua 2.8-11
8 Before the spies lay down for the night, she went up on the roof 9 and said to them, “I know that the Lord has given you this land and that a great fear of you has fallen on us, so that all who live in this country are melting in fear because of you. 10 We have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea for you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to Sihon and Og, the two kings of the Amorites east of the Jordan, whom you completely destroyed. 11 When we heard of it, our hearts melted in fear and everyone’s courage failed because of you, for the Lord your God is God in heaven above and on the earth below.

Reflection: Melted Hearts
By Zachary Adams

As the people of God await news at the edge of the promised land, two spies take shelter in the home of a Canaanite woman. From the lips of Rahab, the two men find that God’s reputation has gone before them into the land of Canaan. She tells the men, “I know that the Lord has given you this land” (Joshua 2.9).

Rahab’s confidence is a response to the news of what God had done for Israel. God turned the mysterious depths of a sea into a dry pathway to safety. God liberated the people from their burden of slavery. God brought victory to Israel against wicked and powerful kings. This news of liberation reached the people in Canaan and triggered a response of fear. Why? They knew the mighty God who led these people was not their god.

This is an appropriate response. News of God’s liberating movement causes those in the darkness to tremble with fear. The light of redemption exposes that they are opposed to God and his people. How will they realize that this redemption is extended even to them?

Melting in fear is only one response to the movement of God. Rahab’s response shows she understands that redemption is not just for the Israelite, but for anyone who aligns themselves with the God of Israel. She does this as she hides the spies on her roof and helps them escape to safety. Rahab’s faith aligns her with the God of freedom and saves her entire family.

In an age when we do not see the Lord parting seas, what news is there of God?

We often hear news of moral failures in the church, but this isn’t the only news to be told. There are many stories that provide powerful proof of God’s continuing movement in our world today. God powerfully opens up the heart of the loveless. God wins over those opposed to him and makes them friends of God. Those held captive by sin find freedom by surrendering to his advance. This is my story. New life comes to even the most wicked of hearts through faith in the Son of God.

Rahab reminds us that God is mighty and he works through our stories. What is your story? What stories of new life will you tell? Tell stories of God’s movement today that will make the darkness melt away in fear.

Divine Hours Prayer: A Reading
Jesus taught us saying: “For God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but so that through him the world might be saved. No one who believes in him will be judged; but whoever does not believe is judged already, because that person does not believe in the name of God’s only Son. And the judgment is this: though the light has come into the world people have preferred darkness to light because their deeds are evil.” — John 3.17-19

– From The Divine Hours: Prayers for Summertime by Phyllis Tickle.

Today’s Readings
Joshua 2 (Listen 3:49)
Romans 15 (Listen  3:28)

Today’s Readings
Joshua 3 (Listen 2:45) Romans 16 (Listen  3:30)
Joshua 4 (Listen 3:31) Colossians 1 (Listen  4:18)

Read more about Becoming Part of the Promise
Rahab the Canaanite prostitute becomes a part of the Abrahamic promise. The promise itself would pass through her womb.

Becoming Part of the Promise

Read more about Content Mastery vs the Master of the Content
Our hope of gaining meaning from God’s Word is listening for his voice, personally calling to us.

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Success

Scripture Focus: Joshua 1.7-8
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. Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; 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.

Reflection: Success 
By Kelsey Hope Stookey

We all have an idea of what success looks like. Maybe for some, it is a promotion, a new car, or thousands of followers on our social media platform. But what if these forms of success do not happen? Does that mean that we are not successful?

Here, Joshua is called to lead God’s people as Moses’ successor. During his ministry, Moses led the nation of Israel and achieved what most would call a successful life and ministry. Moses was not perfect. But even today, he stands as an icon of a successful leader. After Moses’ death Joshua was called to lead. Joshua’s idea of success was almost certainly colored by the life and ministry of his predecessor. Here in verses 7 and 8, God reminds Joshua of how true success is attained. Who defines success and how do we achieve it? God is the one who shapes our vision of success and it hinges upon a relationship with him.

Success is not obtained by replicating the ministry of others. Instead, it is achieved by being faithful to obey God’s Word. When the Old Testament uses this Hebrew word for success which is transliterated as sakal, there is a common theme. A common Hebrew interpretation is to be prosperous or triumphant. Success though is not obtained by a person, but provided by the Lord.

Joshua is not given a list of people to compare his life to measure his success. God did not tell Joshua specifically how he would succeed. He also doesn’t promise Joshua social standing or a military conquest. Instead, he calls him to remember the words of the Lord, to meditate on them, and to be careful to obey. Then, he was promised success and prosperity on God’s terms.

Success in God’s eyes often looks different then how we would picture it. God’s definition of success for our life may not look like a promotion or a new car. It may look like being faithful in the same job for a long period of time because God has us there to minister to others. As we meditate on his word, success changes from the next big thing to daily obedience. No matter what our current situation is, let God define a successful life and not allow others to determine it for us.


Divine Hours Prayer: The Call to Prayer
The Lord is King; let the people tremble; he is enthroned upon the cherubim; let the earth shake. — Psalm 99.1

– From The Divine Hours: Prayers for Summertime by Phyllis Tickle.

Today’s Readings
Joshua 1 (Listen 3:11)
Romans 14 (Listen  3:28)

Read more about A Better Joshua
When changing leaders there is sometimes the fear that the new leader will not live up to the last one.

A Better Joshua

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Walls Unmade, Walls Restored

Scripture Focus: Nehemiah 12.43
43 And on that day they offered great sacrifices, rejoicing because God had given them great joy. The women and children also rejoiced. The sound of rejoicing in Jerusalem could be heard far away. 

Joshua 8.6-10
6 So Joshua son of Nun called the priests and said to them, “Take up the ark of the covenant of the Lord and have seven priests carry trumpets in front of it.” 7 And he ordered the army, “Advance! March around the city, with an armed guard going ahead of the ark of the Lord.”

8 When Joshua had spoken to the people, the seven priests carrying the seven trumpets before the Lord went forward, blowing their trumpets, and the ark of the Lord’s covenant followed them. 9 The armed guard marched ahead of the priests who blew the trumpets, and the rear guard followed the ark. All this time the trumpets were sounding. 10 But Joshua had commanded the army, “Do not give a war cry, do not raise your voices, do not say a word until the day I tell you to shout. Then shout!”

Reflection: Walls Unmade, Walls Restored
By John Tillman

When the people of Israel came into the promised land from their sojourn in Egypt and forty years of desert wandering, their first act in the land was the destruction of a wall.

Except for the blowing of trumpets, they walked in grim silence around the wall of Jericho. The inhabitants of Jericho were terrified. On the seventh day of walking, the walls of Jericho were unmade. They collapsed along with any hope the city had for survival.

In Nehemiah, the Israelites are returning to the promised land. They have sojourned under the rule of foreign kings. They have wandered, geographically and spiritually. They have been leaderless and without a wall to protect them. After the physical labor of remaking the walls of Jerusalem, Nehemiah assigns the spiritual labor of dedicating all they had done to the Lord.

Nehemiah’s dedication ceremony has echoes of the march around Jericho. The people march, led by priests with trumpets. This time, however, they march on the wall not around it and they are not a silent, threatening army. They are a praise-filled glorious choir.

This was a solemn moment for the people because they, better than anyone, realized that the same God who had unmade the walls of Jericho had unmade the walls of Jerusalem. Without the blessing of God, any bulwark is mere boasting. Without God’s sustaining influence, any affluence is insufficient. Without his protection, any practical self-defense measure will fail.

In joy, they circled the city with praise. In reverence, they marched upon the wall God restored. Through prayer, they raised a greater line of defence than any stone wall.

As you end this year, where do you find yourself in this story? Perhaps you feel like you have been wandering in the wilderness? Perhaps circling a wall that needs to come down? Perhaps treading the top of a wall, praying it doesn’t collapse? Have some things you had faith in been unmade? Have you struggled at reconstructing your faith? 

In their ceremony, Nehemiah circled the wall one way and Ezra the other. Find your Ezra. Partner with them in accountability and responsibility. Spend some time circling yourself, your home, your relationships, your work with worship and prayer. Recommit yourself to the future and to relying not on your own cleverness or strength but on God. Rejoice in what God restores and let your rejoicing be heard.

Divine Hours Prayer: The Greeting
Lord, you have been our refuge from one generation to another.
Before the mountains were brought forth, or the land and the earth were born, from age to age you are God. — Psalm 90.1-2

Today’s Readings
Nehemiah 12 (Listen 6:30) 
Revelation 21 (Listen 4:34)

Today’s Readings
Nehemiah 13 (Listen 5:57) Revelation 22 (Listen 3:59)
Genesis 1 (Listen 4:55) John 1 (Listen 6:18)

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