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Joshua 6-8

With God’s help, the Israelites captured and destroyed both Jericho and Ai. The attacks were different, but the final results were the same.  The Israelites rushed in and took anything of value as plunder.  The only difference was that at Jericho, as the people marched around the city walls, they devoted the city to the Lord.  

On the seventh day, they got up at daybreak and marched around the city seven times in the same manner, except that on that day they circled the city seven times. The seventh time around, when the priests sounded the trumpet blast, Joshua commanded the people, “Shout! For the LORD has given you the city! The city and all that is in it are to be devoted to the LORD. Only Rahab the prostitute and all who are with her in her house shall be spared, because she hid the spies we sent. But keep away from the devoted things, so that you will not bring about your own destruction by taking any of them. Otherwise you will make the camp of Israel liable to destruction and bring trouble on it. All the silver and gold and the articles of bronze and iron are sacred to the LORD and must go into his treasury.” – Joshua 6:15-19 NIV

You cannot rob God.  The Israelites learned this lesson through Achan whose sin in carting off plunder from Jericho caused them to lose their first battle against Ai.  Just as with Ananias and Sapphira in the New Testament, be very careful with what you devote to God.  If you give him your voice, don’t think you can lead worship on Sunday and sing in a night club the other nights of the week.  Once you give something to God, devote it to him, you can’t take it back.  History is littered with the ruins of those who once ran wholeheartedly after God and then started living for themselves.  It never works:  Everything accomplished for yourself will only be a shadow of what could have been done for God.

Does that mean God has nothing for us?  No, the Israelites were given permission to take all of the spoils of Ai for themselves.  There were riches available for them, but those dedicated to God were for God alone. That is why tithing is so important for a victorious Christian life.  Ten percent of what we earn is supposed to be devoted to God.  If we rob him of that, we will see the effects on our prosperity.  It’s not a matter of  ‘if we give we will prosper’, rather if we don’t give, we will not experience the overwhelming prosperity of God.

Joshua 1-5

How did the men sent to spy out Jericho know that Rahab, the prostitute, would have a receptive heart towards God’s people and why would a person with such a reputation be used rather than some upright citizen? 

 Rahab knew who she was but she had seen God’s power at work as well.   “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^[a] 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.^[b] 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. – Joshua 2:9-11 NIV

She was not embarrassed to hang a scarlet cord from her window to win God’s favor.

God’s standards are so different from our own.  Both the Old and New Testaments are littered with heroes from dubious backgrounds.  In addition to prostitutes, there are murderers, adulterers, liars, cheats , people who would shake their fists in anger at God, and even those who would deny him.  How can a pure gospel be spread by such people.  Or perhaps the questions should be how can the gospel be spread by any one else?   Who better to understand God’s forgiveness than those of us with a tainted past?  Perhaps all of our failures serve as a means to soften our hearts towards the others God would touch as well.  God’s not too impressed with our feeble efforts, we all fall short and we all have a shot at redemption.  Thank God, his standards are not as high as our own or none of us would be saved. 

Then Peter opened his mouth, and said, Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons:
 But in every nation he that feareth him, and worketh righteousness, is accepted with him. – Acts 10:34-35 KJV

We’re all tainted, we’re all guilty.  If we are really honest, each of us could hang a scarlet cord out the window as a sign of surrender.

Deuteronomy 31-34

Sometimes as I read the chapters chosen for my daily devotion, nothing comes to me.  Everything is familiar, the stories have all been told before.  And then, suddenly a verse leaps out; one that seems specifically designed for me alone.  This morning it is the blessing that Moses pronounced on Benjamin, shortly before he climbed Mt. Nebo for a parting glance at the promised land before he died.

“Let the beloved of the LORD rest secure in him,
   for he shields him all day long,
   and the one the LORD loves rests between his shoulders.”  – Deut. 33:12 NIV

‘The one the Lord loves rests between his shoulders.’  Suddenly I see what my relationship to the Lord should look like.  It is not adult to adult as I often imagine.  We are not on the same level at all.  I am his child.  He carries me.  I’m resting between his shoulders like a small child riding piggy back on his father’s back.  I’m holding on for dear life, with my arms wrapped around his neck, but he’s holding on to me as well.  He will not let me fall.  He loves me, I can rest secure in him.  If nowhere else, there is rest between his shoulders.

Deuteronomy 29-30

Moses sees what the children of Israel have not been able to see.  He knows that God reveals his ways to those he is in covenant with for a purpose. “The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may follow all the words of this law.” – Deut. 29:29 NIV

Moses knows this people, and he knows that someday, their hearts will leave that of the Lord God in search of better gods.  He knows what their destruction will be, but he also knows the heart of Jehovah and how he loves this wayward people.  “Even if you have been banished to the most distant land under the heavens, from there the LORD your God will gather you and bring you back.  He will bring you to the land that belonged to your fathers, and you will take possession of it. He will make you more prosperous and numerous than your fathers.  The LORD your God will circumcise your hearts and the hearts of your descendants, so that you may love him with all your heart and with all your soul, and live.” – Deut. 30: 4-6 NIV

Moses, who has lead this cantankerous and rebellious people for over forty years, in a voice that has become eloquent over time, now pleads with them to choose the right thing.  “Now what I am commanding you today is not too difficult for you or beyond your reach.  It is not up in heaven, so that you have to ask, “Who will ascend into heaven to get it and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?”  Nor is it beyond the sea, so that you have to ask, “Who will cross the sea to get it and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?”  No, the word is very near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart so you may obey it. See, I set before you today life and prosperity, death and destruction….This day I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life.” – Deut. 30:11-19  NIV

It has been revealed to you, he says.  It is not a difficult thing. You have seen God’s blessing and His curse.  Choose life…..choose Life!

Deuteronomy 26-28

Moses directs the Israelites that when they cross the Jordan, they are to separate into two groups.  The tribes of tribes of Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Joseph, and Benjamin are to ascend Mount Gerizim to pronounce blessing and Reuben, Gad, Asher, Zebulun, Dan and Napthali are to ascend Mount Ebal to pronounce curses.  Blessings for obeying the Lord, their God completely, and following his commands, and curses for not obeying God and following his commands.

It’s difficult to read these chapters without thinking of our country, or any other country for that matter, which once labored under the blessing of our God, and which is now experiencing what happens to the fortunes of those countries when the people turn to other gods. There’s no doubt we have chosen other gods. We worship celebrity, technology, the media, our political system and even our own intellect. These are the things we rely on to save us, just as the ancients relied on their baals and asheroth poles. 

Past generations have experienced the blessings, “You will be blessed in the city and blessed in the country. The fruit of your womb will be blessed, and the crops of your land and the young of your livestock—the calves of your herds and the lambs of your flocks. Your basket and your kneading trough will be blessed. You will be blessed when you come in and blessed when you go out. The LORD will grant that the enemies who rise up against you will be defeated before you. They will come at you from one direction but flee from you in seven. The LORD will send a blessing on your barns and on everything you put your hand to…”Deuteronomy 28:3-8 NIV

And the same curses will befall us as befell the Israelites if we continue our wayward ways. “The LORD will send on you curses, confusion and rebuke in everything you put your hand to, until you are destroyed and come to sudden ruin because of the evil you have done in forsaking him…A people that you do not know will eat what your land and labor produce, and you will have nothing but cruel oppression all your days…You will sow much seed in the field but you will harvest little, because locusts will devour it…The alien who lives among you will rise above you higher and higher, but you will sink lower and lower…You who were as numerous as the stars in the sky will be left but few in number, because you did not obey the LORD your God. Just as it pleased the LORD to make you prosper and increase in number, so it will please him to ruin and destroy you. Deut. 28:20-62 NIV

The choice was shouted from the mountain tops. They can be blessed with abundance or cursed with total devastation.  The choice will be their’s and and the choice of generations to come.

Deuteronomy 18-20

When you are about to go into battle, the priest shall come forward and address the army. He shall say: “Hear, O Israel, today you are going into battle against your enemies. Do not be fainthearted or afraid; do not be terrified or give way to panic before them. For the LORD your God is the one who goes with you to fight for you against your enemies to give you victory.” – Deut. 20:2-4 NIV

Don’t panic.  That is the word the priests were to give the people before they went into battle.  

How often do I feel I am fighting the battle all alone, or even worse, how often do I feel that the battle has been lost already, so there is no reason to fight at all.  I find that especially true when I survey the world.  How can I fight all I see around me:  the broken homes, broken fathers and mothers, broken children?  How can I fight the forces that are dragging our society down to the depths:  the addictions, the drugs, the pornography, the incest, the greed and maliciousness?  How can any of us go into battle against all of these forces?

But, ever so faintly I hear the words:  ‘Let not your heart be troubled, you believe in God, believe also in me,’ and  ‘I will never leave you or forsake you..’  ‘Don’t panic’, our High Priest tells us, ‘for God goes with you to fight your enemies.’  Don’t be fainthearted, for greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world.

Deuteronomy 13-17

These chapters start out with the command that any prophet or seer who tries to convince the people to follow other gods, must be put to death.  It is the LORD your God you must follow, and him you must revere. Keep his commands and obey him; serve him and hold fast to him. – Deut. 13:4 NIV 

That command would not be as difficult to follow as the next:   If your very own brother, or your son or daughter, or the wife you love, or your closest friend secretly entices you, saying, “Let us go and worship other gods” (gods that neither you nor your fathers have known, gods of the peoples around you, whether near or far, from one end of the land to the other), do not yield to him or listen to him. Show him no pity. Do not spare him or shield him. You must certainly put him to death. Your hand must be the first in putting him to death, and then the hands of all the people. Stone him to death, because he tried to turn you away from the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. – Deut. 13:6-10 NIV

This is pretty radical, but God is a jealous God.  These passages remind us that we must recognize the power of those we love to convince us to follow other gods or take our eyes off of the one true God.  Anyone who has overcome an addiction knows that they have to leave the old behind:  friends, co-workers, even family.  Associating with anyone who is still living the old life that they want to escape is going to pull them back down. 

This morning I woke to the words of an old hymn, Come Thou Fount,  running through my head.

O to grace how great a debtor
Daily I’m constrained to be!
Let Thy goodness, like a fetter,
Bind my wandering heart to Thee.
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,
Prone to leave the God I love;
Here’s my heart, O take and seal it,
Seal it for Thy courts above.(1)

I’m prone to wander, just like the Israelites, prone to leave the shelter of God’s love for the promise of something that can never really satisfy.  If it means divorcing myself from all those I know that would entice me to follow after other gods, then they must become dead to me.

Deuteronomy 18-20

After Moses addresses the people about being just and merciful and walking with their God, he goes further to address the treatment of the priests who represented the people before the Lord, and the Levites who ministered  before God.  He talks about the prophet who would be the voice of God for the people.  He talks about the Avenger of Blood who would punish anyone guilty of bloodshed. He talks about judges who would make sure that the people are honest. 

He tells the Israelites of all the people they have in their midst that will make them just and merciful, then he talks about going to war.  Not just going to war to defend themselves, but going to war to wipe out completely the people who live in the land. “However, in the cities of the nations the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance, do not leave alive anything that breathes. Completely destroy them—the Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites—as the LORD your God has commanded you.  Otherwise, they will teach you to follow all the detestable things they do in worshiping their gods, and you will sin against the LORD your God.” – Deut. 20:16-18 NIV

Completely destroy your enemies.  What kind of God is this?

“Safe?” said Mr. Beaver.”Who said anything about safe? ‘Course he isn’t safe. But he’s good. He’s the King, I tell you.“— C.S. Lewis (The Chronicles of Narnia)

Deuteronomy 9-12

To the LORD your God belong the heavens, even the highest heavens, the earth and everything in it. Yet the LORD set his affection on your forefathers and loved them, and he chose you, – Deut. 10:15-16 NIV

It’s an amazing thing, that this God, who owns all of creation, who owns the universe, should set his affections on us.  How can he love us?  I look around and there is not much of anything that is lovable in this world. Not only do we bicker and fight with each other, but we destroy God’s creation daily just as we destroy each other.  We’re vicious, unloving, sinful, proud, loose, undisciplined, and unrestrained people and that is just those who call themselves Christians.  The rest of the world has taken the depths of depravity to an even greater level. 

Yet God still loves us.  He still loves me and I am as guilty as the next one of falling short of what he commanded us to be.  Those are easy words to put down on paper but do I really think I am as guilty as the rest of the world?  Do I say I fall short because it is what is expected of me.  Do I secretly think that it is the rest of the world that has gone mad while I am still saintly?  I confess that sometimes I feel that way.  I see everyone else’s faults and seldom my own, which is perhaps more grievous in God’s eye than being the worst of sinners.  Where is there any hope? 

Hope abounds.  God has been faithful to his creation when we have not.  He has done wonders, not only when he created the earth or brought the Israelites out of Egypt, but the most great and awesome wonder when he provided a way when it was hopeless.  

He is your praise; he is your God, who performed for you those great and awesome wonders you saw with your own eyes. – Deut. 10:21 NIV

I have seen it with my own eyes  I’ve seen his mercy and grace.  I have seen his great and awesome wonder in my life.  He indeed is my praise.

Deuteronomy 5-8

The LORD commanded us to obey all these decrees and to fear the LORD our God, so that we might always prosper and be kept alive, as is the case today. And if we are careful to obey all this law before the LORD our God, as he has commanded us, that will be our righteousness.” – Deut. 6:24-25:  NIV

Moses spoke these words to the children of Israel as he was recalling all that God had done for them and encouraging them to never forget.  Unfortunately, for that generation and all of those that were to follow, God’s decrees and commands were all too soon forgotten, abandoned, or expanded upon until it was impossible to follow them.  Where was their righteousness? 

The same is true for me.  My memory is faint, my recollections spotty.  I can’t remember all of my sins, let alone all that God has done for me.  And as far those commandments, when I hold them up against Jesus’ measuring rod.: 

“You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘Do not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.’ But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment. (Matt. 5:21-22 NIV)

 I fall short every time and have to cry as the apostle Paul, “Woe is me.”

But, thank God, He provided a way.  Just as He led the children of Egypt out of slavery in Egypt, He leads me out as well.  The sacrifice has been laid on the altar and I am free.