The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him in Joshua 1:7b-8,
"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. 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."
The Lord tells Joshua here that his success as Israel's new leader will be contingent upon his adherence to the "Book of the Law". This is a reference to the Scriptures that the lawgiver, Moses, received from the Lord himself. Moses reduced what the Lord had to say to writing as the Lord commanded him and now a remarkable new thing has been introduced into the creation: written communication from the Creator of the cosmos!
While today we are all-too-familiar with the reality of the Scriptures, our Bibles, this is something that is really astonishing! The Lord enters his creation and speaks to mankind! The first of the production of Scripture began with Moses. Subsequently, as we find in Israel's history, further communication is provided us through succeeding prophets the Lord will raise up.
Concerning the Scriptures, Peter says, "Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet's own interpretation. For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit." 2 Peter 1:20-21. It is no wonder then that our lost and fallen world, living in sin and rebellion against God and under the influence of God's adversary, the devil, the Bible is constantly under attack, misused and misunderstood.
In a nutshell, what Israel was to learn by keeping the law, is that they would not succeed in it. Their sinful passions, just as with all mankind, would drive them to the realization they would need to be saved from God's own wrath for sin. As long as Israel participated in the plans and purposes of the Lord to bring them to a recognized need of a Savior, they would be blessed by him as a nation. Turn from the law and Israel, as a nation, would suffer.
Paul speaks of the Lord's purpose of the law in his letter to the churches of Galatia, "Before this faith came, we were held prisoners by the law, locked up until faith should be revealed. So the law was put in charge to lead us to Christ that we might be justified by faith. Now that faith has come, we are no longer under the supervision of the law."
Joshua and all Israel, as God's chosen people to carry out his agenda on planet earth, were to observe the law, fail in their sin, and look to God for salvation, a salvation that could not be earned by keeping the law, but through God's predetermined chosen venue: faith.
Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share your thoughts of worship with us from your Bible reading today. We'd love to hear from you!
Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com
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