The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him in Joshua 1:1-3,
"After the death of Moses the servant of the Lord, the Lord said to Joshua son of Nun, Moses' aide: 'Moses my servant is dead. Now then, you and all these people, get ready to cross the Jordan River into the land I am about to give to them—to the Israelites. I will give you every place where you set your foot, as I promised Moses.'"
Abraham was a man of God. He exemplified the kind of faith that God decided beforehand he would reward with eternal life. "Abram believed the Lord, and he credited it to him as righteousness." Genesis 15:6. Salvation by faith. The fundamental doctrine of God Almighty: the very essence of the gospel message the church is to proclaim to a lost and fallen world today. Unfortunately, it is the doctrine most under assault, both outside, and, astonishingly and horrifyingly enough, within the church itself.
In any event, because of his faith, Abraham's offspring, Israel, became God's chosen people. God decided to unfold his plan of redemption to a lost and fallen world through this nation. After bringing the Jews out of their Egyptian enslavement through his hand-picked man, Moses, and following the nation's wandering in the wilderness for forty years and the death of Moses, God chose Joshua to now lead them into the land.
It is what God tells Joshua here that captures my attention. God is going to give the land he promised to both Abraham and Moses to the Israelites. But... there are already people who live there, who "own" it. People who have built fortifications and can defend it. So powerful are these people that, forty years prior, Israel quaked in their boots and refused to believe that God could deliver it to them, hence their forty years of wandering in the wilderness.
However, the reality is that God has the power to give it. God created it all, it is his to give. God is all powerful and he is more than capable to deliver it. As I consider it, I acknowledge that God is the very one we all owe our very existence to. God gives life. It is he who has created all there is. Whatever it is we are, whatever we become, whatever we "possess", it is all at the hand of God. We have nothing that God did not make possible, we would not even exist were it not for God determining for us to.
It was this very frame of reference that brought righteousness to Abraham. As Paul considers him, he says, "Yet he [Abraham] did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised. This is why 'it was credited to him as righteousness.'" Romans 4:20-22.
Whatever we have, we have at the hand of God.
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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