Worship for Today: God shows us the way!

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him in Joshua 3:3b-4a,

 

"When you see the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God, and the priests, who are Levites, carrying it, you are to move out from your positions and follow it. Then you will know which way to go, since you have never been this way before."

 

This is the direction the officers of Israel gave the people when they were to cross the Jordan into the land promised them. They werre to follow the ark of the Lord to know the way. This ark contained the law of God codified in the Ten Commandments and formed the basis for the covenant between the Lord and his people. The presence of the Lord among the Israelites was embodied in the ark and would provide the way for the people.

 

Rich in symbolism, this event speaks to the reality that the law God gave Israel was not just a dusty book upon which people were to order their lives. It was and still is today a road map that puposefully takes us somewhere. Of it Paul says, "The law was put in charge to lead us to Christ that we might be justified by faith." Galatians 3:24. As the ark, containing the Ten Commandments, provided direction to the Israelites into the promised land, so the Ten commandments lead us to Jesus Christ into the resurrection of life.

 

We are all born with a sinful nature and are incapable of living lives acceptable to God. Worse yet, in our sinful condition, we cannot find our way, lost in the garden of Eden, back to our Creator with whom we must be in good standing in order to have a place in his family for eternity. What the law does is to demonstrate our sinful condition and personally show us our need to be saved. In this way it leads us to Christ. Jesus Christ paid for the penalty for our sins and provides us a right standing with God that we might have a place at his table. If we fail to recognize our need of him, we will miss the way and wander off in some lost direction.

 

Today I worship our God who has shown us the way, as he did the Israelites to enter into the promised land! Truly, Jesus Christ is the way, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." John 14:6.

 

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

Worship for Today: God prepares the way!

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him in Joshua 2:8-11,

 

"Before the spies lay down for the night, she went up on the roof and said to them, 'I know that the Lord has given this land to you 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. 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. When we heard of it, our hearts melted and everyone's courage failed because of you, for the Lord your God is God in heaven above and on the earth below.'"

 

In a fascinating acknowledgment of the hand of God in Israel's fortunes from Rahab, this prostitute expresses what had been revealed not just to her but to all the peoples the Israelites will face as they conduct their campaign to take the promised land. God has certainly prepared the way for Israel's offensive!

 

The writer of Hebrews acknowledges Rahab as one of the members of the great "hall of faith" he enumerates in Hebrews, chapter 11. "By faith the prostitute Rahab, because she welcomed the spies, was not killed with those who were disobedient." Hebrews 11:31.

 

Paul makes an interesting observation in his letter to the Romans about God. He says, "The Scripture says to Pharaoh: 'I raised you up for this very purpose, that I might display my power in you and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.'" Romans 9:17. This is a quote of Exodus 9:16 where the Lord tells Moses to confront Pharaoh with some bad news just prior to the plague of hail.

 

Some have viewed God as being needy if he seeks the adulation of people and requires his glory to be acknowedged. As if he has some kind of shortcoming in his personality, he must be missing something if he "needs" us to worship him. Nothing could be further from the truth.

 

Here in Rahab's confession of the fear all of these well-fortified giants of the land felt as they observed Israel coming their way, God's purpose in his statement to Pharaoh becomes obvioius. God hardened Pharaoh's heart so that the situation surrounding Israel's exodus from Egypt would become so dramatic it would be something all the nations would hear of and live in fear of. God used it to set the stage for Israel's conquest of the region, to demoralize and strike fear into the hearts of the people in the land Israel was to take.

 

Interesting, isn't it, that forty years earlier, the Israelites responded in fear to the report of the ten spies. In reality, the "giants" of the land living in the fortified cities were quaking in their boots as they heard and saw the devastation to Egypt as Israel went, along with the more current events. So great was the fear, that Rahab's report comes forty years later as they are still in fear of the Israelites!

 

I also find it interesting that God didn't make it clear to the Israelites how the events of the ten plagues and the exodus affected the inhabitants of the promised land. Israel would have to accept the promised land on faith and faith alone that God would give it into their hands.

 

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

Worship for Today: God performs the miraculous!

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him in Joshua 3:14-17,

 

"So when the people broke camp to cross the Jordan, the priests carrying the ark of the covenant went ahead of them. Now the Jordan is at flood stage all during harvest. Yet as soon as the priests who carried the ark reached the Jordan and their feet touched the water's edge, the water from upstream stopped flowing. It piled up in a heap a great distance away, at a town called Adam in the vicinity of Zarethan, while the water flowing down to the Sea of the Arabah (the Salt Sea) was completely cut off. So the people crossed over opposite Jericho. The priests who carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord stood firm on dry ground in the middle of the Jordan, while all Israel passed by until the whole nation had completed the crossing on dry ground."

 

As Israel followed the Lord's command to cross the Jordan and take possession of the land, an amazing miracle happens. The Jordan, at flood stage, stops flowing upstream so the nation can pass through it on dry ground! The river actually piles up in a heap as the Israelites pass through on the dry river bed!

 

Do I believe such an account? Am I certain such an event actually took place? Absolutely! There is no question of it. The Creator of the cosmos is certainly in full control of his creation and it is entirely subject to his command. It is also God's prerogative to violate the physical laws he designed and implemented which govern his creation as he wants, whenever and wherever. If God wants to violate his own law of gravity, as when Jesus Christ walked on water, he can and will certainly do so. God used this miracle, not just to facilitate a logistical barrier the Israelites faced, but to provide them with the confidence that their God was with them as they entered into the campaign.

 

Although I am certain there is much more going on behind the scenes, I see this as one of the interventions of God in the conquest of the promised land. Another being the interaction of the Israeli spies with Rahab the prostitute as they went to spy out Jericho and the surrounding country side.

Several things I note here. The first is, although Israel's patriarchs were promised the land of Palestine, they were going to have to do their part to get it. God often works this way. He involves us in the things he does that provides us meaningful purpose as he carries out his agenda. God often extends an offer that leaves us with a choice to follow him or not. Follow him and receive the blessing or turn from him and suffer his judgment. Israel was promised the land, but they would have to go get it.

 

The second is, God is always faithful on his promises. Israel could have taken the promised land forty years earlier, but in their failure to trust God, they found themselves wandering in the desert for forty years until that generation had passed. Now, with nothing more than they had before, they will follow the Lord and take possession of the land. They always had the Lord on their side, their failure to follow the Lord the forty years earlier was unfounded and their lack of trust in the Lord cost them dearly. God always has the power to do what he promises and nowhere is it more clearly on display than in this book of Joshua.

 

The third is Israel did not see this miracle from God until they acted first. The river didn't pile up upstream until the feet of the priests hit the water first. Not until Israel acted on their trust in God did God perform this miracle for them. Something for us all to learn here.

 

On another note, it seems to me that all of the really exciting things that have ever happened in this life came about because of God's presence in them...

 

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

Worship for Today: God never forsakes his people!

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him in Joshua 1:5b,

 

"I will never leave you nor forsake you."

 

As the Lord commands Joshua and the Israelites to do what they refused to forty years earlier, to conquer the land the Lord gave them, he reassures them with this promise: He will never abandon his people.

 

Paul considers this question in light of Israel's rejection of the Messiah fourteen hundred years later. He asks, "I ask then: Did God reject his people?" Romans 11:1. In answering the question he tells his readers, "God did not reject his people, whom he foreknew." Verse 2. Later, in verse 11 he asks and then answers the following question regarding Israel, "Again I ask: Did they [the Israelites] stumble so as to fall beyond recovery? Not at all! Rather, because of their transgression, salvation has come to the Gentiles to make Israel envious. But if their transgression means riches for the world, and their loss means riches for the Gentiles, how much greater riches will their fullness bring!" Romans 11:11-12.

 

All who belong to the Lord have this wonderful assurance from him. He will never forsake us. He is certain in fulfilling his promises and will see that we get safely home to him for all eternity. As Jude's wonderful doxology states, "To him who is able to keep you from falling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy— to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen."

 

No matter how badly we screw up and make a mess of things, no matter how poor our performance has been, no matter how much we have disappointed God, others and ourselves in this life, he will never leave us or forsake us. We are his and will remain so forever!

 

I love the way Jesus put it, "My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father's hand. I and the Father are one.'" John 10:27-30.

 

The nation of Israel has been through a lot with the Lord over the ages, through their disobedience to him and his resulting judgment of them. Yet, here they are today, as current as today's newspaper, as we await the time Paul refers to, "their fullness". Just as God promised a nation he would never forsake them, so too, as individuals, we have the same promise from him: he will never leave us or forsake us!

 

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

Worship for Today: Obedience to the law.

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

Worship for Today: Whatever we have, we have at the hand of God.

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

Worship for Today: God lavishes his grace upon us!

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him in Ephesians 2:8-9,

 

"It is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast."

 

Grace is that wonderful disposition of God to look on us favorably when we don't deserve it. Throughout the Scriptures it is amply demonstrated we have all sinned, we all deserve God's punishment for sin, we all should find our ultimate destination in a fiery lake of burning sulfur. However, out of this wonderful disposition of his for us, his love of us, we have a bright future to look forward to in the resurrection if we but trust in Jesus Christ. "It is by grace you have been saved, through faith... it is the gift of God..."

 

How wonderful is this grace we enjoy, this grace God has so wonderfully lavished on mankind! Apart from this disposition of God we would have no hope in life. No future, save that of an eternally miserable existence that awaits all who reject Jesus Christ.

 

Because of Adam's sin, we all die, Romans 5:12, but we will all be resurrected, Revelation 20:5-6. The faithful are raised into a paradise with God, Revelation 21:6-7, but those who will not respond to the gospel are raised to be cast into the lake of fire, Revelation 21:8.

 

How wonderful the grace of God, expressed to us in this opportunity he has extended to us all through the gospel message!

 

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