Today's Worship: The Bible is real.

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him in Joshua 15:1,

 

"The allotment for the tribe of Judah, clan by clan, extended down to the territory of Edom, to the Desert of Zin in the extreme south."

 

In a section of this book, which can be daunting to follow with the tribal references and geographic specifics provided for the distribution of the promised land, I am reminded of something quite important about Scripture.

 

The Bible is different than all the other so-called religious books of the world. The Bible stands alone as a collection of volumes that contain factual information that reflect times and places. Real times and real places where real events occurred.

 

The Scriptures are not simply a collection of statements of wisdom and religious thought, ethical considerations, liturgies and theology. To be sure, the Bible is all of these things. But those who spend time in the Scriptures find themselves in the midst of God revealing himself, manifesting himself throughout its pages in the context of time and space. Real time and space.

 

Listed in Joshua are numerous geographical landmarks that provide boundary lines of how the land was distributed following Israel's possession of it. Real people in real places at specific times in world history. It is all recorded right here in its pages. We should expect no less from a body of literature that contains the accounts of God's activities and the revelation of himself.

 

Put very simply, the Bible is real. It is precisely in contexts such as we find in the book of Joshua, where dates and places can be documented and verified - demonstrating the veracity of the Scriptures.

 

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

Today's Worship: God has qualified us to share in his family!

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him in Colossians 1:12,

 

"...giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light."

 

Paul tells his readers he prays they will live their lives worthy of the Lord, to please him in every way, as the Lord has, among other things, "qualified" them to become members of "the kingdom of light". I love the way the NIV has translated this. It brings across an important truth in rich clarity. God is the one who has qualified us to become his own children!

 

How did he do this? A few verses later he says, "he has reconciled you by Christ's physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation..." Colossians 1:22. Here Paul proclaims the fulfillment of what was prophesied by Isaiah eight centuries earlier, "he [the Lord's servant, Jesus Christ]  was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed. We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. " Isaiah 53:5-6.

 

All people have sinned and are unfit for entry into God's family. We are all unable to qualify ourselves to live with God in his kingdom. In his own mercy and kindness to us, he has made it possible for all to enter his kingdom. He has qualified us for this by providing the payment for our sins through the substitutionary death of his Son, Jesus Christ.

 

Since he is the one who has qualified us, all he asks from us is to embrace him in faith, to trust in him!

 

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

Today's Worship: Victory is found in the Lord.

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him in Joshua 11:6-8,

 

"The Lord said to Joshua, 'Do not be afraid of them, because by this time tomorrow I will hand all of them over to Israel, slain. You are to hamstring their horses and burn their chariots.' So Joshua and his whole army came against them suddenly at the Waters of Merom and attacked them, and the Lord gave them into the hand of Israel. They defeated them and pursued them all the way to Greater Sidon, to Misrephoth Maim, and to the Valley of Mizpah on the east, until no survivors were left."

 

The defeat of these northern kings was assured Israel by the Lord. In a masterful coordinated effort crafted by the Lord himself, Israel conquered her opponents. The comment catches my eye: "the Lord gave them into the hand of Israel."

 

This reminds me of a passage in Proverbs that speaks to the issue of where victory comes from. "There is no wisdom, no insight, no plan that can succeed against the Lord. The horse is made ready for the day of battle, but victory rests with the Lord." Two verses of Proverbs here that fit so well together. Nothing can succeed against the Lord and victory is found in him.

 

We are to make ready for the battle, prepare ourselves, and then rely on the Lord for victory: his strength, his power. Paul tells us to prepare for spiritual battle in Ephesians 6:10-18. There we are instructed to put on spiritual armament. But as in the case with Israel, when she took the promised land from the Canaanites, the ability to win the day is found in the Lord. Paul tells us to "be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power." Victory comes through him.

 

How wonderful it is to dwell in the tent of the one who will always bring the victory!

 

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

Today's Worship: The sovereign control of the Lord.

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him in Joshua 11:20,

 

"It was the Lord himself who hardened their hearts to wage war against Israel, so that he might destroy them totally, exterminating them without mercy, as the Lord had commanded Moses."

 

As we read of Israel taking possession of the land the Lord promised them, it is a sweeping account. Here we learn that the Lord hardened the hearts of the people he intended to have Israel annihilate. As Israel marched through the land the various kings came together in efforts to fight off the Israelites, all to no avail.

 

What I find interesting is the Lord's involvement in what he did through Israel. He wanted the wicked inhabitants of Canaan destroyed and so manipulated events that insured it would happen the way he wanted. We read that the Lord "hardened the hearts" of the Canaanites so they would wage war against Israel, war they had no possibility of winning. The Lord would see to that, accomplish what he desired and do it all through the nation of Israel, masking much of his own direct participation in his judgement of the Canaanite peoples.

 

Much of what the Lord has done throughout history, he has done in a way that his visibility has been carefully measured. I am certain he does it to maintain some equilibrium so that he can be embraced in faith. He has made clear he has chosen all who will embrace him in faith, and although he could step out on the stage of world events and bring about whatever it is he desires, he has chosen to mask himself for his own purposes. This is clearly seen in the actions of Jesus Christ as he allowed himself to be known to some and not others, how he would let himself be recognized in some circumstances, but not in others. The Lord appears to interact with the world in such a way that he maintains the opportunity for faith to exist.

 

What is striking here is the manipulation of the peoples of the world. Where mankind may feel he is entirely in control of his destiny, at times man is simply doing what he has been manipulated to do by our God who carries out his own agenda to perfection.

 

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

Today's Worship: Believers are rewarded; the faithless are condemned.

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him in Joshua 6:18-19, 7:20-21,

 

"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."... "It is true! I have sinned against the Lord, the God of Israel. This is what I have done: When I saw in the plunder a beautiful robe from Babylonia, two hundred shekels of silver and a wedge of gold weighing fifty shekels, I coveted them and took them. They are hidden in the ground inside my tent, with the silver underneath."

 

Joshua tells his fighting men they are not to take silver and gold, articles of bronze and Iron for themselves when they sack Jericho. It is all to be "devoted" to the Lord and to his treasury. Only when Achan is caught does he confess to violating the Lord's command concerning the devoted things.

 

Of what value, of what good, was the beautiful Babalonian robe, the silver and gold to Achan when he was put to death? He had just been told, along with the other men, that he would bring about his own destruction if he took any of it - and yet he did. Why? Obviously, he didn't believe what the Lord said. It made no point for him to take these things to his own certain peril, he therefore didn't believe he would be in peril to take them.

 

Sounds a lot like Adam and Eve in the garden, doesn't it? When they succumbed to their temptation, I am quite certain they didn't realize the tragedy that would ensue when they did what God told them not to. Like Achan, their sin was a lack of belief, a failure to trust in God.

 

It is upon this very issue that God has determined who will be allowed into his family, who will be given eternal life. Those who embrace God in faith will inherit the certain promises of God. Those who reject God, who refuse to believe what he has to say will be condemned to an eternity in a fiery lake of burning sulfur. Over and over, throughout the Scriptures, God has made plain to us all that if we place our faith in him, he will forgive us our sins and provide us a place at his table.

 

Achan's actions revealed his heart toward God. This is true for all of us. What we do expresses what is in our hearts, no matter what our lips give service to. Achan may have been a pillar of the community, a man looked up to and revered by his countrymen. But even a pagan prostitute was held in higher esteem by God when she placed her faith in him. Rahab is mentioned by both the writer of Hebrews and the Lord's own brother in his letter as a hero of faith.

 

This is the message of James 2:25-26, "In the same way, was not even Rahab the prostitute considered righteous for what she did when she gave lodging to the spies and sent them off in a different direction? As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead."

 

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

Today's Worship: The Lord comes!

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him in Joshua 6:1a,

 

"Now Jericho was tightly shut up because of the Israelites."

 

What a picture of the posture and attitude of the world today. Here comes the Lord, amongst his people. His presence is with them as they approach Jericho, carrying his word with them.

 

The Canaanites had fair warning forty years earlier, when the Lord first delivered Israel from Egypt and intended to bring them against the inhabitants of the promised land. Rather than heeding the events that attended the freeing of Israel from Egypt, clearly known to the inhabitants of Jericho, as confesses by Rahab, and repenting and seeking the Lord's mercy, they shut themselves up.

 

Given what the inhabitants knew about the miracles of the Lord, this was an act of insanity. Just how tightly can you shut up a city against the Lord and his people, given what took place forty years prior, and more recently with the two kings on the east side of the Jordan? When the Israeli spies went to Jericho, Rahab told 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." Joshua 2:9-11.

 

And, yet, the inhabitants of Jericho "tightly shut" themselves before the advance of the Lord and his people! Rahab seems to be the only one from Jericho that made a wise choice.

This is exactly what the world does today. Given the world's history with the Lord, the visitation of God's Son to earth, his death, burial and resurrection, what kind of sense does it make that the world shuts itself up tightly against him? The Lord has clearly told us he is coming back, that he will visit his retribution on planet earth and all of its inhabitants for sin. About Jesus Christ, we read in Revelation 19:13-15, "He is dressed in a robe dipped in blood, and his name is the Word of God. The armies of heaven were following him, riding on white horses and dressed in fine linen, white and clean. Out of his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations. 'He will rule them with an iron scepter.' He treads the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God Almighty."

 

While those who reject any acknowledgment of the Lord seem to abound today, while so many spurn his offer of forgiveness and  restoration with him, Jesus Christ is coming back. While many attempt to tightly shut their minds to their Creator, he is headed this way. Just like a massive freight train that has left the station and is unstoppable, the Lord is headed this way. Just as the walls of Jericho could not stand against the purposes and agenda of the Lord, nothing in this world will stop the Lord's purposes here on planet earth!

 

The Lord is coming!

 

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

Today's Worship: It is God's choice!

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him in Joshua 6:2,

 

"Then the Lord said to Joshua, 'See, I have delivered Jericho into your hands, along with its king and its fighting men.'"

 

Now that Israel has crossed the Jordan into the land the Lord had promised them, the Lord tells Joshua he is handing their first conquest west of the Jordan to them, Jericho. To be sure, Israel will have to fight for it, but it is as good as done since the Lord has told Joshua it is theirs.

 

What right has God to give Jericho to Israel? What right has God to give any land over to a nation? Who is to decide who gets what? We live in a day where these are the questions that seem to perplex the bewildered international diplomatic community. Do the Palestinians have historical claim to Palestine? Does Israel? Should Israel be free to maintain control over the real estate it captured during the various wars she fought in the last half of the twentieth century?

 

Closer to home, what of the claim of "guilt-ridden white liberals" that the taking of North America and settling it was somehow an immoral thing relative to the natives living here at the time?

 

Paul provides an interesting observation relative to this kind of issue when he spoke to the folks at the Areopagus in Athens two millenia ago. He said, "The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands. And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything, because he himself gives all men life and breath and everything else. From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us." Acts 17:24-27.

 

The Creator decides. He created it and it is all his. He determines the eras for peoples and where they will live. His agenda is to provide all possible means that people may embrace him in faith. Here is where mankind's "rule" and "authority" comes to an end and where mankind must bow to supremacy of his creator. Those who feel they should be the arbiters of such things are mere pip-squeaks before our omnipotent creator. It is his to decide. Where man feels he is doing big things, he is merely doing the bidding of God.

 

This brings to my mind the great decision God made, one much more profound and important than who gets which real estate at what time. God decided before time began, knowing that man would fall from his lofty position of fellowship with him in the garden, that he would reserve for himself all who embrace him in faith. God paid the penalty of our sins himself, when he sent his Son to die a miserable death on that cross. God predetermined that payment for our sins would be credited to any individual who embraces him in faith. He didn't decide to credit that payment to us if we are good looking, if we succeed in the business world, if we behave ourselves or we join the right church. He decided that he would give us eternal life if we trust in him.

 

But some simply cannot find the faith to place in God. Is it fair of God that we must trust in him? Hear how Paul answers that, in the similar way he addresses who inhabits which real estate when. "One of you will say to me: 'Then why does God still blame us? For who resists his will?' But who are you, O man, to talk back to God? 'Shall what is formed say to him who formed it, "Why did you make me like this?" ' Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for noble purposes and some for common use?" Romans 9:19-21.

 

As Paul makes his point that eternal life will be given to the faithful as opposed to those who would rather earn it than trust in God, he says it is God's choice. He is the Creator and it is his to choose, it is his to give. We don't get to decide despite our efforts of theology to the contrary.

 

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