Judges 1, Spring Cleaning

Moving on to the book of Judges. Here is a little background. Israel is now in Canaan, the promise land and they continue the vicious cycle of disobeying God and falling for the false gods of the Canaanites. Take a look at Judges 1:27-36 to see why they keep falling into this pit of disobedience. Here is one verse of the list:

Judges 1:29
29 Nor did Ephraim drive out the Canaanites living in Gezer, but the Canaanites continued to live there among them.

This is just a snipet of the list of tribes that did not force out the pagans, yet they let these people dwell in their Promise Land alongside.

What's the problem here? Isn't this the peaceful way to exist? The problem that I see is in the clue that these people were pagans-they worshiped FALSE GODS! The ONE and ONLY God is very jealous and demands undivided attention and worship. So, when the Israelites allowed these Canaanites to live among them, they were subjecting themselves to the temptation to fall in line with the pagans and worship these false idols.

And, yes, this is exactly what happened. Thus, we now have the book of Judges. The Lord appointed a Judge to basically watch over and protect the Israelites and whip them in shape. We will read more about how and why these Judges were elected by God.

So, back to these false idols...the lesson here is that when we do not clean house and sweet out things that divide our attention, these pesks can creep in and do just that. Just like fleas or vermin, they find cracks in our house and slither their way in to turn us away from our one true God.

The Israelites should have done some major spring cleaning when they took over their inherited land. Do you have some sweeping out to do for yourself?

Joshua 17-21, Just Take Hold Of It Already!

Its amazing how on short verse in the Bible can stop you in your tracks and make you say, "hmmm..." At this point in the book of Joshua, the Israelites are in the promise land and Joshua has the task of alloting all the land to the 12 tribes. I would think this would be a daunting task since everyone would have their specific requests as to what land they want. Chapter 18 starts out with a few tribes that had not taken over their inherited land. Take a look at this verse and just picture the expression and body language that Joshua must have exhorted as he made this statement:

Joshua 18:3 (The Message)
Joshua addressed the People of Israel: "How long are you going to sit around on your hands, putting off taking possession of the land that God, the God of your ancestors, has given you?


I love how the Message says it-How long are you going to sit on your hands and take hold of the glorious land that your Gracious Lord has blessed you with! I can see Joshua with his hands on his hips and an irritated tone in his voice.

Is the Lord saying this to you with the same tone as Joshua had with the Israelites? Are you sitting on your hands not exploring the gifts of your earthly promise land?

Joy and Peace
Total fulfillment as your Serve your Lord in the "land"
Blessings the world doesn't understand
Relationship with the Creator
Redemption from past mistakes
Relationships with other believers
Wonder-full worship of your God

The list could go on. So...get off your tushie and grab hold of this blessed life that the Lord gives those who call Him Savior!

Joshua 10; He Holds it all together

By today, I have read through Joshua chapter 16 and I hope those who are reading with me have kept up too! I want to jump back to chapter 10 which is probably my favorite chapter thus far in the Old Testament. I love it because it shows Joshua's faith, God's power, and God's control over His own creation.

Joshua's Faith:
Take a look at the whole chapter to get the jist of the events unfolding. Joshua is leading the Israelites in victory after victory as they are conquering the Promise Land and defeating the pagan nations in their way. Verse 8 says that the Lord told Joshua outright that they would defeat the enemy and not to fear one bit. Easier said than done, right? Not for Joshua for he had seen the Lord come through time after time and this instance was no different. So, to buy them more time for victory, Joshua just plainly commanded the sun to stand still-and it did!

Joshua 10:12-14
12 On the day the LORD gave the Amorites over to Israel, Joshua said to the LORD in the presence of Israel: "O sun, stand still over Gibeon, O moon, over the Valley of Aijalon."
13 So the sun stood still, and the moon stopped, till the nation avenged itself on its enemies, as it is written in the Book of Jashar. The sun stopped in the middle of the sky and delayed going down about a full day. 14 There has never been a day like it before or since, a day when the LORD listened to a man. Surely the LORD was fighting for Israel!

Now, please don't miss read this. Joshua, in no way himself, made the sun stand still. He simply had the faith to speak it knowing God would make it happen.

God's power over His creation:
The Lord stopped that sun just as Joshua asked. But, think about it... He basically stopped the rotation of the earth and the orbit around the sun. You might be thinking: so what? So, what do you think happens when the earth stops its rotation and orbit-probably chaos! God made this earth to function so precisely. Its like the dials on an old car radio. He set the dial specifically to sustain life on this planet. Dials of gravitational force, atoms and particle size, amount of gases in the atmosphere, and many more factors, some that we won’t ever even know about. In Joshua 10, God adjusts these dials to accomplish His purposes-He is the creator and can do any thing He wants with His creation. So, instead of everything going haywire when the “sun and the moon stood still,” God held it all together, no major cataclysmic effects of this happened.

So, if the Lord can hold the complexities of the earth together, don't you think He can hold the complexities of your life together? Its no big deal for Him!

I thought back to when Greg first got word that the Army wanted him back. We had so many unanswered questions which was not unusual for the Army. The thing is, we used to be accustomed to uncertainty when we were still in the Army. But, over the years, Greg and I were blessed with a certain amount of simplicity in our life. Well, God threw a wrench in that and our life was almost up in chaos-not unlike Joshua's sun standing still! Over time, the Lord spoke to our hearts and ministered to our need for answers. Things fell into place and we are doing just great during this deployment. It took faith on our part to tell that chaos to "stand still" and we believed God would hold us all together during the potential turbulence!

I challenge you to take up bold faith like Joshua and believe that God's got you covered.

Deuteronomy 29-31, The Road Ahead

As we are just about finished with the book of Deuteronomy, the Israelites are on their way to the Promise Land of Canaan. You will remember from Exodus that Moses did not get to step foot on the land because of His disobedience. So, before he dies, Moses commissions Joshua to be the new leader of Israel. I just love Joshua and his faith. It seems so simple and real. He was a real guy with real fears, yet he chose to believe God. The words that the Lord spoke over Joshua just always touch my heart and I think we can all glean some encouragement through them.

Deuteronomy 31:7-8

7 Then Moses summoned Joshua and said to him in the presence of all Israel, "Be strong and courageous, for you must go with this people into the land that the LORD swore to their forefathers to give them, and you must divide it among them as their inheritance. 8 The LORD himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged."

Check out verse 8. "The LORD HIMSELF goes before you." Did you catch that? The LORD Himself! Not the Lord's messenger. Not the Lord's substitute. The LORD HIMSELF!

He did, in fact, go before us...Jesus walked this earth over 2000 years ago. Before He died on the cross for our sins, Jesus experienced everything we do as humans. He knows what it is like to be us. He is Emmanuel-God with Us! The very creator of the universe empathizes with us and we can draw great strength in that.

God with US:

Not God who creates and leaves us to fend for ourselves .
For Us, not against us (Romans 8:31), He only wants the best for us .

The gospels give many accounts of Jesus interacting with Us (humans, his creation, disciples, Israelites, etc).

Jesus cried, needed diaper changes and nursed his mother’s breast just like any other baby.


Jesus walked with Us along the dusty country roads of Judea; he nursed blistered feet as he preached, healed, and gave hope.


Jesus danced and celebrated with Us at weddings, hoisting the bride and groom up on the wedding chairs. He also took part in the Mitzvah dance with the bride.

Jesus mourned with Us over His good friend, Lazarus lying dead in a tomb before He raised that friend back to life.

Take heart and know that the LORD knows the road ahead and He goes before you. That road might, at times, take sharp turns or unexpected detours, but it will always be traveled by your LORD first.

Deuteronomy 28, Pure Obedience

I have to be perfectly honest, I have had a hard time writing devotional thoughts around the book of Deuteronomy! I know that every word in the Bible is pertinent, but this has been a slow one for me. I just know the Lord will reward each of us for our diligence in soaking up His Holy Word.

Chapter 28 is a good reminder for us as New Testament believers. Please note that, as followers of Christ, we do not live under the same laws stated in Deuteronomy. But, these laws serve us well to help us always remember what kind of God we serve.

He is perfectly holy, unprecedentedly pure, and completely set apart from His awesome creation. He is above everything and everyone.

These laws in Deuteronomy were given to make the Israelites pure before their Lord. Because God is everything stated above and more, He requires everything in His presence to be pure as well. With out these laws, the Israelites were considered unclean and not presentable before God. Can you imagine trying to remember all the details laid out in the chapters of Deuteronomy! I would think that it was next to impossible for anyone in those days to remain pure and holy ALL the time!

This is why the work of Christ on the Cross is such good news for us! He makes us clean, pure and holy before the Lord. It is by His blood that we are allowed into the presence and before the throne of the King.

Now, this is not to say that we can be disobedient and go with out recourse. The Lord deals with each of our disobedience as He sees fit. But, once we have accepted Christ, all it takes is asking for forgiveness for the slate to be wiped clean. With a repentant heart ready to make changes, God forgives and forgets.

Be sure to thank Christ today for purifying you by His blood so that you are pure and in the presence of the one and only God.

Deuteronomy, Just Shout It Out!

Take a look at Deuteronomy 6:4-5:
"Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one! You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul , and with all your strength."

I just love this proclamation. In the Jewish temple, this is known as the Shema, which is Hebrew for "to Hear." If you have never had the privilege of hearing this recited by a congregation of Israelites, it is always said with a sense of zeal and exclamation. This verse is a Jewish confession of faith and it is recited by the devout twice a day. What a shout out! This is such a poignant statement of faith in the One who is our LORD.

Just for some background, Moses continues this chapter with a recap of the Ten Commandments. But, what I want to focus on is what is also said in Deuteronomy 11:16:

"Take heed to yourselves, lest your heart be deceived, and you turn aside and serve other gods and worship them, lest the LORD's anger be aroused against you..."

Moses was concerned about what would happen to the Israelites' faith once they crossed into the promise land of Caanan. Keep in mind, this land was not void of other people who had very different religious practices than the Jews. In fact, the Israelites were about to conquer a land that was VERY pagan. We won't get into their specific practices, but it was quite gruesome. Moses warned them to steer way clear of these cultures so they would not be drawn in and away from the One True God.

This is why the Shema is such an important practice. When we make a bold proclamation of faith, we are not only telling others of our intentions, we are ingraining it in our own heart. The Israelites were reminding themselves to stay true to their GOD, no matter what was going on around them.

This is an obvious lesson for us as New Testament believers. We need to make this proclamation personal and say it boldly, with conviction! The enemy wants us to be drawn in by the world around us. He wants us to step away from our One True God and towards the earthly "gods" that distract us from loving Jesus with all our heart, mind, soul, and strength. It is so easy to get sidetracked by the latest gossip, celebrity worship, or allure of success. This is exactly what Satan wants; that we focus on these temporal things and not on our eternal King. Oh, I pray that we don't let this happen. Make the LOUD PROCLAMATION everyday. Let the enemy know that you mean business! Your God is LORD and the One and Only God!

LIVE IT OUT! application:
I challenge you to memorize these verses. In fact, go ahead and substitute your name as follows to make it even more personal.

"Hear, O (your name), The LORD our God, the LORD is one!..."

***NOTE: if you are reading thru the Bible with me, as of March 7, you should have read through Deuteronomy 20. I have not kept up with the devotions as the chapters go along and I appologize!

Please indulge me

I don't often do this because I try to devote this blog to devotions and Bible Studies. But, I made the cutest video of my child and I want my family and deployed hubby to be able to see it right away.

So, here is Grayson-Mr. Professional Crawler.

Back to Deuteronomy tomorrow!

Deuteronomy 1-4. A New Look Back

Ok, so I have to confess. I had to look back at my Bible to make sure that I am spelling Deuteronomy correctly! I am positive that I will be able to spell it in my sleep by the time we make it through the whole book. By the way, if anyone wants to join in my journey of reading through the Bible you can go here for the reading plan that I am following.

This book is written mostly by Moses before He dies and it is a recount of the Israelite journey through the wilderness thus far. The first four chapters are nothing new to us, but it serves a good reminder as to what we have read. I just love what Moses says to sum it all up in chapter 4:

Deuteronomy 4:39-40 (New King James Version)
39 Therefore know this day, and consider it in your heart, that the LORD Himself is God in heaven above and on the earth beneath; there is no other. 40 You shall therefore keep His statutes and His commandments which I command you today, that it may go well with you and with your children after you, and that you may prolong your days in the land which the LORD your God is giving you for all time.”

This moment of remembrance of what the Lord has done got me thinking about how we should also go through times of remembrance of our own. People often do an "inventory check" at the new year and then let it go by the wayside.

Today, let's take sometime to do a check of our own spiritual lives. Paul says that we should always be growing in our faith.

1 Corinthians 3:1-2(NIV)

1Brothers, I could not address you as spiritual but as worldly—mere infants in Christ. 2I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for it. Indeed, you are still not ready. 3You are still worldly.

Paul is admonishing the Corinthians to not stay stagnant in their faith, but to instead grow and feed on more mature spiritual things.

Here are a few questions to meditate on. I hope you will take the time to read over them and put your answers to paper in order to solidify them in your mind.

**Where are you in your belief that "God is who He says He is" today compared to this time last year?

**What things are you doing more/less of in lieu of daily Bible study? If less, what could you do to enrich your time with the Lord on a daily basis?

**Has you concept of worshiping God changed and become more comprehensive lately? If not, define what worship is to you right now and if you think that definition is adequate.

**Do you commit more things to prayer AND believe that God listens and answers in His time? If so, what kinds of answers have you seen Him grant lately?

**Rate your spiritual temperature:

1=ice cold, blizzard alert/10=whoa-on fire-hair is smoking!

How can you move toward a 10?

I could go on and on... I hope you found this exercise to be helpful. Please feel free to post some answers as you feel comfortable.