Joshua
12:1–13:32, 2
Corinthians 11:7–15, Psalm 52:1–53:6
After reading the Bible through each year for several
years, I still want to skip the genealogies and long lists of names and places.
However, this morning God showed me something I’d not seen before. This passage
in Joshua is a list of conquered tribes and kings, and the allotment of their
land to the people of God . . .
“Now
these are the kings of the land whom the people of Israel defeated and took
possession of their land beyond the Jordan toward the sunrise, from the Valley
of the Arnon to Mount Hermon, with all the Arabah eastward . . . . And these
are the kings of the land whom Joshua and the people of Israel defeated on the
west side of the Jordan, from Baal-gad in the Valley of Lebanon to Mount Halak
. . . .” (Joshua 12:1,7)
Other than writing down who owned what parcel of land,
these records seem of little importance, but what if they were considered
journals? What if a church or each Christian kept a journal recording their
victories in Christ? What if this journal was read at regular intervals?
Wouldn’t that be an encouragement? Re-reading these victories would also be a
reminder so when the same temptations and problems came up again (and they do),
conquering them would be easier.
The next attention-getting verses don’t offer the same
positive results, at least at first. They say, “Now Joshua was old and advanced in years, and the Lord said to him, ‘You are old and
advanced in years, and there remains yet very much land to possess. This is the
land that yet remains . . . .’” (Joshua 13:1–2)
For Joshua, this was a to-do list. God told him to rout
the evil out of their land, but much of that land remained as it was before. He
needed to spur his people to action. Some of them became complacent, or didn’t
see the dangers posed by these tribes, or had other reasons for not wanting to
engage in war against their enemies.
Although I’ve done this on a very limited basis, this
reminded me of taking time to write a list of problem areas, things that
continually trip me up, and issues the Bible calls besetting sins. Those are
“land yet to be conquered” and need a determined effort. Since I know that
Jesus is my Savior and I cannot save myself, this list has to be a prayer list. After praying about a particular temptation, or about any persistent sin, God
has a way of cleansing it out of my life. Sometimes I’ve given my list to my
husband and he intercedes for me also.
The NT reading and the one from Psalm 52 gave me a couple items to
put on that prayer list. The first one is specific, but the root of it takes a
backhand to my pride: “Did I
commit a sin in humbling myself so that you might be exalted, because I
preached God’s gospel to you free of charge? I robbed other churches by
accepting support from them in order to serve you.” (2 Corinthians 11:7–8) I’m not
preaching, but I do have a problem in some areas with humbling myself so others
can be exalted.
The psalmist begins with another challenge: “Why do you brag of evil, ‘Big Man’?
God’s mercy carries the day.” (Psalm 52:1, The Message). While I rarely brag of evil, I
do like to brag. Pride again, but this verse convicts me. I may not be bragging
about evil, but in bragging about anything, the bragging becomes an evil.
Another item for my prayer list.
The third one is from these verses: “But I am like a green olive tree
in the house of God. I trust in the steadfast love of God forever and ever. I
will thank you forever, because you have done it. I will wait for your name,
for it is good, in the presence of the godly.” (Psalm 52:8–9)
Trusting God’s love is easier than being continually
thankful for it. I’m not sure Satan keeps whispering his original lie to me (God
doesn’t really love you) and I buy it, or if I take God for granted, or
what is going on, but I suspect by persisting in prayer about this need to
express gratitude will be God’s way of getting to the root of it.
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