Peace in this pandemic and in other perils . . .

Joshua 11; Psalm 144; Jeremiah 5; Matthew 19

During the social isolation of this pandemic, God has blessed me with His great peace. My hubby has a compromised immune system yet is amazingly healthy. I am also enjoying good days with energy and no fear. In months prior, attacks from the devil seemed non-stop, but now he is not pestering me continually. I’m thankful for a respite and for the grace of God who gives it.

Today’s reading in Joshua encourages me. The battles this man fought and won were physical and won by the promise and power of God. My battles are not like his; my enemy is a liar who tries to confuse and destroy my faith and testimony. He attempts to lure me into sin and uselessness. Sometimes he wins — if I don’t pray like Joshua failed to do with the Gibeonites or if I have a sin hidden in my life like Achan did after their loss at Ai.

However, one loss is not the war. Satan was defeated for eternity at Calvary. My battle against him is already a victory — won by the promise and power of Jesus Christ. Just like Jesus does for me, “Joshua took the whole land, according to all that the Lord had spoken to Moses. And Joshua gave it for an inheritance to Israel according to their tribal allotments. And the land had rest from war.” (Joshua 11:23) God gives His people rest.

Today’s psalm picks up the same theme. David fought literal battles and his words describe how God sustains His people in spiritual warfare. Along with David, I’m able to say these things today:

Blessed be the Lord, my rock, who trains my hands for war, and my fingers for battle; he is my steadfast love and my fortress, my stronghold and my deliverer, my shield and he in whom I take refuge, who subdues peoples under me. (Psalm 144:1–2)

Stretch out your hand from on high; rescue me and deliver me from the many waters, from the hand of foreigners, whose mouths speak lies and whose right hand is a right hand of falsehood. (Psalm 144:7–8)

For David, winning his battles brought a request and anticipation of physical blessings. He describes them too:

May our sons in their youth be like plants full grown, our daughters like corner pillars cut for the structure of a palace; may our granaries be full, providing all kinds of produce; may our sheep bring forth thousands and ten thousands in our fields; may our cattle be heavy with young, suffering no mishap or failure in bearing; may there be no cry of distress in our streets! Blessed are the people to whom such blessings fall! Blessed are the people whose God is the Lord! (Psalm 144:12–15)

Whether God’s blessings are tangible like David’s or spiritual like His amazing peace, He truly does bless those who belong to Him through faith in Christ.

APPLY: I deserve none of it, not the least of His blessings, yet I am so grateful and thankful. I know Christians in this troubled world suffer in many ways yet I can pray the promises of God for each one — that He will be their love, their fortress and stronghold. He shields and delivers us; we can take refuge in Him. Amen.

 

God’s Escalating Promises

As I read my old journals and reflect on the events in my life, I’ve wondered, even lamented, at how slow I have been to learn spiritual principles and even slower to apply them. I’ve said many times, “If only I had known then what I know now” and “Had I understood this about God back then, what a difference it would have made in my life.” Besides regretting my slowness, I’ve sometimes questioned or doubted the wisdom of God in His dealings with me.
 

This morning, God shows me that His promises are on an ascending scale. That is, He starts with a blessing that leads to a fuller blessing. This progressing is illustrated in His promise to Abraham about the land He would give him. These few verses illustrate that progression, going from the first promise, to showing him the land, to giving it to him, and then ahead to the possession of the land by Abraham’s offspring.

Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you.” (Genesis 12:1)

Then the Lord appeared to Abram and said, “To your offspring I will give this land.” So he built there an altar to the Lord, who had appeared to him. (Genesis 12:7)

The Lord said to Abram, after Lot had separated from him, “Lift up your eyes and look from the place where you are, northward and southward and eastward and westward, for all the land that you see I will give to you and to your offspring forever.” (Genesis 13:14–15)

The land that I gave to Abraham and Isaac I will give to you (Jacob), and I will give the land to your offspring after you. (Genesis 35:12)

The fullness of this promise did not happen to Jacob’s generation. His son Joseph rescued them from famine by bringing them to Egypt, but after his death, the people became slaves. Then Moses led them out of Egypt, but they rebelled against God and wandered forty years in the wilderness before finally beginning to take possession of the promised land.

So Joshua took the whole land, according to all that the Lord had spoken to Moses. And Joshua gave it for an inheritance to Israel according to their tribal allotments. And the land had rest from war. (Joshua 11:23)

So it is with spiritual growth. We start with great and precious promises, and as we keep our eyes on them and obey God’s leading, we are tested and drawn along to the fulfillment of those promises. He does not give them all at once. That would be overwhelming. Had some of the events of my life happened earlier, before the testing and refining that made my faith stronger, I would have fallen. 

As He did for Israel concerning their land, God keeps in hand an infinite reserve of promised blessing for His children. The longer I walk with Him, the more I realize how much of His blessing is yet to be experienced. As the devotional writer for today says, who ever saw His last star?

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Oh Lord, every day You show me another facet of Yourself, another glimpse of Your wisdom and Your ways. I regret that I’ve had to learn at times by repetition, yet from these years of slowness, I more fully realize the depth, extent and stubbornness of my sinful nature. Resisting You is not wise, yet You knew I would do it and arranged accordingly that I should grow by degrees. Like a sculptor creating a statue, You keep chipping away at all the parts that do not look like Jesus, the One who lives inside me. You promised to transform me into His image, using all things for that good result. You also take time to do it, and now I understand why — You intend that transformation to be deep, extensive and thorough, eternally permanent, just as You promised.