Deuteronomy 9:4-6 “Do not say in your heart when the LORD your God has driven them out before you, ‘Because of my righteousness the LORD has brought me in to possess this land,’ but it is because of the wickedness of these nations that the LORD is dispossessing them before you. 5 “It is not for your righteousness or for the uprightness of your heart that you are going to possess their land, but it is because of the wickedness of these nations that the LORD your God is driving them out before you, in order to confirm the oath which the LORD swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. 6 “Know, then, it is not because of your righteousness that the LORD your God is giving you this good land to possess, for you are a stubborn people.

Do not think that we are any different. God does not bless us because we are righteous. God does not bless us because we are faithful. God does not bless us because we deserve it.

God blesses us because we have aligned ourselves with God and God is faithful to fulfill the promises he has made to those who have sought him out.

Deuteronomy 8:2-7 “You shall remember all the way which the LORD your God has led you in the wilderness these forty years, that He might humble you, testing you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not. 3 “He humbled you and let you be hungry, and fed you with manna which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that He might make you understand that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by everything that proceeds out of the mouth of the LORD. 4 “Your clothing did not wear out on you, nor did your foot swell these forty years. 5 “Thus you are to know in your heart that the LORD your God was disciplining you just as a man disciplines his son. 6 “Therefore, you shall keep the commandments of the LORD your God, to walk in His ways and to fear Him. 7 “For the LORD your God is bringing you into a good land

I believe that God has a Promised Land for each of us. God has a place (not necessarily physical) that we have been promised and to which we are being led. It is the place that fulfills your purpose in life; the place for which God made you.

But I know very few people who can enter their promised land without first going through a season (or many seasons) of discipline.

We are not disciplined because God hates us. We are not disciplined because we are evil. We are not disciplined because we are incompetent. We are disciplined to bring us to a point where we can bring out the best in our promised land.

It is a tough thing to admit that admit that you may not yet be ready for the thing God has called you to. But it is important to remember that the season of discipline your find yourself in, is part of the journey toward your promised land.

“Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit.”

If you are a Christian, if you have a faith in Jesus, then I can guarantee that God is pruning you. How is God pruning you? It is very healthy to regularly look at your life and assess how God is pruning you.

The unfortunate part of pruning is that it is usually somewhat painful. God is using people and situations to smooth out your rough edges and make you better able to be a productive member of the family. It is no fun to be pruned, but it is a constant reality.

To use good technical seminarian words, God is sanctifying us; He is leading us toward perfection. None of us are going to reach perfection anytime soon, but it is the end point.

Sin is not usually something we want to give up. It is usually something that gives us some feeling of pleasure, security, comfort, etc. But it is a false feeling. Giving up our crutches and fully relying on God is difficult.

How is God pruning you? What can you do to help the gardener prune you?

The following words may show up in your Bible, but they were almost certainly not a part of the original text:

John 5:3b-4 waiting for the moving of the waters; for an angel of the Lord went down at certain seasons into the pool and stirred up the water; whoever then first, after the stirring up of the water, stepped in was made well from whatever disease with which he was afflicted.

This phrase appears to have been added by a later scribe in an attempt to explain verse 7:

John 5:7 The sick man answered Him, “Sir, I have no man to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, but while I am coming, another steps down before me.”

In all likelihood the scribe was trying to explain why it was that the man wanted down into the water. This scribe was probably working with good motives; trying to make it easier for those who would come after to understand what is going on.

Does it change the meaning of the text? Possibly. At the least it gives an event that may be mere legend, more validity.

How does it make you feel to know that someone may have added to this book which became part of our Bible? Does it affect what you understand the Bible to be? Does it trouble your faith? If so, your faith may be in the wrong thing.

“Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a member of the Jewish ruling council. He came to Jesus at night and said, ‘Rabbi, we know you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the miraculous signs you are doing if God were not with him.’ In reply Jesus declared, ‘I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again.’ ‘How can a man be born when he is old?’ Nicodemus asked. ‘Surely he cannot enter a second time into his mother’s womb to be born!’ Jesus answered, ‘I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. You should not be surprised at my saying, “You must be born again.” The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.’”

I have always wondered why the first Greek word “pneuma” is translated wind and the second is translated “Spirit”. Did Jesus mean to express two separate ideas or is he referring to the same idea and we need to adjust how we understand Spirit/wind. I’m sure there’s a good dissertation out there on this subject that I need to read.

Overall this is where we begin to learn more of what John introduced in chapter one: how to be a child of God. In chapter one we learned that all who receive/call on the name of Jesus have been given the right to be children of God. Here Jesus goes further by saying we must be born again of the Spirit. So we may be able to infer that to be a child of God we must receive Jesus who will rebirth our spirit via the Spirit of God.

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it. There came a man who was sent from God; his name was John. He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all men might believe. He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light. The true light that gives light to every man was coming into the world. He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God–children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God. The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.”

For me, this is the most theologically significant passage in the Bible. This passage from John is what I base my understanding of salvation upon. It is through this passage that I read the rest of the Bible. At the end of the day I believe that Jesus reveals himself to all people and all those who receive Jesus are made a part of God’s family. That is the Fundamental Theorem of Christianity. If anyone receives Christ then I consider them my brother or sister, and look forward to spending eternity with them in the family of God. All other theological considerations are secondary family debates that should never be a reason to break fellowship.

I know lots of people who want the Psalms read on their death bed. I have always said if someone starts reading Psalms to me while I’m dying, I will tear the Bible from their hands. This is the passage I want read. When I leave this world I want to go out with the words of John 1 guiding my soul to the next.

“Then Joshua said to the people, ‘You will not be able to serve the LORD, for He is a holy God. He is a jealous God; He will not forgive your transgression or your sins. If you forsake the LORD and serve foreign gods, then He will turn and do you harm and consume you after He has done good to you.’ The people said to Joshua, ‘No, but we will serve the LORD.’ Joshua said to the people, ‘You are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen for yourselves the LORD, to serve Him.’ And they said, ‘We are witnesses.’”

One way of reading the Bible is a series of conversations between people and God that goes something like this…

God: I will bless you if you obey me.
People: We will obey you.
G: Okay let me help you
P: Come on God, it’s us, we can do it ourselves.
G: I can make it easier for you.
P: God, we got this.
G: Are you sure.
P: You are just like our parents.
G: I just want you to succeed.
P: God, it’s us…when have we failed?
G: (silence)
P: Come on God we got this.
G: You’re sure you want to do it yourself?
P: For the last time God, we got it.
G: I’m going to hold you to that.
P: Don’t worry, we are totally in control.

“You are to cling to the LORD your God, as you have done to this day. For the LORD has driven out great and strong nations from before you; and as for you, no man has stood before you to this day. One of your men puts to flight a thousand, for the LORD your God is He who fights for you, just as He promised you. So take diligent heed to yourselves to love the LORD your God. For if you ever go back and cling to the rest of these nations, these which remain among you, and intermarry with them, so that you associate with them and they with you, know with certainty that the LORD your God will not continue to drive these nations out from before you; but they will be a snare and a trap to you, and a whip on your sides and thorns in your eyes, until you perish from off this good land which the LORD your God has given you.”

With these words Joshua instructs the nation of Israel as he nears death.

Joshua offers two options for their future: they can cling to God or they can cling to “the rest of these nations”. The Israelites can live in fellowship with God or they can live in fellowship with the world around them. One of these options offers prosperous life and one offers death and destruction. Who will they choose to cling to?

Who do we cling to? Do we cling to Jesus? Do we cling to comfort? Do we cling to God? Do we cling to man?

With apologies to Robert Zimmerman you “Gotta serve somebody”.

You may be a construction worker working on a home,
You may be living in a mansion or you might live in a dome,
You might own guns and you might even own tanks,
You might be somebody’s landlord, you might even own banks

But you’re gonna have to serve somebody, yes indeed
You’re gonna have to serve somebody,
Well, it may be the devil or it may be the Lord
But you’re gonna have to serve somebody.

You may be a preacher with your spiritual pride,
You may be a city councilman taking bribes on the side,
You may be workin’ in a barbershop, you may know how to cut hair,
You may be somebody’s mistress, may be somebody’s heir

But you’re gonna have to serve somebody, yes indeed
You’re gonna have to serve somebody,
Well, it may be the devil or it may be the Lord
But you’re gonna have to serve somebody.

“‘Only be very careful to observe the commandment and the law which Moses the servant of the LORD commanded you, to love the LORD your God and walk in all His ways and keep His commandments and hold fast to Him and serve Him with all your heart and with all your soul.’ So Joshua blessed them and sent them away, and they went to their tents.”

This is very similar to the commandment in Deuteronomy and the Gospels to love God with all you heart, mind, strength, and soul. Let’s break it down:

Love the Lord your God and…
1) Walk in his ways
2) Keep his commandments
3) Hold fast to him
4) Serve him with all your heart and soul

With this instruction the Joshua blessed the Reubenites and the Gadites and the half-tribe of Manasseh.

This weekend may you walk in the ways of Jesus, keep his commands, hold fast to Jesus in all your circumstances, and serve Jesus with all your heart and soul.

“So the LORD gave Israel all the land which He had sworn to give to their fathers, and they possessed it and lived in it. And the LORD gave them rest on every side, according to all that He had sworn to their fathers, and no one of all their enemies stood before them; the LORD gave all their enemies into their hand. Not one of the good promises which the LORD had made to the house of Israel failed; all came to pass.”

There are a number of passages in the Bible you can turn to during troubled times to receive assurance that God is faithful to do what he says he will do. This is one of those passages.

“Then the LORD spoke to Joshua, saying, ‘Speak to the sons of Israel, saying, “Designate the cities of refuge, of which I spoke to you through Moses, 3 that the manslayer who kills any person unintentionally, without premeditation, may flee there, and they shall become your refuge from the avenger of blood. He shall flee to one of these cities, and shall stand at the entrance of the gate of the city and state his case in the hearing of the elders of that city; and they shall take him into the city to them and give him a place, so that he may dwell among them. Now if the avenger of blood pursues him, then they shall not deliver the manslayer into his hand, because he struck his neighbor without premeditation and did not hate him beforehand. He shall dwell in that city until he stands before the congregation for judgment, until the death of the one who is high priest in those days. Then the manslayer shall return to his own city and to his own house, to the city from which he fled.”‘ So they set apart Kedesh in Galilee in the hill country of Naphtali and Shechem in the hill country of Ephraim, and Kiriath-arba (that is, Hebron) in the hill country of Judah. Beyond the Jordan east of Jericho, they designated Bezer in the wilderness on the plain from the tribe of Reuben, and Ramoth in Gilead from the tribe of Gad, and Golan in Bashan from the tribe of Manasseh. These were the appointed cities for all the sons of Israel and for the stranger who sojourns among them, that whoever kills any person unintentionally may flee there, and not die by the hand of the avenger of blood until he stands before the congregation.”

It’s fascinating to see aspects of the Mosaic law finally coming into fulfillment.

Joshua 19:9 “The inheritance of the sons of Simeon was taken from the portion of the sons of Judah, for the share of the sons of Judah was too large for them; so the sons of Simeon received an inheritance in the midst of Judah’s inheritance.”

This is one of those passages that caught my eye as something I need to look up. There is a fifty-fifty chance that something interesting is going on with this passage. I challenge anyone reading this to look it up and tell me if there is something interesting or if it’s just what it sounds like.

“And Joshua cast lots for them in Shiloh before the LORD, and there Joshua divided the land to the sons of Israel according to their divisions.”

If we made decisions in our churches today by casting lots I think there would be a scandal. It just isn’t the way things are done. It smacks of gambling, and irresponsibility; doesn’t it?

The other side of casting lots is that, to a certain extent, it places the outcome in God’s hands. It seems to me that a hard-core Calvinist, who believes that God is directly in control of everything that happens on earth, would be comfortable using this decision making method.

Speaking as someone who does not believe that God directly orchestrates the universe, I think we do need to focus on making responsible decisions guided by reason, scripture, prayer, and (yes I dare say it) tradition. However, as I do believe that God does still interact with the universe, there may be times when the best course of action is to allow God to make the decision; whether that be by casting lots, flipping a coin, or throwing a dart. Sometimes that is the only way a decision can be made.

“Now these are the kings of the land whom the sons of Israel defeated, and whose land they possessed beyond the Jordan toward the sunrise”

I like the contrast between the poetic image of possessing land “toward the sunrise” and the violence and destruction caused by the conflict to take possession of that land.

“For it was of the LORD to harden their hearts, to meet Israel in battle in order that he might utterly destroy them, that they might receive no mercy, but that he might destroy them, just as the LORD had commanded Moses.”

The Lord hardening hearts which leads to the eventual destruction of the people is a hard thing for me to read. I don’t know what to think of it or how to process it. Does God still harden peoples hearts and lead them to destruction. My theology would say no; but the Bible would seem to contradict that. I have no answers. It’s just one of those areas of tension, that I may eventually resolve; or maybe not.

“So the sun stood still, and the moon stopped, Until the nation avenged themselves of their enemies. Is it not written in the book of Jashar? And the sun stopped in the middle of the sky and did not hasten to go down for about a whole day.”

Don’t get caught up in trying to explain this scientifically; just enjoy the image of God being willing to stop the earth for God’s people.

“Joshua captured all these kings and their lands at one time, because the LORD, the God of Israel, fought for Israel.”

God is able to accomplish more than we can imagine if we don’t insist on doing everything ourselves.

“So the men of Israel took some of their provisions, and did not ask for the counsel of the LORD.”

And because Israel did not seek out the Lord’s counsel, they were forced to share a portion of their land with a people that God would have driven away. Eventually this will cause the people to disobey and fall away from God.

When we do not seek out God’s counsel we make mistakes. The consequences of those mistakes can be harsh and long lasting.

I now I can get impatient and start to make assumptions, but taking the time to talk to God will always benefit me and will always help me make a better decision.

Don’t risk a short term gain for a long term loss. In everything you do seek out the counsel of the Lord.

“Israel took only the cattle and the spoil of that city as plunder for themselves, according to the word of the LORD which He had commanded Joshua.”

This time everyone follows the instructions of the Lord and nobody is stoned after the battle. It’s amazing how things turn out better when we follow through on all of God’s instructions.

“Then Joshua built an altar to the LORD, the God of Israel, in Mount Ebal, just as Moses the servant of the LORD had commanded the sons of Israel, as it is written in the book of the law of Moses, an altar of uncut stones on which no man had wielded an iron tool; and they offered burnt offerings on it to the LORD, and sacrificed peace offerings.”

Having done no research on the subject I was curious why it would be important for the stones of the alter to be unhewn. My guess would be that few people, if anyone, would be worthy enough to cut the stones for the Lord’s alter. I think back to Bezaleel in Deuteronomy. There were some significant requirements to be worthy to build the Ark of the Covenant. An alter to the Lord could be similar; and so naturally cut rocks were used as God was their craftsman.

The fool has said in his heart, “There is no God.” They are corrupt, they have committed abominable deeds; There is no one who does good. The LORD has looked down from heaven upon the sons of men To see if there are any who understand, Who seek after God. They have all turned aside, together they have become corrupt; There is no one who does good, not even one. Do all the workers of wickedness not know, Who eat up my people as they eat bread, And do not call upon the Lord? There they are in great dread, For God is with the righteous generation. You would put to shame the counsel of the afflicted, But the LORD is his refuge. Oh, that the salvation of Israel would come out of Zion! When the LORD restores His captive people, Jacob will rejoice, Israel will be glad.

For the choir director; on the Gittith. A Psalm of David.

O LORD, our Lord, How majestic is Your name in all the earth, who have displayed Your splendor above the heavens! From the mouth of infants and nursing babes You have established strength Because of Your adversaries, to make the enemy and the revengeful cease. When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, The moon and the stars, which You have ordained; What is man that You take thought of him, And the son of man that You care for him? Yet You have made him a little lower than God, And You crown him with glory and majesty! You make him to rule over the works of Your hands; You have put all things under his feet, all sheep and oxen, And also the beasts of the field, the birds of the heavens and the fish of the sea, whatever passes through the paths of the seas. O LORD, our Lord, How majestic is Your name in all the earth!