January 4 - Joshua 8:24-35
24
When Israel had finished killing all the inhabitants of Ai in the open
wilderness where they pursued them, and all of them to the very last had fallen
by the edge of the sword, all Israel returned to Ai and struck it down with the
edge of the sword. 25 And all who fell that day, both men and
women, were 12,000, all the people of Ai. 26 But Joshua did not draw
back his hand with which he stretched out the javelin until he had devoted
all the inhabitants of Ai to destruction. 27 Only the livestock and
the spoil of that city Israel took as their plunder, according to the word of
the LORD that he commanded Joshua. 28 So Joshua
burned Ai and made it forever a heap of ruins, as it is to this day.
29 And he hanged the king of Ai on a tree until evening. And at
sunset Joshua commanded, and they took his body down from the tree and threw it
at the entrance of the gate of the city and raised over it a great heap of
stones, which stands there to this day. 30 At that time Joshua built an
altar to the LORD, the God of Israel, on Mount Ebal, 31
just as Moses the servant of the LORD had commanded the people of
Israel, as it is written in the Book of the Law of Moses, “an altar of uncut
stones, upon which no man has wielded an iron tool.” And they offered on it
burnt offerings to the LORD and sacrificed peace offerings.
32 And there, in the presence of the people of Israel, he wrote
on the stones a copy of the law of Moses, which he had written.
33 And all Israel, sojourner as well as native born, with their
elders and officers and their judges, stood on opposite sides of the ark before
the Levitical priests who carried the ark of the covenant of he LORD,
half of them in front of Mount Gerizim and half of them in front of Mount Ebal, just
as Moses the servant of the LORD had commanded at the first, to bless
the people of Israel. 34 And afterward he read all the words
of the law, the blessing and the curse, according to all that is written
in the Book of the Law. 35 There was not a word of all that Moses
commanded that Joshua did not read before all the assembly of Israel, and
the women, and the little ones, and the sojourners who lived among
them.
Joshua
and the Israelites followed God’s exact plan and were victorious. The killing couldn’t have been easy and they
took only the livestock and spoils as their plunder and nothing else. We see here their obedience led to total
victory.
This
can be encouraging to us as we follow God’s plans. What are God’s plans for you? How do you know and discern His plans? Live with and look to Jesus for all
things.
Heavenly Father, I want to be victorious. I don’t just want victory, I want Your
victory. It is sometimes so hard to see
what plan You have for me with all the noise of the the world. Sometimes I see good things that I think have
to be something You want for me, but they go by and I don’t see Your hand
guiding me to them. It can be so
difficult to understand at times. I know
there are so many good things I can do, but I don’t want to be so busy doing
good things that I miss when You call on my to do something that You have for
me to do. I have seen many people so
busy doing Your work, they don’t spend time with You, and I certainly don’t
want to allow myself to ever be too busy for You. Thank You for always being there for me. I’m still amazed that the Creator of everything,
would have time for me, but You always do.
I love You and adore You…I can’t help but sing the song in my head…”I
love You Lord, and I lift my voice, to worship You, Oh, my soul….rejoice. Take Joy, my King, in what You hear, may it
be a sweet, sweet sound, to Your ears.”
In Jesus’ name.
Amen!
Comments
Post a Comment