(posting on Wondering Wednesdays thoughts from
my 2014 Bible Read Thru)
I finished reading Joshua. There are
some awesome stories in there that I've heard before - like Jericho and the
time when the Lord fought for them with hailstones - and the sun stood still
for a day. The mighty powerful moving of
God on behalf of His people. Then, there
are the long lists of which king got defeated and which portions of land went
to which tribe. In the midst of all
these repetitive lists that mean little to me because I don't know the people
or the geography well, seemingly random details are recorded. There must be a reason for them to be
recorded, but I don't see it. Little things must be important to God.
I
also got a little confused as it went on because toward the beginning of the
book, annihilation of the people in the places where they were occupying seemed
brutal and was accompanied with punishment if not obeyed. Later, it is recorded that they couldn't
drive some of the people out and so they lived in the land together. In some cases, they made them forced
labor. If they could do that, why didn't
they kill them as formerly? I do recall
that the Lord said He wouldn't clear out the land all at once so that the
Israelites could actually occupy it while it was still fruitful. However, it seems a little inconsistent to
me.
Then,
the record states that God did everything that He promised. If He did everything that He promised, it
would seem that all the land would be occupied and all the foreigners would be
removed. This is not the case. One thing I found to be true as I read
accounts of the same situation in different places in Scripture is that there
is much that isn't written. We might
think we have the whole picture only to find out a little more in another
account, and it makes me realize that there's considerably more to the story
that we read.
The
fulfillment of God's promise to fight for His people and be with them is
amazing and is a comfort to us when we realize that God will fight for us
too. Less comforting is the idea that
God will also fulfill the promises He made to curse them if they turn
away. I don't know that anyone is
celebrating the faithfulness of God as He brings about all the horrible
consequences that He promised when they have turned away from Him. This is
actually the kindness of God which will hopefully lead to repentance and a
returning to Him. We claim God is faithful when things work well for us, but
accuse Him of injustice or meanness when things go bad. All of His promises are not sunshine and
happiness. Many promises have a dark
side to them. He promised that we would
have trouble in this world. True,
that. He also promised that He has
overcome the world. Oh yeah! The present sufferings are not worth comparing to the glory that will be revealed in us.
As
the book ends, Joshua reminds the people to follow all of God's commands after
he is gone. The people assure him that
they will obey God. Joshua tells them
clearly that they will not be able to because He is holy and He is
jealous. Then, Joshua says that He will
not forgive their transgressions or sins.
This is disturbing. I don't want
to be in a place where the Lord will not forgive my sins. The people affirm to
Joshua that they will follow the Lord and Joshua says this is a witness against
them. These very people saw the consequences of disobedience or turning
away from God, so what else would they say - "Hey, I'm not sure I will be
able to keep all these commands, so maybe it's better if I go ahead and follow
some other god." That would be a clear
death sentence. They had seen plagues
and earthquakes swallow the rebellious. So, of course, they say they are going
to follow God. However, it would come
about that they do not. These men saw
both God's deliverance and His wrath in powerful displays. Still they tend to disobey, just as we do.
Oh,
God, grant grace that I might follow you all the days of my life.
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