Joshua

Listen to today’s reading:

Joshua 1:7-9

“Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful wherever you go. Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful. Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.”

Psalm 85:8

I will listen to what God the Lord says;
he promises peace to his people, his faithful servants—
but let them not turn to folly.

John 14:15-21

“If you love me, keep my commands. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever— the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you. Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love them and show myself to them.”

Today’s Reading:

Baseball is a statistic-driven game. How would you like to know that you could ensure your team to win over 60% of your games? That’s your odds if you would’ve played under Joe McCarthy, major league baseball’s most successful manager ever (2,125-1,333). Managers get the front office info, like stats on the other team and their own – and then are responsible for overseeing and making final decisions on all aspects of on-field team strategy, lineup selection, training and instruction. It would be hard to say that you knew better than Joe, or decide to not do what he said. What if you could win 100% though? Moses left the managing role of the Israelites to Joshua as they approached the promise land. The Lord promised Moses, and then Joshua, that if they did all that he commanded them, Israel would defeat all their foes - 100% of the time. As they approached Jericho, God gave Joshua the strategy. He was very specific in detailing how they would get their win against Jericho. One final command was to “keep away from the devoted things, so that you (Israel) will not bring about your own destruction by taking any of them. Otherwise you will make the camp of Israel liable to destruction and bring trouble on it. All the silver and gold and the articles of bronze and iron are sacred to the Lord and must go into his treasury.” After Jericho was destroyed, they set their eyes on Ai. Israel didn’t send their whole army but sent 3,000 men there because Ai was small.  Nevertheless, Ai’s men were able to kill a few of their men in the attack and chased Israel away in defeat. Joshua, shortly after, found out that a few of his men took some of the valuable goods that were supposed to be dedicated to God, which was why the Lord wasn’t with them when they attacked Ai. Whoops!  The Lord coaches us infinitely better than the great player-managers of baseball’s past. Like Pete Rose or Frank Robinson, Jesus doesn’t just coach from the dugout, but he is an eligible player as well and put on the uniform of human flesh. He was a man, ascended into heaven as a man, and leads us now as a glorified man through the work of the Holy Spirit in the world (Mark 16:19). If we want to be a successful team under him now, we need to (as James 1:22 says) “not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.” Yes, we do get grace from God in our inattention at times, but we are to follow him with endurance, obedience, and faithfulness. We need to be a handy, accessible tool in his belt. He wants our upmost attention, an attention to every detail, because he has the best game plan for you and us. Jesus said that if we love him, we will keep his commandments, but he doesn’t just say that and expect us to move on our own. He promises us that he will walk with us by the Spirit (John 14:15, 16). Often-times though, he’s just waiting for willing players… players that will say something like, “put me anywhere, coach!” kind of like the prophet Isaiah. In Isaiah 6:8, scripture says, “Then I (Isaiah) heard the voice of the Lord saying, ‘Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?’ And I said, ‘Here am I. Send me!’” But when you pray that prayer, friend, just be ready to go with him!

Today’s Prayer Guide:

Praise – Give praise to God that he is the master strategist.

Confession – Confess that you sometimes, maybe just subconsciously, think you know better than him and are unwilling to move for him.

Ask – Ask the Spirit of God to guide you to truly love Jesus - in obedience through his help by the Spirit. Ask that you would not just work in compliance to him, but that you would have a thirst for his next word.