There were two things that God made clear and underscorably clear to Joshua. He was to put all of his confidence in God and His law and he was to courageously fear no man. There were no other elements of their discussion. 1) Trust me only and 2) fear no man. This at a time when Joshua faced strong peoples with other gods. He had seen Moses have to take this stance many times but the test was now for him and for the nation that he would be leading. If Joshua was to be confident in God and courageous against evil men then so was the nation he was to lead. Somehow in thinking about this point of their history. I feel better about God and Joshua than I do the nation. It makes me wonder just how well the Christian nation is doing in this regard and me a member of it.
In John, we read of Jesus saying He could not entrust Himself to some folk because he knew they would betray Him. The Psalmist says it is better to put your confidence in God than man (118) and the prophets in later times were always sending this message to Israel and Judah. It seems it is a hard lesson for we God knowing people to learn deep within our soul. Usually, it is because we have put too much of our trust in the men around us and less in God and our heavenly Joshua. It's just that our situations can be so iffy, isn't it? Yesterday we were discussing the disciples' plight at a given point. Jesus had just told Judas to leave the room (he had all the money). Jesus, who could do the supernatural, had just announced he would die very soon. He said He would send another Helper but nobody in the room knew when. If one did not feel the strong attraction to Jesus and His love one could be tempted to feel a little bereft and look around to men for help. But praise God they did feel that love and stayed the course. It is a prayer for strength and wisdom we all need to make.
"Faith of our fathers, holy faith, we will be true to Thee 'til death"
Frederick Faber
Wednesday, May 1, 2019
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment