Category Archives: Joshua

Is God really on America’s side?

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In honor of Memorial Day and all who served we present this ENCORE POST

We are in a war where radical Muslims claim God is on their side.  In America we pray for God to bless our troops and believe God is on our side.  Does God choose sides and if so, whose side is He on?

We gain insight into the answer in Joshua 5:13-14.  Joshua is preparing to lead Israel in battle against Jericho.  Joshua sees “a man” standing with sword drawn and he asks him, “Are you for us or for our enemies?” This “man” turns out to be an angel, or most probably, a pre-incarnate appearance of the Lord Jesus Christ Himself.

God had commanded the Israelites to go in and conquer the land to punish the inhabitants of it for their continued wicked ways.  He had promised the Israelites that He would give them victory.  If anybody could ever say, “God is on our side”, these would be the people who could make that claim.  Yet, the “man” gives a very curious answer, “Neither”. Continue reading →

Live happily ever after

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Storybook endingJoshua 21:44, 45
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.
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This sounds like the OT version of “and they all lived happily ever after” – no more problems, no more enemies, all was well with everyone. Of course, we know that isn’t what happened. They did not all live happily ever after.  Continue reading →

Ever feel God failed you?

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What went wrong?!Joshua 15:63
…the sons of Judah could not drive them out; so the Jebusites live with the sons of Judah at Jerusalem until this day.
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The Jebusites were one of the tribes God told Israel to drive out of the land and apparently the Israelites tried to do it but just did not have what it took to get the job done. So, how does that work?  Have you ever felt God called you to do something and when you gave it your best effort you just couldn’t pull it off? What a frustrating situation. It feels like God let you down. Wasn’t this His idea? Why didn’t He come through?  But you know you can’t blame your failure on God. But you can’t figure out what you could have done differently either. Continue reading →

So what is Caleb all about?

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The promises of GodMoses sent 12 spies into the promised land to scout it out. All 12 agreed it was a good land, just as God had said, but only two agreed with God that the Israelites could take the land. Joshua and Caleb were those two spies who believed God. I have always loved the symmetry and balance in Scripture, the fact that everything has a purpose and is illustrative to us of some spiritual truth. Because of that, for a long time I had a hard time figuring out what Caleb was all about. Continue reading →

13 – Lucky or Unlucky?

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I rolled a 13As I read through the book of Joshua, chapter 13 is one that is tough to read because of the strange names and most of us have little interest in how the land was divided. But, often hidden in chapters like this is a jewel if we take time to look.

You probably know Israel was divided into 12 tribes. Each tribe was named after one of Jacob’s 12 sons. Jacob’s name was changed to Israel and that is why they are called the “Children of Israel”. But did you know there were actually 13 tribes? No, this isn’t some weird new teaching.  Continue reading →

Why do the wicked win?

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Defeated KingsJoshua 12 is a list of kings Moses and Joshua dispossessed to give the land to God’s people. It is tough to read thoroughly – actually I usually just skim it giving half an effort to pronouncing all those weird names.

But these were kings, powerful men, greatly feared. The stroke of their hand meant life or death. Their word was law. Surely they seemed like gods and probably were treated as such. Now, they are just nobodies in a list of nobodies that nobody wants to read because, frankly, nobody cares? Continue reading →

God, you’re killing me.

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Death to Self

Joshua 11:23
So Joshua took control of the entire land, just as the Lord had instructed Moses. He gave it to the people of Israel as their special possession, dividing the land among the tribes. So the land finally had rest from war.
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When I read of the merciless slaughter in Joshua 11, and much of the OT for that matter, I feel conflicted. A loving God clearly commanded, approved and even participated in all this gore, violence and bloodshed. How is that consistent with His nature revealed through Jesus in the NT? A passage in Joshua 11 gives insight.

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The Greatest Miracle in the Bible

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Sad sun“So the sun stood still, and the moon stopped … the sun stopped in the middle of the sky and did not go down for about a whole day.”                    – Joshua 10:13
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The sun stopped for a day! This is even more miraculous than raising Jesus from the dead. For Moses he stopped some water but here, the sun stopped! Did all the stars and planets stop rotating, too? What of the tides and gravity and all the implications of this complicated cosmic system suddenly grinding to a halt. How about folks on the other side of the planet who had two nights back to back. Absolutely amazing! Why would God do such an astounding thing? Why does it get so little press coverage in the rest of the Bible? Continue reading →

Even when it hurts

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Truthfulness mattersIn Joshua 9 the Gibeonites lied to Joshua to get him to promise to spare their lives.  Theirs was an intentional, premeditated deception.  They went to great lengths to cover the truth.  In any court Joshua would not have been required to fulfill his vow because of their deceitfulness yet, he kept his word anyway. What’s that all about?  Keeping your word even when you find new information, even when you find someone else was not being perfectly honest or walking in integrity. Continue reading →