Podcast Introduction

Our reading today is Genesis 4-7. After that I’ll address what some people see as difficulties in those chapters. We’ll do Our reading today is Joshua 6-10. After that I’ll have some comments on those chapters.. Then we’ll do our “On This Day In Church History” segment.

Thoughts

Thoughts on Joshua 5 and 6

When God tells you to do something, don’t question Him. Even if you think doing it will make you look silly. 

How crazy must the people in Jericho thought the Israelites were when they looked outside the walls on the first day, and saw the parade pass by. “What do those desert wanderers think they’re doing? And what’s with those strange trumpets?”, they must’ve said. 

And on the second day, “What? They’re doing it again? That’s weird.”

And so on for six days.

Then, on the seventh day: “Oh for crying out loud. They’re back. Oh well. They’ll be gone soon.” 

“Wait. They’re going around again. That’s strange.” 

“And again?”

And if you’re one of the Israelites, how silly must you have felt to be walking out there, doing nothing, saying nothing. “Come on! If we’re going to take this city, let’s take it already! Let’s storm the walls! Let’s build a battering ram for the door! Let’s DO something! What’s with all this WALKING?”

“Wait. Joshua’s telling us to go around seven times today? What? We’re supposed to yell when we hear the ram’s horn? Does he really think that’s going to scare the inhabitants into surrender, or something? Sheesh”

Of course we know what happened, but since they didn’t have the book of Joshua to read back then, this whole series of events must have looked and felt incredibly silly and stupid at the time.

When God tells you to do something, don’t question Him. Even if you think doing it will make you look silly. 

Thoughts on Joshua 7

The first word of today’s chapter is “But”. Whenever we see that, we need to remember what the previous statement was, because “but” is a word that ties two thoughts together. If I say to you, “But I’m going to have a snack,” you don’t know the full meaning of that statement. I might have said,”I just ate” or “I’m late for an appointment” or “I’m on a diet” or “Dinner is in fifteen minutes” or any number to other things. Each one of those opening statements gives a bit of a different flavor to my “But I’m going to have a snack” statement.

Here in Joshua 7, we have to go back to the last sentence of Joshua 6, which read, “So the lord was with Joshua, and his reputation spread throughout the land.”

And the first sentence of Joshua 7 was, “But Israel violated the instructions about the things set apart for the Lord.” 

And then the story of what happened unfolds. We see that the sin of one man ignited God’s wrath against the entire nation. You’ve heard the phrase, “No man is an island”? That fact is shown to be true here. Our secret sins, even if we think they won’t affect anyone, are seen by God, and they do affect others. Our families, our churches, our communities, our nation. 

The fact that Joshua was committed to doing what was right in God’s sight was evident by the fact that he was willing to tear his clothes and lie face down on the ground before the Ark of the Covenant, which represented the presence of God, until the evening. And then God told Joshua what the problem was, and how Joshua should address it.

As the narrowing down process went forward, Achan had every opportunity to step forward and confess. The fact that he didn’t do that sealed his fate. It wasn’t until God revealed that this was the one that he confessed, and told the details of his sin. Note that he knew that all of the plunder was to go to the Lord, but when he saw that Babylonian robe he allowed himself to begin thinking about how beautiful it was. And that led to coveting it and then the silver and the gold. His sin began like all others. Not in the seeing, but in the rolling it over in his mind, imagining himself owning it. 

Friend, whenever we’re tempted, the safest thing we can do is not to try to fight it, but to run. 1 Corinthians 6:18 says “Flee from sexual immorality…”. 2 Timothy 2:22 says, “Flee the evil desires of youth…” Ecclesiastes 21:2 says, “Flee from sin as from the face of a serpent…”

Thoughts on Joshua 8

Given the state of the world right now, I think it appropriate that we take a look at the first part of the opening sentence of Joshua 8. It says, “Then the Lord said to Joshua, ‘Do not be afraid or discouraged.'”

In the previous chapter, unbeknownst to Joshua, there was sin in their midst. Achan had taken and hidden some of the plunder from Jericho, and as a result, Israel was soundly defeated by Ai. Joshua was badly shaken by the defeat, and he sought God as to why He had allowed this to happen. God told Joshua that there was sin in their midst, and told him how to find where it was. Joshua followed God’s leading, and took action against Achan. 

The last sentence of Joshua 7 was, “So the Lord was no longer angry”. And again, the first sentence of chapter 8 is, “Then the Lord said to Joshua, ‘Do not be afraid or discouraged.'”

Isn’t it good to be reminded that if we are diligent to rout sin from our life, if we deal with it from a truly contrite heart, if we are merciless against the sin and seek God for His help in eliminating it, He will take our side. He will bless us. He will lead us in the way which will bring Him glory and which will benefit us the most. Here in Joshua 8 God gave the Israelites a second chance to defeat Ai, which they did. 

Maybe you have an Ai in your life. Maybe there’s something that you have been unable to defeat. Is there unconfessed sin that you’ve been harboring? Rout it out. Seek God. He truly does want to forgive and restore you.

Thoughts on Joshua 9

How many times have I made the same mistake as the leaders of Israel made in this chapter? I have a decision to make, and I rely on my own “wisdom and intelligence” to gather what I think is the appropriate information to make the right call, and everything blows up in my face because I didn’t seek the Lord. 

As Solomon said in Ecclesiastes 1:9, there is nothing new under the sun. Seems like each generation has to learn from their own mistakes, huh?

Thoughts on Joshua 10

Something that causes a lot of people to question God’s justice is how he ordered the complete destruction of the people who occupied the promised land before He gave the land to His chosen people. 

At first blush it seems unnecessarily brutal. But let’s take a closer look.

In Deuteronomy 20:16-18 we read: “…in the cities of the nations the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance, do not leave alive anything that breathes. Completely destroy them — the Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites — as the LORD your God has commanded you. Otherwise, they will teach you to follow all the detestable things they do in worshiping their gods, and you will sin against the LORD your God”. God knew that if any were left, they would influence negatively his chosen people.

Also, many of the things we read in the Old Testament are examples for our own individual lives today. When we become aware of even the slightest sin in our own lives, we need to be ruthless toward it and completely eradicate it. As far as we are humanly able, we must eliminate anything that could come between us and our God, our Savior, our King. A small sin today could one day bring destruction. 

The lesson from Joshua 10 is we must be ruthless against evil influences if we are to live a holy life, pleasing to God. 

Today’s Bible Translation

Bible translation used in today’s episode: Ch. 6 NIV, Ch. 7-8 NLT, Ch. 9 NIRV, Ch. 10 CEV

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The Team

Transcript Correction: Lifespring Family Berean, Sister Denise
Podcasting 2.0 Chapters: Lifespring Family Berean, Brother Sean of San Pedro and Lifespring Family Berean, Brother Michael Haner
Show Art: Lifespring Family Berean, Brother Scott Snider and Lifespring Family Berean Jason Paschall
Newsletter Publisher: Lifespring Family Berean, Sister Brittaney

Transcript

Transcript not corrected.