Saturday 16 Feb 2013

Saturday Reading: Joshua 1:5-9

Key Verse: Joshua 5:8
8  This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success.

Devotion:
When the Lord spoke to Joshua He made it very clear that Joshua would have to make sure that He kept the Word of God, the Law of God, as his guide and rule in his life. God’s reminder to him was that He would always be with Joshua just as He had always been with the children of Israel; God led by example and promises. And now He was asking Joshua to trust in Him entirely and lead his life according to God’s ways and not according to man’s ways.

But it was not just a remark to say that Joshua should stick to the law and do what was right, instead it was a command to say that Joshua would not have to fear anything, would continue to get the required guidance and strength and continue to have God’s unique and fullest support for as long as he was going to allow God to give it to him. Therein lies our problem in that we do not always allow God to work in our lives because we want things to happen according to our own ways instead of God’s ways.

God continues to give us that same promise nowadays, but because of what Christ has already done for us and because Christ has promised that He would leave us the Holy Spirit, we have a more sure command to follow God with. We have the Holy Spirit who is willing to indwell us, to stay with us, to guide us, to strengthen us and to empower us, not through what we can do but through what He can do through us. How amazing is that! God’s promises continue to be fulfilled every day even though we live in an age that seems so far removed from God’s chosen people.

I praise God that He has made this possible for me, just a tiny little speck of a man sitting in a remote corner of the world, reading His Word. And that has got to be the key that binds us all together, that we should keep God’s Word close to us at all times and try to make sure that we follow what He has said to us through that word. How are we ever to do that unless we read it and meditate on it daily?

Points to Ponder:
How often do you call on God?

How often do you read His Word?