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    March 30th Chronological Bible Readings

    Joshua 22:1-24:33
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    In Joshua chapter 22 verse 10 today we read: “Reuben, Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh built a very large altar near the Jordan River at a place called Geliloth.”  The place where our readings end today in verse 20 is quite a cliff-hanger!  Note that verse 20 is not the end of chapter 22, and as Paul Harvey says, further on in today’s readings you will get “The Rest of the Story.”  🙂


    Harvey

    Wow.  I like Deuteronomy chapter 11 a lot today. There are a ton of powerful verses in this chapter!  I love verse 22 – “”Be careful to obey all the commands I give you; show love to the LORD your God by walking in his ways and clinging to him.” I really like that… show Love to God by walking in his ways – and clinging to him.  I think I caught that term in our readings yesterday as well – “clinging.”  I know in our world today it’s not too cool to be too clingy. 🙂  But, I think God indeed wants us to be clingy when it comes Him!  I pray that I cling to God each and every day.  How about you?  When it comes to God, are you clingy?  Check out this amazing stained glass image of a woman clinging to the cross. Amazing.  I love the imagery. Take a few moments to meditate on this one…



    Verses 26 through 28 are terrific verses on the choice the Israelites could make back then – “”Today I am giving you the choice between a blessing and a curse! You will be blessed if you obey the commands of the LORD your God that I am giving you today. You will receive a curse if you reject the commands of the LORD your God and turn from his way by worshiping foreign gods.”  I believe this choice has morphed but still continues today through the New Covenant.  We can choose to follow Jesus or we can choose to follow our own ways.  One way is a blessing and one way is truly a curse.  Like the Israelites, we still have the choice of a blessing or a curse….  Which choice will we make? 



    Today we finish up the book of Joshua!  What a book.  I have definitely learned much from this book this year.  And today’s readings are no exception.  Chapter 24 is a wonderful closing to this book where the Israelites renew their covenant with God.  Verses 25 through 27 are awesome – “So Joshua made a covenant with the people that day at Shechem, committing them to a permanent and binding contract between themselves and the LORD. Joshua recorded these things in the Book of the Law of God. As a reminder of their agreement, he took a huge stone and rolled it beneath the oak tree beside the Tabernacle of the LORD.  Joshua said to all the people, “This stone has heard everything the LORD said to us. It will be a witness to testify against you if you go back on your word to God.”


    Josh_24_26_joshua_took_a_great_stone

    It’s great to read verse 32 and realize that Joseph’s wishes from 200 years earlier of being buried in the Promised Land came to fruition!  It is amazing to realize the Israelites carried Joseph’s bones with them throughout the 40 years in the desert to fulfill this wish –  “The bones of Joseph, which the Israelites had brought along with them when they left Egypt, were buried at Shechem, in the parcel of ground Jacob had bought from the sons of Hamor for one hundred pieces of silver.  This land was located in the territory allotted to the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh, the descendants of Joseph.”


    Josh_24_32_and_the_bones_of_joseph

    Worship God: Today’s readings in Joshua reminded me of Jeremy Camp’s song “Walk by Faith:”



    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dEkh_KxKao0

    Are you walking by faith? Click here and walk unafraid!


    Please join us in memorizing and meditating on a verse of Scripture today: “Be very strong; be careful to obey all that is written in the Book of the Law of Moses, without turning aside to the right or to the left.” Joshua 23:6 NIV


    Prayer Point: Pray that you are carefully obeying the LORD. Pray that you never turn aside to the right or the left of the LORD’s Word, the Bible. Pray for strength in your walk of faith today and forevermore.


    Comments from You:  What verses or insights stand out to you in today’s readings?  Please post up by clicking on the “Comments” link below!

    God bless,
    Mike

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    3 responses to “March 30th Chronological Bible Readings”

    1. Ramona Avatar
      Ramona

      Joshua 22:21-23:16
      An altar is a place of exchange. In the case of Israel, their alter was a place where they exchanged their personal and national sins for God’s righteousness through daily blood sacrifices. For the 2 ½ tribes, their memorial, their large memorial was to be a reminder to whom? What one says and what one’s true intentions are is two separate things. It can be said that one’s actions speak so loudly that what is being said is drowned out. So unless we know what is truly in their hearts, we cannot discern their true intentions. However, we do have a record of what happened to both those on the east of the Jordan and those on the west. Their fruit, like our fruit gives evidence of what was in the heart.
      The tribes of Reuben, Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh had requested land not intended as their Promise, to be there substitute Promise. So what was the real intent of this memorial/altar. Had they since realized after really seeing the Promise that God had for them, that they had made a mistake and were to proud to say so? The problem with “memorials” is this: unless one is interested in history, they either become a place for pigeons to sit on and/or they become part of the scenery and all meaning is lost except by the tourists and the lovers of history and architecture.
      To truly keep your mind focused on something, one must have a heart felt love for what is before you. Altar or no altar, memorial or no memorial the issue at hand is what is going on in the heart of both the 2 ½ tribes, east of the Jordon, and the 9 ½ tribes on the west. That is the same predicament we have today. Whether we have statues/paintings/icons of those, we have decided by consensus, to be godly saints, or we have sparse places of worship with plan walls, the issue is and has always been what is going on in the heart.
      We justify our actions by appearances; GOD examines our motives. Clean living before God and justice with our neighbors mean far more to GOD than religious performance. (Proverbs 21:2-3 MSG)
      Joshua 24:1-33
      Two verses in the twenty-fourth chapter have not only caught my attention but also fired my imagination,
      3 But I took your ancestor Abraham from the land beyond the Euphrates and led him into the land of Canaan. I gave him many descendants through his son Isaac. 4 To Isaac I gave Jacob and Esau. To Esau I gave the hill country of Seir, while Jacob and his children went down into Egypt.
      Esau was given the hill country while Jacob and his children went down into Egypt to become enslaved. Looking at this without seeing God’s perspective or having the advantage of hindsight the fact that Esau was given the hill country and Jacob/Israel would seem that God had favored Esau. The Word spoken to Rebekah regarding the twins she carried,
      23 And the LORD said unto her, “Two nations are in thy womb, and two manner of people shall be separated from thy bowels; and the one people shall be stronger than the other people; and the elder shall serve the younger” (Gen 25:23).
      Jacob was the younger and Esau the older and the Word of God never returns to Him void, it always accomplish that which was spoken by Him even when observed before the fullness of time. It took over 400 years before God’s Word to Rebekah came to past.
      We do not fulfill God’s Word to us by us working the word; His Word is fulfilled as we live in obedience to his commands. Rebekah thought that she could fulfill God’s Word to Jacob by tricks and manipulation. Esau thought he could subvert the Word that had been spoken by God through his father by plotting to kill his brother. (Genesis 25-50)
      Grace and peace,
      Ramona

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    2. Tabitha Avatar
      Tabitha

      Choose you this day who you will serve, the gods of your ancestors in Egypt, or the God that led you into the promised land. As for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.
      The above is my paraphrase, but we must choose. Who will you serve? As for me….I will serve the Lord.

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    3. Henry Avatar
      Henry

      Ditto, Tabitha.

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