Keeping the Family Together

Joshua 6:23

So the young men who had done the spying went in and brought out Rahab, her father and mother, her brothers and sisters and all who belonged to her. They brought out her entire family and put them in a place outside the camp of Israel.

Rahab lived in Jericho. When she discovered her city with its enormous protective walls would be destroyed, she made a deal. She would hide the spies, but they would have to save the lives of Rahab and her family.

Her story in the Old Testament reminds me of the story in the New Testament that shows a man believing what Jesus was saying and allowing that to affect his family. Jesus refused to accompany a man to his home and heal his son who was close to death. Instead, Jesus simply told the man to go because his son would live. The man went home, but before arriving, his servants met him with the news that his son had started feeling better around 1pm the day before. We read in John 4:53 what happened when he acted on what Jesus said.

Then the father realized that this was the exact time at which Jesus had said to him, “Your son will live.” So he and his whole household believed.

I know God loves each of us as individuals. But he also loves to work in our families. During the holidays, my family loves to get together and connect over games and food. Actually, any time of year will do. We make time to share what we’ve enjoyed doing in our recent past and what we look forward to in our near future. We hold hands and pray together. We even go to events together when we can.

God loves to be a part of our daily lives, whether during the holidays or not. He’s the glue that keeps our family together. He’s the sugar that keeps us sweet. He’s the adrenaline that gives us a rush and makes us fast when we need to be. He’s the warmth in our hugs. And he’s the one who puts creative ideas in our plans to help us come together again soon.

Joshua

Ex 33:11

The Lord would speak to Moses face to face, as one speaks to a friend. Then Moses would return to the camp, but his young aide Joshua son of Nun did not leave the tent.

If you had been a trainee under the leadership of Moses, you would’ve learned about humility before God. You would’ve learned how to drop everything and act promptly in obedience to God. You would’ve learned that there is one thing that has to come before everything else you value. That one thing is time spent alone with God.

Joshua knew about a serious relationship with God when Moses spoke to Pharaoh and plagues came over the land. He knew enough to step away from the crowd so he could be a leader and not a follower. In Exodus 32:17 we read that Joshua wasn’t with the golden calf worshippers, but he thought the people sounded like war. In chapter fourteen of the book of Numbers, we read that all but two of the explorers of the land flowing with milk and honey treated God with contempt. The only explorers who gave a good report about the land and the only explorers who would return to that land were Joshua and Caleb. Joshua knew to make up his own mind and follow God.

After Moses died, Joshua was called upon to take the lead in his place.  In the first chapter of the book of Joshua, God told Joshua to be strong and courageous for there would be battles ahead. Joshua knew from his years coming out of Egypt that God would be responsible for their victories. God would supply them with everything they needed, whether food or battle strategies. All Joshua had to do was obey God.

In Joshua 24:29, we read that Joshua died at age 110 after charging his people with (24:14), “choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, …But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.” He wasn’t content to die knowing his life had been spent serving God. He wanted to share his one thing, the one thing he valued most, with his family and friends.

Joshua urged his community to always treasure that special time with God because without it they would be lost. A life of serving and honoring God was what Joshua wanted to pass down, not just to his kids or his community, but to future generations.

What will your kids inherit from you? What’s your one thing?

Unusual Battle at Jericho

Joshua 6:10

But Joshua had commanded the people, "Do not give a war cry, do not raise your voices, do not say a word until the day I tell you to shout. Then shout!"

In the thirty-third chapter of Numbers, the Lord said to Moses that the Israelites would have to drive out the inhabitants of Canaan and take possession of the land. Over the next several chapters, the Lord explained in detail how the Israelites should divide up the land and how they should live in the land the Lord would give them. So the Israelites knew that this land was theirs if they would obey the Lord and take it.

Moses died in the desert and didn’t go into the promised land, but he laid his hand on Joshua so that he was given a spirit of wisdom. As the new leader of the Israelites, Joshua had to send out spies to see what lay ahead. In the second chapter of the book of Joshua, Rahab gave shelter to the spies and told them her people had already heard about how God was taking care of them and had given the land to them. In return for hiding them, she asked the spies to remember her and her family when the Lord gives them Jericho. For three days, Joshua and his officers went to the Israelites and instructed them to carry out detailed orders about their trip into the promised land.

The Lord built up everyone’s confidence in Joshua when they crossed over the Jordan River on dry ground just as they crossed over the Red Sea under Moses’ command. After the leaders constructed a memorial so that generations of children would ask and be told about how God sent them across the Jordan on dry ground as a sign to all people that they should fear the Lord because he is powerful, they circumcised all the Israelite men in obedience to God. They remained in their camp until they were healed, without fear of the Canaanite kings along the coast because no one had enough courage to face the Israelites after hearing how God had dried up the Jordan.

The king of Jericho had closed the city so that no one came in and no one went out. He thought Jericho’s city walls were enough to protect them, but he did not know the Lord. Joshua gave instructions for the unusual battle plan. The people marched around the city for six days and on the seventh, they shouted in obedience to God. Joshua instructed the spies to go into Jericho and get Rahab and all her family, but no one else was to be spared.

The Lord prepared the people and their leaders to obey his commands and find great success in their battle. When they took the city, they were proving what God had said. The Canaanites had good reason to fear the Lord. He’s powerful and mighty and can take care of his people.

The Lord proved that no wall was a problem for him. The mighty walls of Jericho fell without the use of dynamite or other explosives. The battle was successful because of the obedience of Joshua and his people.

Rahab's Secret

Joshua 2:14

"Our lives for your lives!" the men assured her. "If you don't tell what we are doing, we will treat you kindly and faithfully when the LORD gives us the land."

Joshua sent spies to check out the walled city of Jericho. They met Rahab who kept their secret. She helped them escape because she’d heard about their God. She asked them to promise that she and her family would be unharmed. At their instruction, she tied a scarlet cord in the window she helped them escape through. She and her family were saved because they could keep a secret.

When your best friend confides in you, do you keep the secret?

Most people will keep the secret entrusted to them based on their opinion of its value. If it’s a valuable secret and you value the friendship more, you’ll keep the secret. If you don’t value the friendship as much as the secret knowledge they gave, you’ll use the secret to benefit yourself and ruin a friendship in the process.

How you keep secrets tells people what kind of person you are. I can’t imagine enjoying a friendship with someone who gives away my secrets. I want to trust my friends. I also want my friends to trust me.

Trust is a two-way street.

I believe a good relationship with God has to have this two-way trust. Can God trust you to do what you tell him you’ll do? Do you trust God to do what he said he’d do?

People who are misinformed about what God said he’d do end up not trusting him because they trusted the second-hand information. Rahab trusted the spies and they trusted her because they were getting the information directly from the source. There wasn’t any confusion in the communication.

This is why each person needs to seek God on his own. There’s nothing better than hearing from God. That way it’s one-on-one and we don’t get misinformed by second-hand information. When a person develops a personal relationship with God, there’s a better chance that two-way trust will be developed.

Can God trust you enough to tell you a secret? Find out. Seek Him today.

An Inheritance For Your Children

Joshua 14:9

So on that day Moses swore to me, 'The land on which your feet have walked will be your inheritance and that of your children forever, because you have followed the LORD my God wholeheartedly.'

Joshua and Caleb were the only two men to bring back a fearless report of the land they’d been sent into. They told of a land flowing with milk and honey, but the other men stirred up fear in the hearts of the people.

At eighty-five years old, Caleb reminded Joshua what had happened when he was forty. Moses gave him land as an inheritance, and Caleb wanted to move into what was his.

I come from people who live a long time on the earth. They’re strong and proud and active. I can just imagine Caleb looking even more fit than my relatives. His words sound like he was energized and ready to go.

One of the things I like about Caleb is the fact that he doesn’t expect to drive out his enemies with his own strength. He knows he can be victorious against his enemies with the Lord’s help. Verse twelve shows his confidence is in the Lord. “You yourself heard then that the Anakites were there and their cities were large and fortified, but, the LORD helping me, I will drive them out just as he said.”

Because of his obedience and trust in the Lord, Caleb secured a great inheritance for all of his descendants. Or from verse nine, “your inheritance and that of your children forever.”

How are you building up an inheritance for your children?

Genuine Leather

Joshua 24:15
“choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve”

Will you test the fabric of your sofa to see if it’s naugahyde or leather? Are your belts, shoes, and purses made of genuine leather or a synthetic material? Fakes are easy to find, but the genuine leather products will have a label on them to prove the value of the product.

In a world where the authentic has to be labeled, it’s so important to choose wisely to whom you will give your heart. Do you attend a church that makes it easy to be a Christian? It seems that the popular churches are the feel-good churches. But there are churches that make you confront sin and make you wiggle uncomfortably in your pew.

Joshua told the people that no matter what they did, he and his household would serve the Lord. In fact, he told them they couldn’t serve the Lord because if they turned away to serve foreign gods, the Lord would bring disaster on them. But the people didn’t back down. They told Joshua they would serve the Lord.

What would happen in your church if the Pastor turned into a Joshua and declared to all the pew-warmers that they couldn’t serve the Lord because He is Holy and deserves worship from the bottom of your heart, not off the top of your head? Would the people stand up and choose for themselves to serve the Lord in a heart-felt commitment?

Someone who prays to God out of a relationship of love sounds different than one who prays because he’s supposed to. If the fabric of your life was tested, would the test results prove you to be a genuine Christian? Or merely a really good fake?

God knows the difference.