Blessings or Curses....
Read Joshua 1:3-5
We are actually going to cover more than one verse this time!! :)
Just to quickly recap; Moses has passed away and Joshua has now been appointed the new leader of the Isrealites. God has spoken and told Joshua to get up (get going, move on!) and lead the Israelites across the Jordan River and into the land He is about to give them. As we move into verse 3 God promises to give the Israelites every place that they step their foot on...Why do you think God words it that way? That caught my attention. Why wouldn't God just say, "I've given you all this land. It's all for you...it's yours"? I believe that He is teaching us a lesson in obedience. He tells Moses in Deut. 11:24-28,
24 Every place where you set your foot will be yours: Your territory will extend from the desert to Lebanon, and from the Euphrates River to the Mediterranean Sea.25 No one will be able to stand against you. The Lord your God, as he promised you, will put the terror and fear of you on the whole land, wherever you go. 26 See, I am setting before you today a blessing and a curse—27 the blessing if you obey the commands of the Lord your God that I am giving you today;28 the curse if you disobey the commands of the Lord your God and turn from the way that I command you today by following other gods, which you have not known.
God says that blessing comes when we OBEY His commands. He gives the Israelites a promise, AND He gives them a command in order to receive it. Every piece of land that they step foot on will be theirs, He promises that....but in order to receive it, they have to step foot on it! They have to trust that He is going to do what He said He would do and make all of their enemies fear them. They have to have FAITH that He is going to come through for Joshua just as He promised Moses.
Even with the promise that this land would be theirs, they never fully possessed it all. Do you know that part of the reason they never fully possessed it all is because of disobedience? (Joshua 7) Did you also know that the reason Moses never got to enter into the promised land was because of disobedience? (Num 20:11-12) God takes this requirement seriously!
Isn't it true that God requires this same obedience from us today?? Check 2 Cor 2:14, Isa 54:17 & Heb 13:5 for just a few examples of the promises He gives us concerning our protections. He's got our back!! God tells us that we can have victory over all things. He tells us that He will provide us everything we need (Phil 4:19). However; some of God's promises come with an offer as well as an obligation. Our obligations is to be obedient. In the scripture above God reminded Moses that obedience is the key to unlocking either blessing or curse. We are called to give God rule and authority over every part of our lives...and He will bless us. Just as the Israelites were given every part of the land. All they had to do was go there, step foot on it. Obey. They did not & they never possessed all that He promised them! In the same way, we can hold back places in our life from God and never gain victory over them.
Are there places of your life, circumstances that you haven't "stepped foot" on yet? Are there promises that you don't possess because of disobedience? God wants to give us the promises of deliverance from every stronghold, burden, sin and oppression that we have in our lives...we just have to "step foot" on it. Acknowledge it's there and give it to Him and have FAITH that He will fulfill his promise. Faith is a hard thing...
Thoughts?
Read Joshua 1:3-5
We are actually going to cover more than one verse this time!! :)
Just to quickly recap; Moses has passed away and Joshua has now been appointed the new leader of the Isrealites. God has spoken and told Joshua to get up (get going, move on!) and lead the Israelites across the Jordan River and into the land He is about to give them. As we move into verse 3 God promises to give the Israelites every place that they step their foot on...Why do you think God words it that way? That caught my attention. Why wouldn't God just say, "I've given you all this land. It's all for you...it's yours"? I believe that He is teaching us a lesson in obedience. He tells Moses in Deut. 11:24-28,
24 Every place where you set your foot will be yours: Your territory will extend from the desert to Lebanon, and from the Euphrates River to the Mediterranean Sea.25 No one will be able to stand against you. The Lord your God, as he promised you, will put the terror and fear of you on the whole land, wherever you go. 26 See, I am setting before you today a blessing and a curse—27 the blessing if you obey the commands of the Lord your God that I am giving you today;28 the curse if you disobey the commands of the Lord your God and turn from the way that I command you today by following other gods, which you have not known.
God says that blessing comes when we OBEY His commands. He gives the Israelites a promise, AND He gives them a command in order to receive it. Every piece of land that they step foot on will be theirs, He promises that....but in order to receive it, they have to step foot on it! They have to trust that He is going to do what He said He would do and make all of their enemies fear them. They have to have FAITH that He is going to come through for Joshua just as He promised Moses.
Even with the promise that this land would be theirs, they never fully possessed it all. Do you know that part of the reason they never fully possessed it all is because of disobedience? (Joshua 7) Did you also know that the reason Moses never got to enter into the promised land was because of disobedience? (Num 20:11-12) God takes this requirement seriously!
Isn't it true that God requires this same obedience from us today?? Check 2 Cor 2:14, Isa 54:17 & Heb 13:5 for just a few examples of the promises He gives us concerning our protections. He's got our back!! God tells us that we can have victory over all things. He tells us that He will provide us everything we need (Phil 4:19). However; some of God's promises come with an offer as well as an obligation. Our obligations is to be obedient. In the scripture above God reminded Moses that obedience is the key to unlocking either blessing or curse. We are called to give God rule and authority over every part of our lives...and He will bless us. Just as the Israelites were given every part of the land. All they had to do was go there, step foot on it. Obey. They did not & they never possessed all that He promised them! In the same way, we can hold back places in our life from God and never gain victory over them.
Are there places of your life, circumstances that you haven't "stepped foot" on yet? Are there promises that you don't possess because of disobedience? God wants to give us the promises of deliverance from every stronghold, burden, sin and oppression that we have in our lives...we just have to "step foot" on it. Acknowledge it's there and give it to Him and have FAITH that He will fulfill his promise. Faith is a hard thing...
Thoughts?
No comments:
Post a Comment