Joshua 6

 The Bible says no one went in or out because of Israel. If you knew an overpowering enemy was coming, why not get out of the way? Why not do what people do even today and leave? Why not, if you knew God was stronger, convert? Surrender? Only one nation came close, which we will see later, and they were not destroyed. The rest knew God was going to win and did nothing. We can't answer because we don't know, we weren't there, and we have no record. We can only wonder.

When does God want you to work on the Sabbath? Easy when He tells you to, but is that what is happening? The concept we see here wasn't that they were working, but God was going to do the real work, so in reality, they weren't disobeying.

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2 Thessalonians 2

The Bible says here that God will send them delusions so they will believe a lie. How can a loving God do this? In other places, God seems to push those who want to sin deeper into their own deception. Why would God do this? First, we need to realize that these people God is talking about are like those in Romans 1:18-32; they want to believe a lie. They have rejected light and have embraced darkness. God sends them as the Greek (the original language )would translate a "working of error" or "energy of delusion." God gives them what they want. These aren't people who are good but are what God would call reprobate, or apostate. The world might look at them and say they're good people, but God knows the heart. God is passing judgment. 

So why? Could it be that by believing the lie and going all in, as it were, this will show others the error of their ways? I have heard reports that the acts of radical Islam have caused many in that faith to question it and come to faith in Jesus. The barbarity of Hitler's eugenics program changed most of the world's thoughts on that subject. The abuses in the church show how bad people with absolute power can be. These people who have been given over want to go this way, and God says okay, but then he exposes the sin as what it is. 

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Psalm 58

 I like how the New Living Translation says verse 1, “Justice- do you know the meaning of the word?. The truth is in ourselves, we don’t. Every step towards justice and equity in the world finds injustice and inequity being lived out. Does this mean we shouldn’t strive for it-No? No. What it does mean is that as humans, we can’t get it right. We think we know what justice is, but we often fall far short. This is why we need God. We need him to show us when we are wrong and what we can try to do to make it right. As is said in proverbs, a righteous person falls seven times and gets up, so when we find we have done wrong,g get up and try again. 

Joshua 5

The children of Israel crossed the Jordan in enemy territory, as it were, so what does Joshua do? Completely incapacitates the army. If we remember back in Genesis 34, the sons of Jacob were able to take over an entire town because the men were recently circumcised. Now, on the edge of battle, Jacob does this. Why? My answer is because it is better to be physically weakened and obedient to God than physically strong and disobedient. It is far safer, as Jesus put it in Matthew 10:28b, "be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell."

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Joshua 4

 

Everything changes when God gets involved. Joshua had been picked as leader, but it was with the crossing of the Jordan River that God gave Joshua the respect in the eyes of the people that they had for Moses. This crossing, a true miracle, caused the people to fear God again in a new way and to spread fear among the enemies of Israel. Joshua had a position, Israel had an army, but now God, by his action, elevated those things into a place where they could do something that would otherwise be impossible.

I have heard it said that God only gives you the supernatural grace/power you need when you need it. As one pastor said, you don't need martyr's grace until you are a martyr. You don't need a supernatural grace or power to do something you have the strength to do. The downside to this is that you may wait to act until you get some power, but it isn't coming because you have what you need. We need to pray, but there is quite often just a need to do or to at least try. 

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Jeremiah 2

 In verse four, God asks a rhetorical question, which I will translate into “Where did I blow it that you had to look elsewhere for help?” Later, God asks again, and I will translate, “You weren’t slaves, so how did you become one?.” The answers are that God didn’t mess up; they did. 

Later, God points out that Israel claims they are faithful, but their actions prove otherwise. He goes on to compare their actions to a she-camel in heat. Once confronted, Israel says, “It’s hopeless for I love foreign gods and I have to go after them.” They were saying, well, as it were, I’m born this way, I can’t help it. They weren’t God brought them out of Egypt and showed them with mighty deeds just how good he is. The problem is that this is what they want. Unfortunately, things haven’t changed much.  

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Joshua 3

 

Joshua is democratic in this chapter. Joshua, instead of just choosing twelve guys, like he chose the two spies, asked the twelve tribes to pick a man each for them. Their role will be seen in the next chapter, but what I see is that there are times when God and God's leaders choose, and there are times when God or God's leaders say, You choose. I'm sure that I could try and guess why this time was okay for the tribes to choose and the other time it wasn't, but really, we aren't told. This reminds me that there are times I understand what God is doing and He makes it clear, and there are times He doesn't say. We need to be okay with this and enjoy the times God says, You choose. 

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