Promises Fulfilled

Today's Scripture Reading: Joshua 2-24

After finishing the book of Joshua I am just amazed at God’s faithfulness to fulfill His promises. That’s what Joshua is all about. One of my memory verses from last year is found in Joshua, and I am even more in love with this verse after reading Genesis to Joshua straight through. It is found in Joshua 23:14b—“You know with all your heart and soul that not one of all the good promises the LORD your God gave you has failed. Every promise has been fulfilled; not one has failed.”

I found myself “toughing it out” reading through some parts of Joshua. It just seemed to be descriptions and lists of territories. I thought, “What spiritual insight am I supposed to get from this?!” And then it was if God opened my eyes to see past the mundane. The words on the page are just lists of cities and borders. But, that’s not it at all. Those lists are the Israelites counting their blessings. They spent years in captivity in Egypt, and then years in the desert. They now had their inheritance from the Lord and they were listing them one by one! Not one city was left out. We could take a cue from them and make our lists. What might seem mundane to one is a true blessing to the one who received it. I’m so thankful for all the cities listed in Joshua because they prove the Lord is faithful to His Word!

At the end of Joshua, he reminds Israel of all the mighty deeds of the Lord. He reminds them of God’s faithfulness and says this verse, which I have heard for years: “Now fear the LORD and serve Him with all faithfulness. Throw away the gods your forefathers worshiped beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the LORD. But if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your forefathers served beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD.”—Joshua 24:14-15. Again, this verse has such new meaning to me now. You see, that was a battle with the Israelites. God would deliver them and provide for them, yet they constantly were seduced by neighboring “gods.” No good. But on that day, at the charge of Joshua they chose the LORD God.

This verse, as I understand, is one of the key verses of the Promise Keepers. I’m so thankful that I have a Dad who chose to serve the Lord. You know, I’m all about memorizing Scripture. Most people learn John 3:16 for their first memory verse. Not I. Before I ever learned John 3:16, I learned Malachi 3:10: “Bring ye the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be meat in my house, Prove me now herewith saith the LORD of hosts, and see if I will not throw open the windows of heaven and pour you out a blessing you will not be able to contain.” Strange verse to be the first, right? Maybe not. But, the bigger point is that I heard it over and over and over and over as a child. By age 2-1/2 I had it down! So thankful that I had a Dad who quoted Scripture. And I hope that someday (soon, Lord?) God and my Dad will deliver me into the hands of someone who has chosen to serve the Lord. But, let me say, (And I really, really hope God doesn’t try to call my bluff on this one) I’d rather go it alone than spend my days with someone who doesn’t love the Lord. And that takes a lot to say, because I really don’t want to go it alone. But, I want someone who loves me as “Christ loves the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the Word.” Well, I didn’t mean to go off on that tangent. But, sometimes I like tangents.