Reading for today
Old Testament: Joshua 6, 7, 8
New Testament: Luke 21
Thoughts from today’s reading
Joshua 7. We see that Joshua did not consult the Lord before this battle with Ai like he did with the battle of Jericho, and when things went wrong, he had to come back to God who revealed what the problem was and gave him a way forward.
It seemed like a harsh punishment for Achan and his whole family to be killed, after all, it was only Achan that took the accursed thing. However God had given laws that if anyone disobeyed the law, that their family should not pity them, but rather expose their error. It is likely that the family of Achan concealed his disobedience and thus were implicated in his sin.
Joshua 8:18-26. God instructed Joshua to stretch his spear towards Ai for victory over the city. This is similar to what Moses did in Exodus 17 when they fought the Amalekites.
We see here that Joshua’s hand remained stretched out over the city until the battle was won.
Luke 21:7-11. Jesus described what would happen in later times signalling the coming of the Son of Man. There will be wars, famines, pestilences, earthquakes and more. Jesus said these are warning signs, so when we see the warning, the responsibility lies with us to be prepared.
We are seeing these thing more prevalent in our days. Rather than get caught up in fear or get carried away with different peoples points of view of what is happening, we should stay prepared and ready to meet with the Lord.
Prayer
1. Father we seek you first in all things that we do and yield to the direction of your spirit daily that we may not act presumptuously and thus suffer defeat where we don’t need to.
2. Father we pray according to the Spirit of God that says come Lord Jesus. May we be found ready when the Lord returns, may we obey His voice and do His will. We move beyond fear and confusion and lift up our eyes to you because our salvation draws near. Thank you Jesus.