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Jun 12, 2023 06:00am

The Bible Recap: Days 85-91

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(The following are reflections from the writer’s personal journey through The Bible Recap by Tara-Leigh Cobble – a Bible reading plan to read the Bible chronologically in one year. To learn more about The Bible Recap, visit thebiblerecap.com. Find more posts from this series at lifeword.org/thebiblerecap.)

Day 85: Read Joshua Chapters 12-15

My Takeaways:

You guys, these soldiers are now enjoying the fruits of their labor! They defeated 31 cities! 31!

I can’t imagine how much fighting this entailed and how long, but wowza, that was a lot!

And yet, there’s still more land to be possessed! But, God promises to step in and drive them out Himself. (Can you imagine how He did this? Plagues, wild animals, fear…He could use any technique He wanted!)

We see a strong characteristic of God today with Caleb. Caleb, along with Joshua, was confident they could take the promised land the first time, 40 years previously. This time, he asks God for a specific land because of his faith. He recounts how he is as strong now as he was then! (This reminds me of how Moses was, too!)

And, here’s the kicker: He asks for the land of the giants—the Anakim. Their city was Hebron. He is confident God will be with him in battle and wants to take them on for their land—what faith!

Here’s what God’s Word says about Caleb: “Hebron still belongs to Caleb…because he followed the Lord, the God of Israel, completely.”

God is faithful to His people, no doubt. But, He is especially faithful and blesses those who walk by faith, not by sight. Caleb is proof.

Before we close today, there are already threads of disobedience in their abundance: The Israelites either don’t drive out some people in the land or couldn’t drive them out (perhaps due to some sin). By this point, these people have heard about the 10 plagues, the parting of the Red Sea, and experienced all the miracles in the desert along with the parting of the Jordan, the walls of Jericho, the sun standing still, hail coming from heaven, and countless more miracles.

How in the world could they not obey?!

Well, I guess the same reasons we don’t always obey. We have short term memories. We give way to fear. We see our obstacles as bigger than God. We are quick to point our finger at God when victories don’t always come first.

Perhaps, just perhaps, God allows failures and punishments to get our attention something is wrong. To work on our hearts. To have us look inward rather than outward.

We can find joy, even in our failures, because we have a God who doesn’t fail us. He is with us on the mountaintops and with us in the valleys. And He encourages us to learn in every season. He is faithful, friends.

Day 86: Read Joshua Chapters 16-18

My Takeaways:

Oh, today’s reading was fast!

Joshua is allotting land for each tribe today. And, we still get those threads of, “they did not drive out the _____ who lived there.” In chapter 17, the tribe of Manasseh couldn’t drive out the Canaanites because the Bible said, “the Canaanites were determined to stay in the land….” Oh, I bet they were—it was a land of milk and honey! They seemed to be digging their heels in…and yet, the Israelites didn’t really kick them out of town…instead, they put them into slave labor.

It makes me think of those habits we know we need to get rid of, but we really don’t attack those habits aggressively and kinda just live with them, knowing they aren’t good for us but because they are tolerable/manageable, we deal with them.

What if we all look at our bad habits as Canaanites who are determined to stay? Would we be more aggressive in eradicating them? Just a thought. Makes me reevaluate my bad habits in a whole new way.

The same idea applies to Joseph’s descendants—they needed more land, but when Joshua told them to clear off the trees in the forest, they kicked back a little because Canaanites lived there. They were intimidated of them and their iron chariots. Joshua reminds them they are a great and numerous people and can drive them out! I mean, did they forget God was on their side?!

These moments remind me that we have a God who wants to bless us, but we also have a God who wants us to walk by faith. The Israelites remind me of a child, standing there with his or her hand held out for more. They wanted those territories, without having to work for them. While God does promise them this land, He does expect them to step up and go to battle, trusting Him. Even after all the miracles and reminders that God is with them, they struggle living this faith out.

Day 87: Read Joshua Chapters 19-21

My Takeaways:

Joshua continues to divvy up land, establish pastures for the Levites, as well as cities of refuge. By the time it’s all said and done, there are now 48 cities under their control.

And the best part of today’s reading is this:

“So the Lord gave Israel all the land he’d sworn to give their ancestors, and they took possession of it, and settled there. The Lord gave them rest on every side, according to all had sworn to their ancestors. None of their enemies were able to stand against them, for the Lord had handed over all their enemies to them. None of the good promises the Lord had made to the house of Israel failed. Everything was fulfilled.”
Joshua 21:43-45

None of the good promises the Lord made to the house of Israel failed.

That line gets me, friends. God, reminded them that He never failed them…

Even when they gave way to fear and didn’t take the promise land… Even when they complained in the desert… Even when they tried to overthrow, Moses, and Aaron… Even when they bowed down to a golden calf…

He never failed them.

He used these moments to refine their hearts and prepare them for the biggest blessing of their lives and of their people.

If you need a reminder today, take heart, friends: He won’t fail you either! He takes us through wilderness times to bring something out that needs to go and to refine something that needs to stay. He is after our hearts and will use anything to circumcise them in such a way, we don’t want to turn back to the wilderness—we would be willing to walk in obedience to the promised land and face giants, fortified cities, and iron chariots because we trust Him and fear Him.

Oh, it’s beautiful and it’s painful all at the same time…but years from now, we would look back on these times and say this: it was worth it.

It was worth walking by faith. It was worth trusting God. It was worth giving Him our hearts.

Day 88: Read Joshua Chapters 22-24

My Takeaways:

We finished another book today! Great job! And, just like Deuteronomy, it ends with the death of a faithful leader: Joshua.

What a legacy he left behind! He knew God. He walked with God. He was a warrior of God’s. He led God’s people into a foreign land and with God’s help, they overtook it. He held them accountable when they sinned and like Moses, he reminded them of their spiritual legacy God had initiated way back with Abraham. He reminded the Israelites that God was a Promise Keeper. He will not fail them! But, He will hold them accountable for their sins. They must throw away their idols (can you believe they had idols at this point?) and turn to the Lord wholeheartedly.

They had to make a decision to follow God. Joshua declared: As for me and my house, we will worship the Lord!

And, like the Transjordan tribes, he sets up a reminder of their covenant with God for all future generations.

And he died. And the Israelites continued to worship God throughout Joshua’s generation.

What a beautiful legacy, friends!

You know what? We are called to the same legacy. A legacy to love God with all our hearts. A legacy to follow Him in obedience. A legacy to live it out with our families, to teach them about God and His ways in such a way, they too will do the same.

And when we die, may our families say, “She walked with the Lord.”

Day 89: Read Judges Chapters 1-2

My Takeaways:

Well, they did it again. We knew they would, but man, oh man, does it sting to read it again!

The saddest words in the Old Testament: “After them, another generation rose up who did not know the Lord or the works he had done for Israel.”

What?!

The 3rd generation Israelites—the children of the people who fought for the promised land—didn’t know God or what He had done for their parents?!

Remember in Deuteronomy 6 when the Lord commanded His people to love Him with all of their heart, soul, and strength? And they were commanded to talk to their children, throughout the day, about Him and share stories about Him?

He did this for a reason!

These people had stories about the fall of Jericho, the day that God made the sun and moon stand still, the time that God punished Achan and his family for disobedience, and crossing the Jordan (among many others)…. but they didn’t share their stories of God.

They didn’t talk about His faithfulness… They didn’t talk about His power… They didn’t talk about the time He gave them a second chance from their parents’ mistakes… They didn’t pass on the fact that they had a God who sought them for a relationship and offered them love and compassion.

They didn’t talk about their faith.

And because of that, the next generation didn’t know the Lord. Perhaps they had heard of Him… but they did not know Him intimately. They did not seek Him with their whole hearts.

Oh friends, the same can go for us! If we don’t pour into the next generation, if we don’t share our faith, if we don’t share our stories of God in our lives, we too can be one generation from faithlessness. Our families can suffer the consequences for generations.

Let Judges be the reminder to always be willing to share the God moments in your life, a time when you knew God was real, or a time that you know the Lord forgave you, redeemed you, and put you on a new path with a new heart.

Because, as we will see in Judges, God allows hard times to come into His kids’ lives to get their attention and wake them up at their sleepy spiritual slumber…and while they do for a time, they fall back into old habits of idolatry and then the next generation doesn’t know the Lord. It’s a hard cycle of faithlessness.

My God Shot is this: God allows hard times to come into any of His kids’ lives for a reason: to draw His kids closer to Him into a deeper relationship of love and trust, even when it’s hard.

Perhaps it’s to get our attention about some bad habits or sin in our own lives?

Perhaps it’s because life is hard, and bad things—unfair things—can happen and leaning in closer to God can get us through them.

Whatever His reason is, He promises that He can bring good from these times for those who love Him and trust Him! This is true for the Israelites then, and it’s true for us now… Romans 8:28 promises it.

Day 90: Read Judges Chapters 3-5

My Takeaways:

God tested the Israelites.

Israel did evil.

God handed them to their enemies.

Israel cried out.

God raised up a deliverer.

This is the pattern we are in right now in Judges. If it’s hard to read, I get it! Why can’t these people stay faithful?!

I think their draw to the world was so strong—the Canaanites’ culture was appealing and sometimes, it might be easier to have a God you can see (though not experience) versus a God you can’t see but can experience with a willing heart. It takes more work with Yahweh than with a wooden idol and idolatry doesn’t involve a loving relationship.

Like Tara-Leigh said yesterday (in her podcast), the human heart doesn’t respond to laws, it responds to love. If you don’t love God, you won’t understand His rules, and you will rebel.

This is where we are in Judges, friends. It all goes to back the heart.

And you know who seems to have a heart for God in today’s reading? Deborah. I love how God uses a woman to judge Israel! And God uses another woman, Jael, to kill Public Enemy #1: Sisera.

In fact, God uses unlikely people to step into roles of leadership in today’s reading, just like what He did with Moses! Don’t you love the fact that we have a God who chooses the unlikely and works through them in such a way they make a difference?

He does it all throughout the Bible, but my favorite person was His son: Jesus. The Israelites were expecting a strong warrior that would end the Romans’ bondage over them… Instead, they got a humble man, born to an unlikely couple, born in a obscure town, to come in and change the world.

That’s our God, friends.

Day 91: Read Judges Chapters 6-7

My Takeaways:

Oh, the story of Gideon! I love the beginning and middle parts of this story!

It has nuances of Moses (until you get to the ending)…. Here, you have a man living in obscurity, someone who comes from the weakest clan, and someone who is the youngest in his father’s family.

I would say this friend is definitely an insecure man, who is threshing wheat in a wine press just to stay on the down low from their enemies.

And, yet again, God speaks to him and speaks life into him! He said, “The Lord is with you, valiant warrior.”

I love how God speaks from what He sees deep within Gideon…even when Gideon doesn’t live it, or feel it at this moment!

Remember, God sees the heart…and what He saw in Gideon’s heart was a warrior! As we continue to read the story, he definitely steps into that warrior role. But, like Moses, he had some questions for God.

Just like God used a few signs for Moses to assure him of his calling, He uses the fleece test, not once, but twice, to assure Gideon of his calling!

But, you know what? At some point, God was done talking, and wanted Gideon to do what He asked him to do…and even though Gideon started off scared, tearing down his father’s altar at night, he did it! And even though he needed some encouragement, through the fleece test, he still obeyed God!

And God showed up, allowing him to take down an army of over 100,000 with only 300 men, a torch, and some pitchers.

Obedience unlocks the power of God, friends! What a moment! What a legacy! What a story to tell for generations!

(This is Chapter 8–I read ahead a bit!)

But, the problem is that Gideon had so many sons, I’m not for sure they did a lot of storytelling with dad… because when Gideon died, the Israelites, all turned back to worshipping idols, and everyone forgot what God has done for them…

How sad is the ending? It’s frustrating when we read lines like that, but you know what? We can be the same way… When life gets comfortable, we forget. If we’re not intentional about following God, we become unintentional and can get spiritually lazy. We forget to look back on our lives and see what God has done for us and His faithfulness, and we can only see what’s in front of us, which is some sort of an idol.

For the Israelites, those idols that they could see were a whole lot easier to worship than a God that they couldn’t see. The same can be true for us. Sometimes, we can become our own idols by trying to do all the things, instead of involving God, and leaning upon Him…instead of submitting to Him completely.