God Cuts the Candy Bar as He Would - Joshua 16-20

Joshua 16:1-4 (ESV)

The allotment of the people of Joseph went from the Jordan by Jericho, east of the waters of Jericho, into the wilderness, going up from Jericho into the hill country to Bethel. Then going from Bethel to Luz, it passes along to Ataroth, the territory of the Archites. Then it goes down westward to the territory of the Japhletites, as far as the territory of Lower Beth-horon, then to Gezer, and it ends at the sea.

The people of Joseph, Manasseh and Ephraim, received their inheritance.

Have you ever had to divide a pie into equal pieces to make sure everyone gets the same size?   One of the classic ways to divide a candy bar between two kids is that one child gets to cut it and the other child gets to pick which of the now two halves, they want.  Under that scenario, you can imagine how the one cutting the candy bar wants it exactly even.    Fairness seems to be an internal human condition.  

In the above passage and throughout this section of Joshua, we have the dividing of the promise land to the twelve tribes.  If you read through the entire section, you will note that the division seemed to be based upon:

1. The natural boundaries of the land’s terrain 

2. The size of the tribe.  

3. It was following God’s divine plan as spoken by Joshua, His designated leader.  

4. It was done to fulfill all covenant promises. 

5. It was done in an orderly fashion.  

6.  They were to help each other secure the land. 

7. It was done by the casting of lots, which is like rolling the dice.  It was completely based upon God’s sovereignty.  Here is what Solomon would say about this later:

Proverbs 16:33 (ESV)

The lot is cast into the lap,

but its every decision is from the LORD.

People were to trust that God was cutting the candy bar fairly.   They were not to argue and fight about who gets the plain, or who gets the hill s, or who gets the mountains.   They were to accept that God was doing what He wants in the land.  

This is very similar to how God puts the Body of Christ together with its varied gifts.   He gifts us based upon His desires, not ours.   We are to trust God cutting the candy bar.  

Worship Where You Are - Genesis 11-15

Genesis 13:18 (ESV)

So Abram moved his tent and came and settled by the oaks of Mamre, which are at Hebron, and there he built an altar to the LORD.

Abraham and Lot have just separated. Because Abraham and Lot were so full of blessings, they could not dwell together. Imagine that thought.  You and your family are so blessed and have so much, you must expand. In any culture that would be considered a good thing.   Lot decided to move toward the city life (Sodom and Gomorrah).   This would eventually be his demise.   Lot, on the other hand, took the lessor of the land.  But it was that decision that God rewarded.   When he took the lessor land he did not go into depression or become angry at Lot.   He was the older, he didnt’ have to give Lot a choice.   Instead, Abraham made an alter to God and worshiped Him at that spot.  He worshipped God where he was and not where he wanted to be.   We are to worship in the spot we are standing and not look for something greater or grander.  Let us be content to worship that way in that spot.  

The Doctrine of Imputation - Romans 5-6

Romans 5:12-14 (ESV)

Death in Adam, Life in Christ

Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned— for sin indeed was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not counted where there is no law. Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sinning was not like the transgression of Adam, who was a type of the one who was to come.

In the above passage, Paul  is picking up his argument he started in Romans 1:18

Romans 1:18 (ESV)

For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.

In these verses from chapter eight, Paul is making three arguments:

1.  No man can escape the condition of sin. 

2.  Sin has a consequence in our life: Death.

3. Jesus came to give us righteousness that overcomes the death that comes from the sin of Adam.

His argument is more basic than when we might first read these verses. He is telling these Roman believers that before Christ came to their lives they were in complete sin against God.  Sin is being defined as something in the world, even before God gave the Law to Moses.   There were some in the church at Rome who thought they could keep the Law and therefore be saved from sin.  But Paul tells them sin was in the world before the Law was even given to Moses.  Sin began when Adam and Even broke God’s word in the Garden of Eden.  Our sin condition began with Adam.   Because he sinned, we are sinners.   Now most logical people would reject an argument that becomes of someone else’s sin, we are all condemned.   What Paul is writing about is the imputation of Adam’s sin onto all mankind.   That seems totally unfair.   But this sin of Adams was like a type that is really quite awesome for us.   Because of this concept of imputation, yes, we had sin imputed to us with no fault of our own (supposedly .... yet, every day we personally sin, as well).   But becuase of imputation we also can benefit from Christ’s paying for our sin and imputing His righteousness onto us.   Yes, sin has been inputted to us as a result of one man’s sin (Adam).  But righteousness has been inputted to us as a result of one man’s righteousness (Jesus).  So, if we reject the first imputation we do not benefit from the second imputations. That is Paul’s argument in the above passage.  We may not like the fact that Adam represented us for sin.  But we can rejoice because Jesus can then represent us regarding righteousness and escape the wrath of God that comes onto all those who are in sin.   Faith in Jesus means righteousness inputted.  Righteousness inputted means no wrath to come.     

Build Upon A Sure Foundation - Matthew 5-7

Matthew 7:24-27 (ESV)

“Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.”

These four little verses are so simple to read and yet so powerful in meaning.  They come at the end of this 15-20 minute sermon of Jesus.  His only recorded sermon.   He teaches so many truths in the sermon it might be spoken in that amount of time but only applied over ages.  The message of the sermon fills books written by men.   

In this word picture of a house built on a solid foundation vs soft sand, Jesus tells us the key to our success in life.  He is, of course, the rock in the metaphor.   We are to build our lives upon Him.  When we don’t, certain peril will result.  We don’t have to be a theologian to understand what Jesus is saying.   The truth is simple.  Yet, so many build their lives on the sifting sands of man’s philosophy, pride, and possessions.   We think we know better.   We don’t.   We think we can stand on our own.  We can’t.    We think we can find a source of strength in the world around us.  We won’t.   He is our sure foundation and when we stand on Him we are able to withstand the storms of life.  And, it is in the storms of life that the test comes for what we have built our lives upon.   Just ask Job.  

Who Can Annual God’s Plan? Isaiah 12-17

Isaiah 14:24-27 (ESV)

An Oracle Concerning Assyria

The LORD of hosts has sworn:

“As I have planned,

so shall it be,

and as I have purposed,

so shall it stand,

that I will break the Assyrian in my land,

and on my mountains trample him underfoot;

and his yoke shall depart from them,

and his burden from their shoulder.”

This is the purpose that is purposed

concerning the whole earth,

and this is the hand that is stretched out

over all the nations.

For the LORD of hosts has purposed,

and who will annul it?

His hand is stretched out,

and who will turn it back?

The above passage is written by Isaiah as a prophecy over the Assyrians, who God is going to use as a tool to discipline Israel for their disobedience to Him.  It should be a surprise to us that God can and will use a wicked nation to punish His people.  But that is God’s plan.   

The other amazing truth, however, in the above text is that God has a purpose for the nations and His people and nothing will stop God in His exacting out that purpose.   When God proposes something, who will annul it?  We should rejoice in His purpose and remember that it is all done from His steadfast love for us.   

Empathy Trumps Judgment - Job 6-7

Job 7:4-6 (ESV)

When I lie down I say, ‘When shall I arise?’

But the night is long,

and I am full of tossing till the dawn.

My flesh is clothed with worms and dirt;

my skin hardens, then breaks out afresh.

My days are swifter than a weaver’s shuttle

and come to their end without hope.

You can’t read Job without reading one of the first verses and reading one of the last:  

Job 1:8 (ESV)   And the LORD said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil?”    

Job 42:1-2 (ESV) Then Job answered the LORD and said: “I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted.

Job is in the midst of a very deep depression.    He sees the darkness of death without the lens of hope.   In the above passage he is not just using metaphorical words to describe his experience, he is actually sitting on the side of the road, scrapping the boils on his skin:

Job 2:7-8 (ESV)

So Satan went out from the presence of the LORD and struck Job with loathsome sores from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head. And he took a piece of broken pottery with which to scrape himself while he sat in the ashes.

When he states, “My flesh is clothed with worms and dirt; my skin hardens, then breaks out afresh,” he is not just making it up and using hyperbole.  As we read scripture it is important that we capture the real moment we are reading about.   When Job’s three friends showed up they see Job on the side of the road.   They came to encourage him.  They left apologizing and asking his forgivness for the way they judged him (see Job 42:7-9).    They failed to really capture Job’s mental, physical and spiritual condition.  We can do this when we work with others.   The first friend,  Eliphaz, has already given Job and ear full.   What Job needs right now is to see God’s love and compassion.   That is what happens at the end of the book by a fourth friend, Elihu.  When we work with others we need to really see their pain and point them to the one who shared their pain and can heal their pain vs beating them up with our words.  

We Are Not Alone - Psalms 6-8

Psalms 6:10 (ESV)

All my enemies shall be ashamed and greatly troubled;

they shall turn back and be put to shame in a moment.

David seems to be caught in between a rock and a hard place.   In the very next psalm he will write something similar to the above:

Psalms 7:6 (ESV)

Arise, O LORD, in your anger;

lift yourself up against the fury of my enemies;

awake for me; you have appointed a judgment.

His desire is to have God come to a battle he is having with an enemy or enemies. What he is failing to see, in the midst of this conflict, is that God has already been there. He was there all the time.  In the midst of our struggles we are often blinded to the fact that God is right there with us.  One of the most popular of all time psalms, also written by David, says it this way:

Psalms 23:4-5 (ESV)

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,

I will fear no evil,

for you are with me;

your rod and your staff,

they comfort me.

You prepare a table before me

in the presence of my enemies;

you anoint my head with oil;

my cup overflows.

Apparently between Psalm 6 and 7 and 23, David has grown in his maturity and understanding of God.  This is a lesson in life for us to take note.  We might have struggles.  We might have enemies.  But we are not alone.