November 28 th
Joshua 4:24:
23 For the Lord your God dried up the waters of the Jordan for you until you passed over, as the Lord your God did to the Red Sea, which he dried up for us until we passed over, so that all the peoples of the earth may know that the hand of the Lord is mighty, that you may fear the Lord your God forever.
This verse comes shortly after the Israelites cross the Jordan River to conquer the Promised Land, but before they have actually fought anyone yet. Joshua is reminding them what is going on, what has gone on, and is letting them know what will happen.
So, what will happen? All peoples will know that God is mighty. This is one of the aspects of God's work in this world, and one of the reasons that he causes rain and sunshine to fall on both the righteous and the unrighteous (Matthew 5:45). Romans 1 reinforces the idea that the existence of a creation is enough to show most people that there is a creator. The continued sustaining of life shows the mighty hand of God to all people
Then we see this: that God's covenant people will fear him forever. Now, this is the reverential, worshipful type of fear. Not the “I'm so scared!” fear, but rather the “Wow, this is someone greater than me, and I'd like to keep him on my side” type of reaction.
I see here that, even in Joshua, we can understand that God has not limited himself to Israel, but is at work in the world at large. And then this: there have been, and probably always will be, two groups of people in this world: those who are partakers of the covenant, and those who are not.
Which one are you? Do you recognize that God offers a covenant, offers a relationship to those who will accept it? Or are you content for him to sustain and let you go on your own?
Doug
No comments:
Post a Comment
To deal with SPAM comments, all comments are moderated. I'm typically willing to post contrary views...but I also only check the list once a day, so if you posted within the last 24 hours, I may not be to it yet.