A Buried Memorial

Yesterday we looked at the first seven verses of Joshua 4 and today we will look at verses 8-13.

Joshua 4:8-13 – 8 Thus the sons of Israel did as Joshua commanded, and took up twelve stones from the middle of the Jordan, just as the LORD spoke to Joshua, according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Israel; and they carried them over with them to the lodging place and put them down there. 9 Then Joshua set up twelve stones in the middle of the Jordan at the place where the feet of the priests who carried the ark of the covenant were standing, and they are there to this day. 10 For the priests who carried the ark were standing in the middle of the Jordan until everything was completed that the LORD had commanded Joshua to speak to the people, according to all that Moses had commanded Joshua. And the people hurried and crossed; 11 and when all the people had finished crossing, the ark of the LORD and the priests crossed before the people. 12 The sons of Reuben and the sons of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh crossed over in battle array before the sons of Israel, just as Moses had spoken to them; 13 about 40,000 equipped for war, crossed for battle before the LORD to the desert plains of Jericho.

Something in this portion of Scripture to see is that the sons of Israel did all that God and Joshua asked them to do which was to get the stones and carry them so that a memorial could be built. We see that they were obedient to God and that is certainly something that we should be. Then in verse 9 we see something else that is interesting and that is that Joshua then makes a memorial in the middle of the river himself.

So think about this, you have a memorial on land which I believe is there to help them celebrate what God has done for them in holding back the river and to celebrate the new life in front of them in the Promised Land. Then you have the memorial set up in the river. This memorial that Joshua himself makes will not be seen by people because it is in the river but it has great meaning being there. It is there to represent their old life was left behind. The long and painful journey through the desert had ended. They have now entered the Promised Land. The past was behind them and it was buried in the river and now as Romans tells us they were walking in newness of life in the Promised Land.

I think that there is some application here for us and that is that we must leave the past behind us. 2 Corinthians 5:17 says that if anyone is in Christ Jesus they are a new person. Their old lives have ended. And their new lives have begun. We need to be those walking in newness of life and letting those things from the past go completely. A couple of things here – one is too many of us live in the past and in the hurts of the past. We allow the hurts of the past keep us the best that God has to offer today. Put the past behind you and allow it to be buried. The second thing is do you have memorials set up to remember your past before Christ, not in a good way but in a way to make it sound like how great life was before you really started living for Christ? Maybe a picture of you that is not the most flattering but you keep it and show it and fondly remember those days before you choose to follow Christ? We need to leave the past behind and walk fresh into what God has for us today and in the future.

Think about the symbolism that the Israelites had here. Their children would ask about what the one pile of stones set up for as memorial meant. The Israelites would respond to them and then tell their children of the faithfulness of God. How God provided for them to cross the Jordon in a miraculous way to enter into the Promised Land. Then the parents could tell them that there was memorial built that they cannot see that sits in the middle of the Jordon River. Imagine the children would say, why is there a memorial built there? The parent would respond, it is there to remind us that our old lives have been buried and now we are living in newness of life and in obedience to the Lord in a new and wonderful place. What great symbolism there is set up in these two memorials. We need to be living memorials that show God’s grace and mercy.

So let me ask you, do you have memorials in your life? Do you have things that you can point to and teach others about what God has done in your life in the past? Do you understand that you are walking in a newness of life and that the old things need to be done away with and buried like the memorial Joshua built in the river? Let us begin to live in the freedom that Christ has given us.

What is a memorial in your life?

Every Move I Make?

This week I want to deal with a passage that has always intrigued and I think there are some great truths found in it.  The first thing is that passage which is  2^nd Samuel 6: 1-9 – 1 Then David mobilized thirty thousand special troops. 2 He led them to Baalah of Judah to bring home the Ark of God, which bears the name of the LORD Almighty, who is enthroned between the cherubim. 3 They placed the Ark of God on a new cart and brought it from the hillside home of Abinadab. Uzzah and Ahio, Abinadab’s sons, were guiding the cart 4 with the Ark of God on it, with Ahio walking in front. 5 David and all the people of Israel were celebrating before the LORD with all their might, singing songs and playing all kinds of musical instruments—lyres, harps, tambourines, castanets, and cymbals. 6 But when they arrived at the threshing floor of Nacon, the oxen stumbled, and Uzzah put out his hand to steady the Ark of God. 7 Then the LORD’s anger blazed out against Uzzah for doing this, and God struck him dead beside the Ark of God. 8 David was angry because the LORD’s anger had blazed out against Uzzah. He named that place Perez-uzzah (which means "outbreak against Uzzah"). It is still called that today. 9 David was now afraid of the LORD and asked, "How can I ever bring the Ark of the LORD back into my care?"

Let me ask you, do you find this shocking? David is bringing the Ark of God back home to where it needs to and the ox stumbles and the ark goes to fall off the cart and God kills the one who is keeping if from falling to the ground. This just does not seem right does it?

Do you you see why I find this so intriguing?  So what we will do is deal with little parts of this each day. Let us begin in with verses 1 and 2 which say: 1 Then David mobilized thirty thousand special troops. 2 He led them to Baalah of Judah to bring home the Ark of God, which bears the name of the LORD Almighty, who is enthroned between the cherubim.

So far this is sounding great. David gathered up thirty thousand troops and they went to were the Ark was to get it to take it home. There can be nothing wrong here right? Before I answer that let us talk about the Ark of God.

Let me give a quick overview on the Ark of God. The Ark of God or the Ark of the Covenant was to be kept in the Holy of Holies of the tabernacle, for it symbolized the glorious throne of God. There was a long period of time that the Ark was absent from the sanctuary in Shiloh. The Philistines stole the Ark of God when Eli was judge back in 1 Samuel 4 but realized that it was something that they did not have because of people dying who were trying to look in so they sent a message that they do not want it.  So since that time the Ark of God has been sitting in Abinadab’s home. Eleazar was not a priest but they set him apart and left him and his family in charge of the Ark. It stayed there for years and now David is going to get it and return it to where it needs to be and that is in the Holy of Holies and with the King of Israel and in the midst of the people of Israel who worship the Lord. This was a great move for David because it helped to unify the people. As we have seen in the past weeks, David is doing what he can to promote unity and bring back the Ark will really help.

So what we see is that David’s plan to bring the Ark to Jerusalem was a good thing, right? Wrong! You say, but this all sounds so good! God should want the Ark back where it belongs! Let me ask you this question, where did we read that David sought God on this matter? Do you see it there?

You see relocating the Ark to Jerusalem seemed a wise idea to David and David had built great enthusiasm behind doing it. One problem, David did not do what he has always done when he has been successful. He did not ask God for direction. He forgot that that what pleases him and seems right to him might not please God or have God’s blessing on it.

We must – I mean MUST – seek God in everything if we do not want to make a mess of things. Seek God in the things that are happening in your life. Seek Him and gain a heavenly perspective on life. David as we will see made a real mess of things in his lack of going to God in this situation.  We need to not make the mistake that David does – learn from his mistake and seek out God in every move you make.

Have you ever moved without God like David does here?

Reaction (Part 2)

Today we are going to look at part two of Hezekiah’s reaction to what life throws at him.  Hezekiah gets a letter from the King of the Assyrians named Sennacherib which says the very same things that the message he sent through his counselor earlier which is that Hezekiah will get no help from Egypt and God is unable to help.  Sennacherib continues his  assault on Judah and Hezekiah with words.  So with with that – let us look to the reaction of Hezekiah after he receives a letter: Isaiah 37:14-20 ¹⁴ Then Hezekiah took the letter from the hand of the messengers and read it, and he went up to the house of the LORD and spread it out before the LORD. ¹⁵ Hezekiah prayed to the LORD saying, ¹⁶ “O LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, who is enthroned above the cherubim, You are the God, You alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth. ¹⁷ “Incline Your ear, O LORD, and hear; open Your eyes, O LORD, and see; and listen to all the words of Sennacherib, who sent them to reproach the living God. ¹⁸ “Truly, O LORD, the kings of Assyria have devastated all the countries and their lands, ¹⁹ and have cast their gods into the fire, for they were not gods but the work of men’s hands, wood and stone. So they have destroyed them. ²⁰ “Now, O LORD our God, deliver us from his hand that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that You alone, LORD, are God.”

We see first of all that Hezekiah gets the letter and reads it.  What is his reaction again?  He goes to the house of the Lord and spreads it before the Lord.  He lays it all out before God literally.  He lays this letter out before God.  In this, Hezekiah boldly and effectively fulfilled the later command of 1 Peter 5:7: casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you. So, let me ask, do spread everything out before the Lord?  Is your reaction to go and spread all your problems before the Lord or do you just want to deal with them on your own?  Do you case all your cares upon Him or do you walk around anxiously trying to work out everything instead of allowing God to work it all out?  God cares for us, He is a Big God, He can handle anything you cast upon Him with great ease!

Something else here that we can learn from Hezekiah spreading this all our before God,  by spreading this out before God Hezekiah realized it really was not his problem to deal with but it was God’s.  Sometimes we make things our problems that are really God’s to deal with, not ours at all.  There is no way we can carry the weight of the problems around and we just need to lay them out before him.  Do you have problems that you have been trying to deal with that are really God’s to deal with?  Let me be honest, in preparing this message, I examined my life and found that I have been doing this.  Thing today are much lighter because I am letting God deal with them.  What about you, are you carrying and dealing with God’s problems?

So two questions today:  Do you have things you need to spread out before the Lord and cast on on?  Are you carrying around and dealing with things that are God’s to deal with?  Share your thoughts.

Reactions?

Isaiah 37:1 – 2 – ¹ And when King Hezekiah heard it, he tore his clothes, covered himself with sackcloth and entered the house of the LORD. ² Then he sent Eliakim who was over the household with Shebna the scribe and the elders of the priests, covered with sackcloth, to Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz.

When Hezekiah the King faced an enemy that was much stronger than Israel, what was his reaction?  His reaction was to humble himself before God.  How did he show this humility?  He did it by tearing his cloths which is a sign in the Jewish culture showing sorrow.  Then he did not just pray but he went to them temple and prayed.  You see in going directly to the temple was his showing that in the midst of this terrible situation he wanted to hear directly from God.

When you are facing rough times and when you have a situation that seems overwhelming – what do you do?  Do you react with what one could call a godly reaction.  As soon as we realize that we are in the middle of a difficult situation we should confess our sins which I posted about last week and then seek wisdom directly from God.  These are two steps that are weapons that we have in dealing with spiritual enemies.  You are never stronger than when you repent and seek the Lord.

Reactions speak volumes to a person’s character and to a person’s walk with God.  Those people who at first sight of a problem that get angry or yell and scream and lose their minds in a situation are generally those who do not have a firm grip in their walk with God because that is not a God honoring way of dealing with any situation.  Those who react by seeking to find out the whole truth of the matter, what part they played or did not play in it, those who seek God right away, those are the people who are showing a God honoring reaction. They are in a position to make a difference because God can and will use them.  If you are angry, yelling, and over-reacting – you have just marginalized yourself and have put yourself in a position where you can not rightly speak for God or His ways.  Again, your reactions to what life throws at you whether in your personal life, work life, or church life speak volumes to your character and relationship with Christ.

Let me ask you these tough questions – how do you react?  Do you react to hard and difficult situations in anger or do you immediately seek God and His wisdom?   I beg of you to begin to work hard on reacting in a Godly way because you will give opportunity for God to use the situation and you.

What do you think?  Share your thoughts.

Confessing in Prayer

Daniel 9:7-8 - “Righteousness belongs to You, O Lord, but to us open shame, as it is this day–to the men of Judah, the inhabitants of Jerusalem and all Israel, those who are nearby and those who are far away in all  the countries to which You have driven them, because of their unfaithful deeds which they have committed against You. “Open shame belongs to us, O Lord, to our kings, our princes and our fathers, because we have sinned against You.

Daniel here he could had a laundry list with a bunch of complaint about God from Israel because God was too hard on them.  The thing is, that was not how Daniel did things because Daniel knew that God was not too hard on Israel as Israel though He was.  Daniel knew God was completely righteous and any failure was on Israel’s side.  The same is true for us – any failures we have – gossiping, lying, angry outburst, poor attitude, disobedience, rebellion, ect. – are not God’s fault and not the way God made us but they are sin and they need to be confessed and not complained about.

What we see here with Daniel is that he is not complaining, Daniel is confessing. I read the following while studying:  During times of great revival among God’s people, the Holy Spirit always brings a deep conviction and awareness of sin. When that is responded to rightly, confession is appropriately made. J. Edwin Orr gives a good principle to govern confession: “If you sin secretly, confess secretly, admitting publicly that you need the victory but keeping details to yourself. If you sin openly confess openly to remove stumbling blocks from those whom you have hindered. If you have sinned spiritually such as prayerlessness, lovelessness, or unbelief as well as their offspring, criticism, etc. then confess to the church that you have been a hindrance.”

It continues:  Genuine, appropriate confession will be sincere, specific, and thorough. Orr describes how in the 1952 revival in Brazil a woman in a crowded church confessed, “Please pray for me, I need to love people more.” The leader told her gently, “That is not a confession, sister. Anyone could have said it.” Later in the service the lady stood again and said, “Please pray for me. What I should have said is that my sharp tongue has caused a lot of trouble in this congregation.” The pastor leaned over to Orr and whispered “Now she is talking!”

What we have here in confession is humility in prayer and a key to an effective prayer life.

Do you have some secret confessions to make today?  How about public confessions?  What about spiritual confessions? Do you have any thoughts on this?

 

Big Prayers

Joshua 10:12 – 14 Then Joshua spoke to the LORD in the day when the LORD delivered up the Amorites before the sons of Israel, and he said in the sight of Israel, ”O sun, stand still at Gibeon, And O moon in the valley of Aijalon.” So the sun stood still, and the moon stopped, Until the nation avenged themselves of their enemies. Is it not written in the book of Jashar? And the sun stopped in the middle of the sky and did not hasten to go down for about a whole day. There was no day like that before it or after it, when the LORD listened to the voice of a man; for the LORD fought for Israel.

God intervened supernaturally on the behalf of Israel because of a Big prayer prayed by Joshua. Think about this audacious prayer – He asked God to keep the sun from setting – that is some faith in God.  God answered Joshua’s prayer by giving him and Israel all the daylight they needed to get the job done.

What does this mean for us? Well, there are times when the Lord will supernaturally intervene in your life because of the big prayers that you pray. I have seen people healed of disease because they called on God. I have seen drunks saved and never have a desire again for alcohol or pick it by the power of God in their life. I have seen drug addicts immediately released from the power of drugs and made clean and to not return to addiction. I have seen lives changed in miraculous ways by the supernatural intervention of God through prayer. I have seen the Lord move in response to the need of His child and move any mountain that needed to be moved to get His people what they needed. That is our God! He answers Big prayers.

While He does answer Big prayers, I want you to understand, He doesn’t always move like that. I have seen drunks delivered, but I have seen others who still struggled with that sin even after they were saved. I have seen saints healed, but I have seen others die with their disease. What I am saying is that there are times when the Lord will move in supernatural power in those big prayers to meet the need of His child and there are other times that He will not.  We do not know the reason why but that should never keep us from praying Big prayers.  God will not answer the prayers that are not prayed.

Let us go out and be praying Big Prayers and see what God will do.

What Big prayer can I be praying for you today?

(This Post was inspired partly by the book Sun Stand Still which I am not finished with yet but would recommend to you already.)