Scripture text for Wednesday, February 3, 2010: Joshua 1:1-1:18
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Moses, the servant of God, has died. God commands Joshua to get the people ready to cross the Jordan and to occupy the Promised Land. Three times the Lord exhorts Joshua to “be strong and have courage” as he carries out the work of God. The Israelites echo this exhortation, “be strong and have courage”, as they pledge their obedience to Joshua.
God promises Joshua that he will “never be forsaken” and that he will be “prosperous and successful” if he is “careful to obey all the law” and to “meditate on it day and night so that you may be careful to do everything written in it.”
In John 6:24-29, after the feeding of the five thousand, the crowd followed Jesus to Capernaum. In the discourse that follows Jesus states, “Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life”. In response they ask him, “What must we do to do the works God requires?” Jesus answers, “The work of God is this: to believe on the one he has sent.”
Just as Joshua had a work to do, so do we. The pivotal work for each of us is to “believe on the one he has sent”. By this belief the Holy Spirit indwells us such that “the works of God” may be completed in us as we are called. We can “be strong and have courage” for we know God is with us and will never forsake us. But, we must be careful to meditate on the Word so we, like Joshua, hear and obey God’s voice.
Devotion prepared by Fritz Muehlhausen