Tag Archives: Joshua 1

People of the book

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“Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful wherever you go. Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful. Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.”

(Jos 1.7-9)

Be good to your servant while I live, that I may obey your word. Open my eyes that I may see wonderful things in your law. I am a stranger on earth; do not hide your commands from me. My soul is consumed with longing for your laws at all times… Your statues are my delight; they are my counsellors.

(Ps 119.17-20&24)

“Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them, but to fulfil them. For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished.”

(Matt 5.17-18)

“You study the scriptures diligently because you think that in them you have eternal life. These are the very scriptures that testify about me.. If you believed Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote about me..”

(Jn 5.39&46)

How do you approach the book we call the bible? It is in two parts, and consists of multiple books of diverse nature, written at least 2000 years ago and much of it longer ago still.. As a follower of Jesus, I look to his opinion, and find that he describes what we call the Old Testament – the law, the prophets and the wisdom books – as all speaking about him! He describes himself as the fulfilment of that great diverse collection of narrative, poetry and vision. He never rejected any of them, rather he says that if we read and treasure those scriptures without finding him, then we are wasting our time! The whole point of that great enterprise, the formation of the Hebrew Scriptures, was to lead people to expect and then to recognise Messiah; to understand and embrace what God was doing. We cannot therefore call ourselves followers of Jesus and reject those very books which He came to fulfil. The carefully crafted biographies of Jesus, and the early church, the pastoral letters, and the great vision of John have all been accepted by God’s people as authenticated scripture – the words of the Father to the body of Christ as the means by which we might know and learn and share the good news.

Our attitude to scripture matters – if we want to really begin to learn from it, then we have to accept that it is unlike our literature; written in ancient languages, birthed out of alien cultures, grounded in basic assumptions which we no longer share, designed to be heard and read aloud in community, delivering its message through narratives and poetry, and revealing in its structures the core belief of the human authors that they were serving the Divine purpose in writing, editing, collecting and arranging the work.

This collection of books is unlike anything else we might encounter in our lives – the God-breathed, human writings which in spite of their age and distance from our cultures, yet speak truth and reveal God’s nature and purpose to us. We, as Christians, treasure the bible because in it we find Jesus, and although we may struggle with some of the methods of revelation, and with some of the messages and narratives which we read, yet we are compelled to keep reading, thinking and learning. This collection of books will go on yielding rich fruit through a lifetime of meditation and study!

Heavenly Father, I thank and praise you for the revelation which is contained in what we call the Bible. I thank you that we can spend our lives reading and learning from it, and never master it – it is a mirror of your infinite beauty and wisdom.

I thank you Father for the skill and wisdom of those who, down the years, have given their talents and time to unpack truth for us, sharing and recording their discoveries so that we might grow in wisdom and confidence in your word.

I thank you Father that in your generosity, you speak to us through the words of scripture whether we have only a few minutes or little understanding; or have spent hours and years learning. Guard us, your church, from the mishandling and dishonouring of your word – let us be humble in our assertions and willing to discover that we may have been wrong!

Let us not worship the words, but the Word revealed; let us respect the words and glorify the One whom they present; let us keep on learning and growing in understanding, not because we thus earn salvation, but because we thus live more faithfully and joyfully with you. For the sake of our Lord Jesus and in his name we pray, Amen.

*the author wishes to acknowledge her debt to the team at the Bible Project for the inspiration of this post..https://bibleproject.com/

And when I pray…

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Only may the Lord your God be with you as he was with Moses…Only be strong and courageous.

(Jos 1.17&18)

I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus…. And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what  is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ – to the glory and praise of God.

(Phil 1.3-6&9-11)

Grace and peace to you from God our Father.

(Col 1.2)

It is always good to learn from others how we might serve the people of God more faithfully, and perseveringly – at least, I know that I have much to learn. The writings of Paul to his beloved churches give us a glimpse into the life of intercession which he followed so faithfully, and I was struck recently by the fact that he seems to start praying for people by being thankful for them! Perhaps this is not new for you, in which case, read no further..

What happens when we look at the prayer list, when the array of burdens and requests mounts up and it seems that all we are doing is bringing a shopping list of our demands to God? I think that I lose perspective, I become absorbed in the – important but not crucial – details, and forget that God’s overall plans and purposes are so much greater and so utterly other than my own. I begin to think that if I don’t see the answers I want, then prayer doesn’t work, or that I am somehow failing to ask properly.

But, when I start by giving thanks for God’s people, each unique, each beautifully crafted for his purposes and saved by grace through faith in Jesus – each one a beloved child and sibling of min in Christ – then my perspective shifts. They are no longer a duty to be ticked off, but a person in relationship to the Almighty – and to me. They are fearfully and wonderfully made and to be rejoiced in. Their salvation story is a reason to celebrate God’s goodness and power in transforming broken humanity – as is mine.

Their heart’s desire, like mine, is to know Christ and to make him known, to play their part in God’s great plan of salvation and new creation. While we may have our own human ideas of what that ought to look like in a given situation – healings, job opportunities etc – actually, we all know and ultimately trust in a God who so often confounds human expectation.

So, when I pray, I can use some of the great prayers of the scriptures like these:

  • that God would go with us in all we do
  • that the Spirit will make us courageous and confident in God to work ahead of us
  • that we might receive daily grace – God’s work in us to accomplish what we can’t do
  • that we might live in the peace which is experiencing the blessings of being fully reconciled to God hour by hour and day by day
  • that we might grow in love for Christ and for one another, a mature and self-denying love which builds community, and witnesses to the power of the gospel in our hearts
  • that we might bear fruit for Christ, the changed lives which result from continual re-orientation of all our thoughts and attitudes according to his word
  • that we might bring glory and praise to God

All of these are things that I long to see happening in my life, so should I not also pray them for others? These things all underpin the details of daily life, so that our attitudes and decisions are increasingly godly and discerning, and fully aligned to whatever God is doing in and through us. Each and every situation is an opportunity to chose to live for God, and to trust him to use that glad and obedient submission for his own purposes.

When I pray in this way for others, I am reminded all the time that God’s agenda is so big and that whatever the details of each life may be, we are together in fulfilling his plans. Our sufferings and struggles gain significance, and also are drained of their power to bind us in despair and half-heartedness when we remember the great story in which we are playing a part, and the adversary who seeks to thwart every blossoming of God’s work in human lives.

Friends, let us pray with joy, because the one who began this good work in us will bring it to completion, and in the meantime, he has promised never to leave us. Then let us pray with confident thanksgiving, and to him be all the glory. Amen!