*Verses in English Standard Version*
Hello all! I am finally back with another Top Ten post! Life happened, and a lot of my different blogging series were put on hold. But here I am on WordPress, and it’s a new year, so I’m going to try and get you some more of these 😉
So I found this one a little challenging. I think Judges is where I started listening to audio Bible while I worked, so I wasn’t stopping to highlight things. So it took a bit to search and find good verses! (I can’t let them all be from Joshua!!) But here you are!
Joshua & Judges
1. Joshua 1:6-9 – Be strong and courageous, for you shall cause this people to inherit the land that I swore to their fathers to give them. Only be strong and very courageous, being careful to do according to all the law that Moses my servant commanded you. Do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may have good success wherever you go. This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success. Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”
God says this phrase to Joshua four times (three in Joshua, one in Deuteronomy): “Be strong and courageous.” And then Joshua repeats this to the people at least twice. It’s a pretty important theme in this book.
I also love how this verse talks about the Bible. It says “you shall meditate on it day and night.” When you wake up in the middle of the night, what do you think about? I usually start making up a story in my mind to help me fall back to sleep (#writersbrain). But this says to meditate on the Bible at night. So what if I would wake up in the middle of the night and immediately be thinking about God and the Bible. Maybe say my memory work passage to myself to help me fall back to sleep or just pray! It may take me a bit to even think about doing that in those moments I’m awake, but it’s something I want to try and pray to ask God to help me remember!
2. Joshua 21:45 – Not one word of all the good promises that the Lord had made to the house of Israel had failed; all came to pass.
Isn’t it amazing!?!? Not one of God’s promises has ever failed!
3. Joshua 23:10 – One man of you puts to flight a thousand, since it is the Lord your God who fights for you, just as he promised you.
Isn’t it incredible to think that when God fights for you, you can put to flight a thousand men?!?!
4. Joshua 23:11 – Be very careful, therefore, to love the Lord your God.
5. Joshua 24:14-15 – “Now therefore fear the Lord and serve him in sincerity and in faithfulness. Put away the gods that your fathers served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord. And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the Lord, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”
The first and last sentences are the ones I want to draw out. (Side note: While in American culture we don’t usually have other gods we serve in the sense of carved idols, many of us do have objects or people, or things in our lives that are idols – things we place as more important than God become gods to us). The first sentence is a command that everyone one of us should follow. And the last sentence is a statement that Joshua made. And it’s a statement I believe every one of us should make for our lives, even if we don’t have families or children yet, this can still be a statement we say. “As for me and all that is within me, I will serve the Lord.”
6. Joshua 24:24 – And the people said to Joshua, “The Lord our God we will serve, and his voice we will obey.”
7.Judges 5:2 – “That the leaders took the lead in Israel, that the people offered themselves willingly, bless the Lord!
This is the song of Deborah. She is praising God that people who offered themselves willingly to God, and those who were willing to lead. Let’s be people who are willing to give our all to Him.
8. Judges 6:22-24 – Then Gideon perceived that he was the angel of the Lord. And Gideon said, “Alas, O Lord God! For now I have seen the angel of the Lord face to face.” But the Lord said to him, “Peace be to you. Do not fear; you shall not die.” Then Gideon built an altar there to the Lord and called it, The Lord Is Peace. To this day it still stands at Ophrah, which belongs to the Abiezrites.
The Lord is Peace. We all know that the Lord brings peace and it’s something we like to tell ourselves, over and over. And it’s true – God does bring peace, but He does more than that. He Himself is peace, so if we have Him, we have peace. He brings peace – yes, by bringing Himself!
9. Judges 16:28 – Then Samson called to the Lord and said, “O Lord God, please remember me and please strengthen me only this once, O God, that I may be avenged on the Philistines for my two eyes.”
“Please strengthen me.” That is my prayer!
10. Judges 21:25 + Judges 2:16-20 – In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.
Then the Lord raised up judges, who saved them out of the hand of those who plundered them. Yet they did not listen to their judges, for they whored after other gods and bowed down to them. They soon turned aside from the way in which their fathers had walked, who had obeyed the commandments of the Lord, and they did not do so. Whenever the Lord raised up judges for them, the Lord was with the judge, and he saved them from the hand of their enemies all the days of the judge. For the Lord was moved to pity by their groaning because of those who afflicted and oppressed them. But whenever the judge died, they turned back and were more corrupt than their fathers, going after other gods, serving them and bowing down to them. They did not drop any of their practices or their stubborn ways. So the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and he said, “Because this people have transgressed my covenant that I commanded their fathers and have not obeyed my voice.
This isn’t a particularly encouraging verse but it’s one we all need to think about. No one served God. They did what was right in their own eyes. And when we do what we think is right, what our heart desires, things go wrong. God sent his people into captivity over and over. It’s a picture of how we can be taken captive by sin. Over and over again the people turn from God, He sends an army to conquer them, they cry out to Him and He raises up a mighty judge to deliver them. Then they turn away again. And over and over and over!! God’s is sooo patient!
I just learned this from my uncle: Methuselah’s name means “When I die, judgement comes.” And he lived to be the oldest man. This is a beautiful picture of God’s mercy, grace and patience. He could have had Methuselah die at a young age, or anytime He wanted, but Methuselah lived longer than any other man! That’s how great God’s patience is!
If you would like to hear more or want me to expand on a certain verse or comment I made about a verse, please comment (or contact me) and let me know! I will try to answer any questions you have and maybe I’ll even make a blog post out of them!
I hope these verses are an encouragement to you today!
Blessings!
autumn
Bursting Through The Darkness 