Year 4, Day 201: Joshua 16

Theological Commentary: Click Here 

Discipleship Focus: Obedience

• Obedience: Genuine and satisfying obedience comes out of our identity.  Our true identity comes only from Father.

Today we are reminded of a blast from the past.  Remember the end of the Genesis?  We met Joseph.  Joseph was handed over by his own brothers and sold into slavery.  Eventually he finds his way into Potiphar’s house.  Potiphar’s wife hands Joseph over into prison, where he meets a cup bearer and a baker.  That eventually gets Joseph out of prison where he is able to save his family from famine.  Joseph is obedient to God in spite of incredible circumstances rising up against him.

Flash forward through about 500 years of Egyptian bondage and wandering through the wilderness.  When the land in the Promised Land is being allotted, Joseph’s sons are allotted land in the second and third positions.  Of course the first position is Judah, out of whom the Messiah will come.  Essentially, Joseph’s family gets their allotment only after the family that will eventually produce the Messiah.

Joseph’s obedience to the Lord is not forgotten.  When everything was going wrong, Joseph still got his identity from God.  When Joseph could have given up and abandoned God, instead Joseph remained obedient.  His obedience has him being remembered in the inheritance.  Truth be told, his obedience is still being remembered to this day.  His obedience should continue to inspire us all.

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Year 4, Day 200: Joshua 15

Theological Commentary: Click Here 

Discipleship Focus: Imitation

• Imitation: This is the second over-arching step of the discipleship process.  First we gain information, then we imitate our spiritual mentor.  Imitation leads to innovation of spirituality in our own life.

Today I’m going to look hard at the relationship between Ohniel and Caleb.  I will begin by confessing that I am going to make some basic assumptions.  I’m going to assume that Caleb and his nephew were on good relations.  I think this is a fair assumption as Caleb offers up his daughter for marriage to Othniel.  I’m also going to make the assumption that Othniel was a pretty decent guy, which I think is supported in general by the fact that Othniel is the first judge we meet in the book of Judges.  Of course, we don’t need to assume anything about Caleb’s character.  We spoke at length about that yesterday.

I think that it is a really cool testimony that we get here between Othniel and Caleb.  Remember the chain of influence here.  Moses was the original leader.  Joshua and Caleb liked, listened to, and served underneath Moses.  Joshua became the next spiritual leader.  Caleb liked, listened to, and served under Joshua.  Then Caleb got his allotment and became a person of influence.  We find Othniel in the circle of Caleb’s influence.  Othniel appears to like and listen to Caleb.  We know here in this story that he is willing to serve Caleb.

This is a pattern we will see all throughout scripture.  Elijah and Elisha.  Daniel and his three friends.  Jesus and His disciples.  Barnabas and Paul.  Paul and Timothy.  Paul and Titus.  Paul and Luke.  Peter and Mark.  These are just the easiest examples to point out, but they are not the only ones.

The reality is that all throughout the Bible we find that great leaders in the faith are born out of relationship and submission to other great leaders in the faith.  In order to become greater than just a “Bible Theologian” and actually become a disciple-maker, we need to learn to submit to others.  We need to put ourselves into a place where we can learn to imitate those of faith around us.  This step is usually the most overlooked, and it is also one of the worst steps to overlook.

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Year 4, Day 199: Joshua 14

Theological Commentary: Click Here 

Discipleship Focus: Provision

• Provision: God gives us what we truly need.  God knows our needs better than we can know them.  We learn to trust God to provide for us.

This is a great chapter with which we can speak about provision.  Today we get to look at Caleb.  Here is a man who was a part of the initial scouting of the Promised Land, yet he was outvoted 10-2 about going into the Promised Land.  He wandered for 40 years while God meted out punishment upon the unfaithful Hebrews.

Caleb knew that God would provide for him.  Yet, Caleb’s provision didn’t come immediately.  Caleb had to wait 40 years for his faith to be rewarded.

Sometimes patience is required.  God will deliver us into the Promised Land, but it’s not always today.  It’s also not always tomorrow, either.  Sometimes God’s provision is 40 years in coming.

But Caleb waited.  Caleb was faithful.  Caleb was willing to stand by God in the wilderness and walk among the unfaithful in order to get to God’s provision.  How patient are you to get the provision God has for you?

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Year 4, Day 198: Joshua 13

Theological Commentary: Click Here 

Discipleship Focus: Calling, Competency

• Calling asks whether or not God has called the person to the particular work at this point in their life.
• Competency: Being able to accomplish what one is called to do.

It is interesting to read through the stories of Moses and Joshua.  We think about Moses as the guy that God called to get the Hebrew people into the Promised Land.  But in reality, Moses just got the people to the edge of the Promised Land.  It was Joshua who took them in.  With respect to Joshua, we think of Joshua as the guy who completed the conquest of the Promised Land.  In reality, the Promised Land was continuing to be conquered all the way through David and Solomon!

This really helps us look at calling and competency.  We know that Moses was called to lead the people out of Egypt and bring them into the Promised Land.  We know that Joshua was called to deliver the Promised Land into the hands of the people.  What does it say about Moses and Joshua that they themselves didn’t see their calling fully through to completion?

Actually, it says a lot about their competency.  You see, they were competent to do what God asked them to do.  Sometimes we like to evaluate people as to whether the job got finished or not.  In reality, though, we should evaluate Joshua and Moses by whether they were able to accomplish the job God actually asked them to do.  God doesn’t seem to mind letting Joshua take over after Moses’ largely faithful service.  God doesn’t seem to mind letting the leaders after Joshua continue the conquest of the Promised Land.

God judges Moses and Joshua on the faithfulness of their service, not solely based on the end product.  I think that is valuable to see as we consider topics like calling and competency.

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Year 4, Day 197: Joshua 12

Theological Commentary: Click Here 

Discipleship Focus: Obedience

• Obedience: Genuine and satisfying obedience comes out of our identity.  Our true identity comes only from Father.

There isn’t much in this chapter except the list of conquered kings.  We hear about the kings that Moses defeated.  We hear about the kings that Joshua defeated.  That’s just about the sum of the chapter.

As I speak about in the theological commentary from three years back, Moses is given a very interesting title in this chapter: the servant of the Lord.  I make the case that it is one of the best titles that any of us could ever hope to possess.  But I can’t help but wonder, what does it take to arrive at such a title?

I think the answer is fairly obvious.  In order to become a servant of the Lord, one must be obedient.  One’s identity must come from the Lord.  One must give up chasing their own identity and instead chase the identity that God has given to them.  When we spend our life chasing God and His ways instead of ourselves and our own ways – then we truly are a servant of the Lord.

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Year 4, Day 196: Joshua 11

Theological Commentary: Click Here 

Discipleship Focus: Invitation, Challenge

• Invitation: God is always inviting us into relationship with Him. He desires that we know Him and we know His desires for us.
• Challenge: God does not merely wish us to be in relationship with Him as we are.  He challenges us to grow, stretch, and transform as we take on the mantle of being His representatives to this world.

I am going to go a little outside of the box today.  Usually when we think about invitation and challenge we talk about people who are already in a positive relationship with one another.  I believe that is actually the proper context.  Invitation and challenge are best calibrated through the lens of relationship.

Certainly this chapter is not about relationship.  The Hebrew people and the northern kings are not in relationship with each other.  In fact, they are at war.

That’s actually my point.

Those northern kings are not in a position to even hear the invitation and challenge of God.  God would welcome relationship with them, but they are not in a place to hear the invitation.  God would teach them how to become His people, but they are not in a place to respond to the challenge.  They are by default closed to relationship with God.  That is why God has brought war to their doorstep.

It is next to impossible to speak invitation and challenge into people unless there is relationship to support the message.  For us, the lesson is indeed rather simple.  Our task is to put ourselves daily into the place where we can hear the invitation and challenge of God our Father.  We do not want to be like those Canaanite kings.

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Year 4, Day 195, Joshua 10

Theological Commentary: Click Here 

Discipleship Focus: King

• King: This is the pinnacle of the Kingdom Triangle.  When we look towards God’s position in the universe, we acknowledge that He is an omnipotent king.  Authority comes from Him.  Power comes through His authority.  He is looking for representatives for His kingdom.

If we look at the end of this chapter, we hear about many towns that fall to Joshua.  Each one falls, one after another.  The inhabitants of each one are put to the sword.  Joshua utterly annihilates the residents of Canaan.

However, take a look at what the Bible tells us is the power behind Joshua.  With each city that falls, we hear that the Lord gave the city and the kings into the hands of Joshua.  Joshua may have been a great military strategist.  He may have been a strong leader full of conviction.  But the Bible is clear on this point.  The only reason he has success is because God gives the Canaanites into His hand.

God is the King.  Authority and power come from Him.  It’s that simple, really.  Each and every town in this chapter that falls attests to this very fact.

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Year 4, Day 194: Joshua 9

Theological Commentary: Click Here 

Discipleship Focus: Obedience

• Obedience: Genuine and satisfying obedience comes out of our identity.  Our true identity comes only from Father.

What an interesting chapter through which we can view the lens of obedience.  First, we look to the Canaanite people.  They all have no interest in obedience to God.  Most of them band together and come against the Hebrew people.  This is the wrong tactic.  They are defeated.  God is victorious.

The second lens is through the Gibeonites.  From a worldly perspective they seem rather shrewd, don’t they?  They make peace so that they can live.  But that’s all they are interested in.  They aren’t interested in obeying God.  They aren’t interested in becoming Hebrew.  They just want peace so that they can live their own life.  I find this despicable in the world, and we hear it most often in the politically correct phrases of today’s culture.  “Can’t we all just get along?”  “Live and let live.”  “Unity.”  “Coexist.”  Our world is a pluralistic culture that wants you to believe that peace is a higher goal than obedience to God.  The world wants you believe it is best to live this life however you want and let eternity sort itself out.  That’s just not the perspective of God, or Jesus Christ for that matter.

The third lens of obedience is the Hebrew leaders.  Again we see them acting without consulting God.  They make peace with the Gibeonites without asking the Lord what is right.  Sure, the Hebrew people pick up some slaves rather than having to fight against them.  But the point is that they don’t take the time to consult God.  They’re simply just not obedient, either.

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Year 4, Day 193: Joshua 8

Theological Commentary: Click Here 

Discipleship Focus: Obedience

• Obedience: Genuine and satisfying obedience comes out of our identity.  Our true identity comes only from Father.

After the failure of Joshua 7, we turn to the success of Joshua 8.  Take a look at the main differences found in this passage versus the prior chapter.  The whole orientation of Joshua – and subsequently the people – has changed.

In chapter 8, God tells Joshua what to do.  The plan comes from God.  His identity comes from God.  His authority comes from God.  Everything that is necessary for success in this world comes from God.

What is of note is how Joshua responds.  After the failure of the prior chapter, Joshua comes forth in this chapter in success.  He listens.  He is obedient.  God triumphs through Joshua because Joshua’s attitude is focused back upon God.  When our identity comes from the Lord, it is far easier to be obedient to the Lord and succeed in the Lord.

Also note how the obedience of the leaders can manifest itself in the community.  An obedient leader will have an easier time helping a community be obedient as well.  A community that does not have an obedient leader will struggle with their own obedience as a community on the whole.  Here in this chapter we see a community return to obedience and have great success out of it.

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Year 4, Day 192: Joshua 7

Theological Commentary: Click Here 

Discipleship Focus: Authority, Power

• Authority: Our calling.  This comes from God as king.  Because He calls us as His representatives, He gives us authority to go and do His will.
• Power: This is the natural outcome when we truly get our authority from the king.  When our authority is from God, we are equipped with His power to accomplish His will.  We act on His behalf in a world that He desperately loves.

Although this chapter is predominantly known for Achan and his sinfulness, I’m going to instead focus on Joshua in this post.  If you want to read more in depth on Achan, see the theological commentary linked to above.

Let’s compare the battle plan from Joshua 6 and Joshua 7.  In Joshua 6, the plan comes from the Lord.  We saw how the people paused and abided in the Lord before attacking.  They took the time necessary to make sure that they were doing the will of the King.  They took time to make sure they had the power and authority from God to conquer Jericho.

However, in the opening verses of Joshua 7 we don’t even hear about God and His involvement.  In fact, the first mention we have of God’s involvement is after things go tragically wrong, people are dead, and Joshua tears his clothing.  Because of the success at Jericho, Joshua becomes overconfident and the plan becomes His own plan.  He doesn’t pause and make sure that he is living out of the authority of God.  He doesn’t stop and make sure that his warriors are taking the battlefield under the power of God.

The soldiers are routed.  They are sent packing.  Only then does Joshua remember what he’s forgotten.  He forgot to check with the Lord and ensure that he is living out of His power and authority!

This is a really neat lesson.  We know that God’s overarching plan is that the Hebrew people should conquer Canaan and take it for their own.  But that doesn’t mean Joshua has carte blanche to do it as he sees fit.  God is willing to step back from endorsing the smaller steps of His plan while still seeing the big picture.  If we walk away from God and start living out of our own power and authority we should expect God to step back and give us the space to fail until we come back to Him.  After all, God has all the time in the world; He’s not on any particular agenda!  It is up to us to remember to walk in God’s power and authority.

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Year 4, Day 191: Joshua 6

Theological Commentary: Click Here 

Discipleship Focus: Kingdom

• Kingdom: We live in God’s creation, but it is fallen.  We do not yet live in the fullness of God’s Kingdom.  But we do know that the Kingdom of God is drawing near.  we do get to see glimpses of the kingdom each and every time that God works in us and through us as He tries to demonstrate Himself to the world.

I can only imagine being Joshua in this battle.  I know how I would have reacted if I had taken all of my warriors and marched them across the Jordan and told them about the strength and valor that was going to be necessary.  I know how I would have reacted had God told me to tell those fighting men to get in line behind the priests.  I know how I would have reacted if God told me to keep the warriors quiet for six whole days while Jericho locked itself up tight like a scared little kid.

I don’t know how Joshua was feeling inside when God was unveiling His battle plan.  But I do know that he was absolutely obedient.  God spoke, Joshua did.  For the record, Joshua spoke and the people obeyed, too!  This is absolutely a great time to pat the people on the back for obedience.

But I believe there is a deeper lesson in this today.  The people marched around Jericho for 7 days, most of it in utter silence except for the trumpets.  They didn’t build siege weapons; they brought a box on poles and set it between four priests while they marched behind it.  This trip around Jericho – the first city to fall in the Promised Land – is about the Kingdom of God coming to Canaan.  This first battle is about God’s presence and God’s rule.  This first battle plan is about doing it God’s way.  This first time for plunder is about devoting everything to God.  This story of Jericho is completely about the Kingdom of God advancing upon the world and the obedience of the people to this advancing Kingdom.

This battle isn’t about Joshua’s will being done.  It is completely about God’s will being done on earth as it is in heaven.  God’s Kingdom is worth pursuing.

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Year 4, Day 190: Joshua 5

Theological Commentary: Click Here 

Discipleship Focus: Abide

• Abide: This is a moment, day, or even a season when we focus on God.  It is a time when we are rejuvenated by God.  It is the time for us to gather up what we will need for the coming growth after a season of pruning.  However, abiding is not the end.  We abide so that we can grow, bear fruit, prune, and abide again.

I haven’t spoken much about abide in this blog so far.  But I think coming off of yesterday’s reading and knowing about all the conquering that is ahead of us in Joshua, this is an opportune time to talk about abiding.  There is a fair amount of abiding in the passage, but it doesn’t necessarily look like abiding.

God asks the people to circumcise themselves after crossing over into the Promised Land.  Think about this for a second.  Joshua is on the verge of war.  Yet he voluntarily takes his fighting men and circumcises them, essentially putting them out of fighting condition for no insignificant amount of time.  God puts Joshua in a position of forcing the Hebrew people to abide as they come into the Promised Land.  Joshua focuses them stop and realize that everything comes from the Lord.

Once the people are circumcised, God tells Joshua to hold the Passover feast.  On that day, they ate fruit of the land.  The manna stopped.  God is looking to the people and telling them that their time of abiding has come to an end.  It has been a good time for abiding in God’s provision.  But the coming days would bring about growth in the Lord and fruit under His power.

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Year 4, Day 189: Joshua 4

Theological Commentary: Click Here 

Discipleship Focus: Abide, Bear Fruit

• Abide: This is a moment, day, or even a season when we focus on God.  It is a time when we are rejuvenated by God.  It is the time for us to gather up what we will need for the coming growth after a season of pruning.  However, abiding is not the end.  We abide so that we can grow, bear fruit, prune, and abide again.
• Bear Fruit: We bear fruit after we grow.  Bearing fruit is ultimately the goal of abiding and the goal of being called into the Kingdom of God.  However, while bearing fruit is our calling, it is not the end.  We bear fruit so that we can then prune, abide, grow, and bear more fruit in another season.  Bearing fruit is not the end, but rather only a portion of the whole rhythm of life into which God has called us.

I think it would be easy for the Hebrew people to come through the Jordan and simply abide.  After all, wouldn’t crossing the Jordan be a great experience?  Imagine watching all the waters stop flowing.  Imagine knowing that they are held back while you see the ark in the middle of the river.  Imagine being present as you watch the laws of physics being twisted and perhaps even broken.  What an incredible moment.  How easy would it have been to stop and say, “Wow, we’ve arrived!”

God doesn’t let Joshua stay there.  For the record, Joshua doesn’t let the people stay there either.  Joshua looks to the people and says, “We’ve got a land to conquest.  Get some stones so that as we grow and spread through this land we can remember this day.  We may be in a spiritual moment of abiding, but we’ve got some growing to do.  We’re going to conquer this land and bear some spiritual fruit.  We’re going to declare to our children and our neighbors just how great this God is.”

Joshua understands the rhythm of life.  Life isn’t about finding a spiritual high and staying there.  Life is about understanding the cycle.  We abide in the spiritual moments.  We grow after abiding.  We bear fruit after growing.  We prune after bearing fruit.  We abide once more having completed the healthy rhythm of God’s calling.  Joshua gets it.  He doesn’t let the people stay forever in abiding.  He prepares them for the growth and fruit ahead.

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Year 4, Day 188: Joshua 3

Theological Commentary: Click Here 

Discipleship Focus: King

• King: This is the pinnacle of the Kingdom Triangle.  When we look towards God’s position in the universe, we acknowledge that He is an omnipotent king.  Authority comes from Him.  Power comes through His authority.  He is looking for representatives for His kingdom.

One of the best things about Joshua 3 is that it truly gives us a picture of the centrality of God.  God comes to Joshua.  God tells Joshua how to lead the people.  God tells Joshua what to do with the ark.  God tells Joshua how to approach the Jordan.  God tells Joshua they will cross on dry ground as a sign that the living God dwells with them.  And it happens.  Not only is God central, He’s completely running the show.  God is king.

It is from God the King that true authority flows.  It is from God the King that true power comes through authority.  He is the author of life and controls the world that He created.

But there is a little challenge in this understanding.  God is clearly king over this world.  But I wonder if He is king over my life.  Ultimately, of course, He is.  Nothing I do can make Him not King.  But am I following Him as King?  Do I live as though He is King?  Do I go to Him and ask where He is leading and how His will is going to work in my life as we see happening here in Joshua?  Or rather, do I go to Him and explain my agenda to Him and expect Him to work His power in my own agenda?  I know He is king over the universe; but do my actions demonstrate that I know He is king of my life?

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Year 4, Day 187: Joshua 2

Theological Commentary: Click Here 

Discipleship Focus: Obedience

• Obedience: Genuine and satisfying obedience comes out of our identity.  Our true identity comes only from Father.

If you want a really neat understanding of Rahab and Christianity, I’d like to invite you to look at the theological commentary.  However, for today I’m going to narrowly focus into one particular element of this story.  Rahab tells the spies that they had advance notice of the Hebrew people and the hearts of her own people melted.  Furthermore, word gets to her king that she has entertained the spies.  At that moment, Rahab has a decision to make.

She knows that if she lies to the king and is found out, then she will be in great trouble.  So she could choose to be obedient to her king in fearing his wrath.  However, if she chooses to spare the spies, she and those whom she chooses to save can avoid judgment under the hand of the Hebrew people.  She has a choice to make.  Does she choose imminent danger to avoid a much worse future wrath?  Or does she choose imminent peace and embrace the possibility of greater future wrath?

This is fundamentally a question of obedience!  Of course, that also means that by default it is a question of identity and Father, too.  We know that our identity should come from the Father and we are always obedient to our identity.  This is the neat part to this story.  Rahab does choose to embrace imminent danger – being found out by her king and risking his wrath – in order to know peace with the coming Hebrew people and their God.  She has a choice of obedience before her, and she chooses to be obedient to the Father.

What’s cool is how things go for Rahab.  This woman – identified as a fornicator before meeting the spies – is known to have peace as we are told in Joshua 6:25.  Jewish tradition suggests that she herself married Joshua and is an ancestor to some of the greatest prophets in Hebrew history, Jeremiah and Huldah.  (For more information on either of these people, see the whole book of Jeremiah and 2 Kings 22:8-20, respectively.)  Furthermore, the genealogy of Christ in Matthew 1 lists Boaz as being a descendant of a Rahab, probably the Rahab of this story!  Because she got her identity sorted out before being in a place of choice, Rahab can choose obedience to the Father rather than obedience to a short-term need instead.  That one choice sets her up for a huge spiritual journey that is unequalled by anything in life that could have come from any other choice of obedience.

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Year 4, Day 186: Joshua 1

Theological Commentary: Click Here 

Discipleship Focus: Calling

• Calling asks whether or not God has called the person to the particular work at this point in their life.

Here’s a great chapter for us to pause for just a moment as we go through these books leading us from the Exodus into the Promised Land.  As Joshua pauses to remind the people about what they are doing it is good for us to do the same.  Sometimes it is good for us to do a check on our spiritual path mid-course.

This chapter is all about calling.  God begins with Joshua reminding him about his calling.  Be strong.  Be courageous.  Keep the Word of the Lord near you.  Don’t forget what you are about.  Things will go well for you if you remember God.  There is Joshua’s calling.  He has it within him.  The question as we begin this book of the Bible is whether Joshua will follow God’s calling as closely as Moses did.

But Joshua isn’t the only one whose calling is in question.  Joshua then turns to the people and puts them through the same paces.  Will they step up to the challenge?  We already know they were rebellious under Moses.  But this is a new generation.  Will they be more obedient?  Their calling is evident as well.  The question we are left with as we open Joshua is whether or not the people will respond better than they did under Moses.

What’s your calling?  How well do you respond to God?

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Year 4, Day 185: Deuteronomy 34

Theological Commentary: Click Here 

Discipleship Focus: Vision, D2

• Vision: Vision is most needed when we are our most human.  Vision is most needed when we have a typical D₂ moment.  Vision is partnered by Time and Grace.

Yesterday I spoke about grace: the grace of God abounding through Moses.  As we come upon this ending chapter of Deuteronomy, I think it is appropriate to also talk about vision.  I’m talking about God’s vision.

Remember back in the early parts of Exodus?  Moses was young and impulsive in killing an Egyptian.  Then Moses was afraid and timid before the burning bush.  Certainly Moses was not without faults – although I say that also while acknowledging my incredible respect for Moses’ ability to lead a rebellious people.  But the thing is, even in those moments when Moses was impulsive, timid, or flawed … God saw Moses as the man that He would personally bury.

Yeah, I said that.  Read Deuteronomy 34:5-6 again.  At the age of 120 years Moses died in the land of Moab and He (that is, God) buried Moses.  That’s why nobody to this day knows where his tomb is.  God buried Moses.  When God saw Moses, God saw a person that He would personally bury.

That’s incredibly profound.  God knew how it would all turn out.  God had that vision.  God didn’t see the impulsive upstart who was brash in his own confidence but timid to do the calling of the Lord.  God saw a man who would walk close enough to Him that it would be described as walking face-to-face.  God saw a man who would raise up Joshua in the ways of God.  God saw a man who would walk so close to Him that God Himself would do the honor of giving a proper burial.

God’s vision is so much more capable than mine.  God’s vision is what this world needs.

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Year 4, Day 184: Deuteronomy 33

Theological Commentary: Click Here 

Discipleship Focus: Grace

• Grace: Grace comes to us when we make mistakes and have a failing of character.  Grace comes to us when we have a typical D₂ moment.  Grace comes to us when we need space to recognize a mistake, repent of it, and allow God to redeem it while calling us back into His will.  Grace is partnered by Time and Vision.

Do you remember most of Exodus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy?  These are the major books of the story of Moses.  When you think about the Hebrew people in those books, what adjective comes first to your mind?

I’m willing to bet that you didn’t say, “Blessed.”  You may have said, “Rebellious.”  Maybe you even said, “Stubborn.”  Perhaps you said, “Arrogant.”  Maybe you said, “Proud.”  You could have gone for something like the traditional Sunday School answer and even said, “chosen.”  But I doubt you said, “Blessed.”

Yet, look at what Moses has to say about them.  As rebellious as they were, he blesses them.  These people are the cause that he can’t go into the Promised Land, yet he blesses them.  He would have every reason to call upon God to smite them and judge them, but Moses blesses them instead.

This is grace right there.  Grace is allowing people to recover from mistakes.  Grace is not shutting a door that deserves to be shut.  Grace is continuing to do the work of God even when you don’t feel like it.  Grace is bestowing honor to people who truly don’t deserve it.  Moses is truly a man of grace.

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Year 4, Day 183: Deuteronomy 32

Theological Commentary: Click Here 

Discipleship Focus: Up

• Up: Up is the word we use for what we worship.  If we are following God’s will, God will occupy the Up position.  Our life, our identity, our mission, our family on mission is all derived from Up.  This is why God needs to be in our Up position.

There are really only two ways to go with this song of Moses.  The predominant theme of this song is how much humanity messes up and is in need of God.  While that is a very real interpretation of this chapter, I think there is a better focus than the fallen nature of humanity.  I believe it pays to focus on the greatness of God.

Who is God in this song of Moses?  God is perfect.  He is just.  He is faithful.  What does God do?  He found the Hebrew people in a desert land.  He cared for them.  He kept them.  He brought them out of their trouble.  He guided them.  He gave them food to eat.  He caused them to be in the high places of the land.

If those aren’t reason to give God praise, I do not know what are.  In this song is a reason to look past humanity and look unto God.  Human beings fail all the time and focus on themselves.  But when we look past humanity and instead focus on God and His greatness we truly have a place to find our identity and live out of it.  When we focus on God, we find community and mission.  When we focus on God, we something to become outside of ourselves.

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Year 4, Day 182: Deuteronomy 31

Theological Commentary: Click Here 

Discipleship Focus: Obedience

• D4 is the moment in life where a person is unconsciously competent about what they can do as a disciple of Christ.  They are mature.  Often they disciple others and perform ministry without having to think about it.  They do it simply out of their spiritual maturity and their closeness with God.

This is the chapter where the reigns of authority are officially handed over from Moses to Joshua.  Here God looks to Moses and says, “It’s time for you to come up the mountain and die.”  Moses looks to Joshua and says, “You’re now ready to lead these rebellious people who as soon as I die will begin to rebel against you and against God.”

But what is assumed in this whole passage?  What is assumed is that Joshua is ready.  He’s been walking beside Moses for 40 years.  He’s been helping Moses.  He’s been imitating Moses.  He’s been assigned tasks by Moses and has accomplished them successfully.  He’s ready to take over the leadership of the Hebrew people and do it successfully.

That’s the neat part of the Exodus story.  Between all the plagues, the water from the rock, the manna from heaven, and the giving of the Law it is easy to forget the more mundane things going on in the background.  It’s easy to lose sight of the fact that Joshua was being raised up by Moses into the next leader.  Moses was preparing Joshua; he was discipling him.  Here both God and Moses give Joshua the nod of approval.  It’s a neat moment in the story.  It’s a subtle moment that is easy to miss.

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Year 4, Day 181: Deuteronomy 30

Theological Commentary: Click Here 

Discipleship Focus: Obedience

• Obedience: Genuine and satisfying obedience comes out of our identity.  Our true identity comes only from Father.

I’m going to stick with obedience as our focus two days in a row.  Deuteronomy 30 speaks to the idea of obedience well.  As Moses says in the second half of this chapter, “it is not too hard for you.”  That’s really a daunting statement, isn’t it?

Think about this.  If we have God’s Word, should we not be able to rationally decide right from wrong in every case?  Absolutely.  We all have logic within us.  We all can think rationally.  We all can make decisions.  God has given us the ability to make the right decision.

Yet, we know from experience that we do not.  We know from experience that we cannot.  I might have invested in God’s Word daily for the last four years, but that doesn’t mean that I’ve been able to stay sin free.  I still have sinful thoughts of arrogance, pride, lust, anger, etc.  Granted, most of the time I am able to restrict how I follow those thoughts, but even there I’m not perfect.  Do I still speak in anger?  Sure.  Do I still look lustfully through my eyes?  Of course.  Do I speak proudly from time to time?  Absolutely.  Do I focus on my glory and not God’s glory?  Yes.

We have what it takes to obey.  Yet we do not always do so.  But I can say one thing about the cycle of obedience and disobedience.  When I am focus on God – that is, getting my identity from God – I am always obedient.  My disobedience arises when my focus slips away from the Father and my identity slips away from God’s identity for me.

That’s what repentance is for.  Moses tells us as much in this chapter.  When we slip away, God loves us and wants us to come back to Him.  He doesn’t abandon us to our sin.  He continues to call us back.

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Year 4, Day 180: Deuteronomy 29

Theological Commentary: Click Here 

Discipleship Focus: Obedience

• Obedience: Genuine and satisfying obedience comes out of our identity.  Our true identity comes only from Father.

Deuteronomy 29 is like much of the rest of Deuteronomy.  Moses is laying out the rules for community before the people.  They have the ability to decide if they are going to listen and obey or not.  Everyone can choose to walk with God and obey.  But not all will.

As we would expect in any chapter that has much to say about obedience, it really does come back to identity.  Moses speaks at length in this chapter about the difference between those who will follow God and those who follow other gods or their own desires.  In order to truly obey God, we must be absolutely committed to our identity coming from Him.

What we see towards the end of this chapter is how contagious obedience is.  Moses begins speaking in verse 18 about a single person who chooses to not be obedient.  But by the time we get to verse 22 we hear about the whole community being affected.  Obedience to God is catchy and transferable from one person to another; the same is true for obedience to other things that are not God.

As the chapter ends, we come back to the fundamental question before us always.  Choose obedience and the Lord will be with us.  Choose obedience to something else and the Lord will not guarantee either His protection or His presence.  The sad thing is that by the end of the chapter we get the feeling that God and Moses know mankind all too well.  There is an assumption at the end of the chapter that the people will not be able to remain obedient.  Human beings will fall away.  Such is life in Moses’ day.  Such is life in the modern age.  We must take this concept of obedience seriously.

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Year 4, Day 179: Deuteronomy 28

Theological Commentary: Click Here 

Discipleship Focus: Character

• Character: Having the interior life that is necessary to support the work that God sets before a person.  It is hearing from God and obeying.  It is doing the right thing when nobody is looking.

A traditional “blessings and curses” chapter is an excellent chapter through which we can view the concept of character.  Do I have what it takes to live with God in His ways?

The text gives a default answer of “no.”  How do I know this?  Well, if the average human being is in a default setting to abide in God, then we wouldn’t have 14 verses of blessings and 54 verses of curses!  The fact that Moses spends almost four times as much space on curses instead of blessings tells me the real answer.  The truth is that by default, our character needs help.  We are going to make mistakes, mess up, and get things wrong.  Like any child, we need the parent to establish rules and structure in our life to help us succeed.

However, like any child there is hope that when we mess up we will learn that lesson and get it better the next time.  That’s why parents give rules, punishments, and consequences.  That’s why we have structure.  We want to give shape to success when it is not within our nature to do it ourselves.  What this shows us, then, is that while some character is innate, most character can be taught!  It can be modeled.  It can be assimilated.  It can be adopted.  The character that is not innately within us can still find a home within.  We just need the rules and structure to reinforce its presence in our life.

That is what this chapter is all about.  For the few people who are innately predisposed to obediently following God, there are the blessings.  Those words will be enough for them.  But for the rest of us people who tend to make life messy, we have the verses on the curses.  It is the structure to remind us why God’s way is better.  It is God’s means for helping us build character that may not already be present within us.

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Year 4, Day 178: Deuteronomy 27

Theological Commentary: Click Here 

Discipleship Focus: Imitation

• Imitation: This is the second over-arching step of the discipleship process.  First we gain information, then we imitate our spiritual mentor.  Imitation leads to innovation of spirituality in our own life.

The second half of this chapter is all about imitation.  Most of this book has been all about Moses speaking law to the people before he goes up the mountain to die.  But when we get to this chapter, the emphasis changes drastically.  In the second half of this chapter, Moses has the people stand up and speak the section of curses.

What’s Moses doing here?  Moses is taking the people from the information stage to the imitation stage.  Moses knows that if they only hear the curses there is a large chance that they’ll go in one ear and out the other.  Learning information is not the goal; it is merely the first step in the discipleship process!  For these people to really become God’s people, they need to learn the information and then have it become a part of their experience.

Moses has the people speak these curses themselves.  They will say these words.  They will place these words upon their lips.  These words will become a part of who they are.  Moses wants these people to live the words, not just know them.

NOTE: I could have easily spoken this day on “Up.”  If you’d like to put that one together yourself, take a look at my theological commentary from three years ago on the first half of this chapter regarding buildings and the altar Moses directs them to build.  You should be able to go from there.

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Year 4, Day 177: Deuteronomy 26

Theological Commentary: Click Here 

Discipleship Focus: Up

• Up: Up is the word we use for what we worship.  If we are following God’s will, God will occupy the Up position.  Our life, our identity, our mission, our family on mission is all derived from Up.  This is why God needs to be in our Up position.

This is an awesome chapter through which we can view the lens of up.  Any chapter in the Bible that talks about worship and our response to God is a great chapter through which we can view how we relate to God.  The fundamental question of this chapter and our own lives is this: how do we truly relate to God?

Many people in this world relate to God our of a fire-insurance mentality; they are simply afraid of Hell and judgment and want to avoid that.  Other people relate to God out of a guilt mindset; they do things they don’t like and beat themselves up because of it.  Other people relate to God out of an obligation mindset; they don’t really care about God, but the ritualistic response to God has been drilled into them so much that they can’t help but go through the motions.  None of these are the response that God desires out of us.

Rather, God desires that we genuinely worship Him.  He desires that we respond to Him because we genuinely love Him.  He desires that we recognize His grace and His wonderful provision and come to Him in response to His greatness.  He desires that we come to Him because we voluntarily want to give up ourselves and become more like Him because He is greater.  That’s what Up is all about.  Up isn’t about guilt, fire insurance, or obligation.  Up is about submitting to a merciful being because His character is better than ours and we can become like Him.

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