Joshua 8, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

 
Max Lucado Daily: Jesus in Your Upper Room - April 11, 2022

When the Roman soldiers took Jesus out of the Garden of Gethsamane, Jesus’ followers took off. We don’t know where they went but we do know they couldn’t get him out of their minds. They came back and the church of our Lord began with a group of frightened men in an upper room.

Sound familiar?  How many churches have just enough religion to come together, but not enough passion to go out? Good people. Good intentions. Words. Promises. But while all this is going on, the door remains locked and the story stays a secret.

What will it take to unlock it? Allow Jesus to come into your upper room and stand before you. Place your hand in the pierced side. Look into those eyes that melted the gates of hell and sent Satan running. Look at them as they look at you. You’ll never be the same.

Joshua 8

Ai

God said to Joshua, “Don’t be timid and don’t so much as hesitate. Take all your soldiers with you and go back to Ai. I have turned the king of Ai over to you—his people, his city, and his land.

2 “Do to Ai and its king what you did to Jericho and its king. Only this time you may plunder its stuff and cattle to your heart’s content. Set an ambush behind the city.”

3-8 Joshua and all his soldiers got ready to march on Ai. Joshua chose thirty thousand men, tough, seasoned fighters, and sent them off at night with these orders: “Pay me all of your attention now. Lie in ambush behind the city. Get as close as you can. Stay alert. I and the troops with me will approach the city head-on. When they come out to meet us just as before, we’ll turn and run. They’ll come after us, leaving the city. As we are off and running, they’ll say, ‘They’re running away just like the first time.’ That’s your signal to spring from your ambush and take the city. God, your God, will hand it to you on a platter. Once you have the city, burn it down. God says it, you do it. Go to it. I’ve given you your orders.”

9 Joshua sent them off. They set their ambush and waited between Bethel and Ai, just west of Ai. Joshua spent the night with the people.

10-13 Joshua was up early in the morning and mustered his army. He and the leaders of Israel led the troops to Ai. The whole army, fighting men all, marched right up within sight of the city and set camp on the north side of Ai. There was a valley between them and Ai. He had taken about five thousand men and put them in ambush between Bethel and Ai, west of the city. They were all deployed, the main army to the north of the city and the ambush to the west. Joshua spent the night in the valley.

14 So it happened that when the king of Ai saw all this, the men of the city lost no time; they were out of there at the crack of dawn to join Israel in battle, the king and his troops, at a field en route to the Arabah. The king didn’t know of the ambush set against him behind the city.

15-17 Joshua and all Israel let themselves be chased; they ran toward the wilderness. Everybody in the city was called to the chase. They pursued Joshua and were led away from the city. There wasn’t a soul left in Ai or Bethel who wasn’t out there chasing after Israel. The city was left empty and undefended as they were chasing Israel down.

18-19 Then God spoke to Joshua: “Stretch out the javelin in your hand toward Ai—I’m giving it to you.” Joshua stretched out the javelin in his hand toward Ai. At the signal the men in ambush sprang to their feet, ran to the city, took it, and quickly had it up in flames.

20-21 The men of Ai looked back and, oh! saw the city going up in smoke. They found themselves trapped with nowhere to run. The army on the run toward the wilderness did an about-face—Joshua and all Israel, seeing that the ambush had taken the city, saw it going up in smoke, turned and attacked the men of Ai.

22-23 Then the men in the ambush poured out of the city. The men of Ai were caught in the middle with Israelites on both sides—a real massacre. And not a single survivor. Except for the king of Ai; they took him alive and brought him to Joshua.

24-25 When it was all over, Israel had killed everyone in Ai, whether in the fields or in the wilderness where they had chased them. When the killing was complete, the Israelites returned to Ai and completed the devastation. The death toll that day came to twelve thousand men and women—everyone in Ai.

26-27 Joshua didn’t lower his outstretched javelin until the sacred destruction of Ai and all its people was completed. Israel did get to take the livestock and loot left in the city; God’s instructions to Joshua allowed for that.

28-29 Joshua burned Ai to the ground. A “heap” of nothing forever, a “no-place”—go see for yourself. He hanged the king of Ai from a tree. At evening, with the sun going down, Joshua ordered the corpse cut down. They dumped it at the entrance to the city and piled it high with stones—you can go see that also.

* * *

30-32 Then Joshua built an altar to the God of Israel on Mount Ebal. He built it following the instructions of Moses the servant of God to the People of Israel and written in the Book of The Revelation of Moses, an altar of whole stones that hadn’t been chiseled or shaped by an iron tool. On it they offered to God Whole-Burnt-Offerings and sacrificed Peace-Offerings. He also wrote out a copy of The Revelation of Moses on the stones. He wrote it with the People of Israel looking on.

33 All Israel was there, foreigners and citizens alike, with their elders, officers, and judges, standing on opposite sides of the Chest, facing the Levitical priests who carry God’s Covenant Chest. Half of the people stood with their backs to Mount Gerizim and half with their backs to Mount Ebal to bless the People of Israel, just as Moses the servant of God had instructed earlier.

34-35 After that, he read out everything written in The Revelation, the Blessing and the Curse, everything in the Book of The Revelation. There wasn’t a word of all that Moses commanded that Joshua didn’t read to the entire congregation—men, women, children, and foreigners who had been with them on the journey.

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion    
Monday, April 11, 2022

Today's Scripture
Matthew 24:36–44
(NIV)

“But the exact day and hour? No one knows that, not even heaven’s angels, not even the Son. Only the Father knows.

37–39     “The Arrival of the Son of Man will take place in times like Noah’s. Before the great flood everyone was carrying on as usual, having a good time right up to the day Noah boarded the ark. They knew nothing—until the flood hit and swept everything away.

39–44     “The Son of Man’s Arrival will be like that: Two men will be working in the field—one will be taken, one left behind; two women will be grinding at the mill—one will be taken, one left behind. So stay awake, alert. You have no idea what day your Master will show up. But you do know this: You know that if the homeowner had known what time of night the burglar would arrive, he would have been there with his dogs to prevent the break-in. Be vigilant just like that. You have no idea when the Son of Man is going to show up.

Insight

Matthew’s gospel, written primarily to a Jewish audience, is built around Jesus’ five major teaching discourses (chs. 5–7, 10, 13, 18–20, 24–25). Today’s passage is part of the last one, known as the Olivet Discourse because it took place on the Mount of Olives. It’s the most eschatological (related to the end times) of these five messages. One of the interesting side points is that it’s the only time when Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, is included with Jesus’ so-called “inner circle” of Peter, James, and John (see Mark 13:3). This is ironic because Andrew was one of the first two disciples to follow Christ (John 1:40–41). Yet he wasn’t usually included with the other three in their private times with Him—such as at the raising of Jairus’ daughter (Mark 5:37), at the transfiguration (9:2–13), and in the inner sanctum of Gethsemane (14:33). Andrew is included only in Christ’s teaching at the Mount of Olives. By: Bill Crowder

Making Every Moment Count

Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come.
Matthew 24:42

The halted hands of a pocket watch in a library’s archives at the University of North Carolina tell a harrowing tale. They mark the exact moment (8:19 and 56 seconds) the watch’s owner Elisha Mitchell slipped and fell to his death at a waterfall in the Appalachian Mountains on the morning of June 27, 1857.

Mitchell, a professor at the university, was gathering data to defend his (correct) claim that the peak he was on—which now bears his name, Mount Mitchell—was the highest one east of the Mississippi. His grave is located at the mountain’s summit, not far from where he fell.

As I ascended that mountain peak recently, I reflected on Mitchell’s story and my own mortality and how each of us has only so much time. And I pondered Jesus’ words about His return as He spoke to His disciples on the Mount of Olives: “So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him” (Matthew 24:44).

Jesus clearly indicates that none of us knows either the moment He’ll return and establish His kingdom forever or when He may summon us to leave this world and come to Him. But He tells us to be prepared and “keep watch” (v. 42).

Tick . . . tick . . . The “clockwork” of our lives is still in motion—but for how long? May we live our moments in love with our merciful Savior, waiting and working for Him. By:  James Banks

Reflect & Pray

How are you preparing to meet Jesus? What do you look forward to the most about being with Him?

Loving Savior, please help me to be ready to meet You at any time. Help me to serve You and prepare for Your return today.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Monday, April 11, 2022

Complete and Effective Divinity

If we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection… —Romans 6:5

Co-Resurrection. The proof that I have experienced crucifixion with Jesus is that I have a definite likeness to Him. The Spirit of Jesus entering me rearranges my personal life before God. The resurrection of Jesus has given Him the authority to give the life of God to me, and the experiences of my life must now be built on the foundation of His life. I can have the resurrection life of Jesus here and now, and it will exhibit itself through holiness.

The idea all through the apostle Paul’s writings is that after the decision to be identified with Jesus in His death has been made, the resurrection life of Jesus penetrates every bit of my human nature. It takes the omnipotence of God— His complete and effective divinity— to live the life of the Son of God in human flesh. The Holy Spirit cannot be accepted as a guest in merely one room of the house— He invades all of it. And once I decide that my “old man” (that is, my heredity of sin) should be identified with the death of Jesus, the Holy Spirit invades me. He takes charge of everything. My part is to walk in the light and to obey all that He reveals to me. Once I have made that important decision about sin, it is easy to “reckon” that I am actually “dead indeed to sin,” because I find the life of Jesus in me all the time (Romans 6:11). Just as there is only one kind of humanity, there is only one kind of holiness— the holiness of Jesus. And it is His holiness that has been given to me. God puts the holiness of His Son into me, and I belong to a new spiritual order.

Wisdom From Oswald Chambers

Jesus Christ is always unyielding to my claim to my right to myself. The one essential element in all our Lord’s teaching about discipleship is abandon, no calculation, no trace of self-interest. Disciples Indeed, 395 L

Bible in a Year: 1 Samuel 17-18; Luke 11:1-28

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Monday, April 11, 2022

The Light in Your Night - #9195

We had rented this nice cabin in the mountains, and we really didn't want to leave it much. The view across the valley was like a painting. It would change as the sun changed and the weather changed; all kinds of moods, you know, like you see in the mountains.

I had looked at the mountain across the valley from us many times, but I finally took a good look in that direction at night. That's when I saw it - the cross. There was a lighted cross on top of the mountain, glowing in the night from a vantage point where it could be seen all around. Actually, that cross is there all the time but you don't really see it until it's dark.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Light in Your Night."

You know, for many of us, the greatest discovery of our lives came when it was night; one of those dark times that we all go through in our life. A lot of people have learned that when it's night, you can see the cross, often for the first time in your life.

The cross - that awful place where Jesus was brutally crucified - turns out to be the ultimate proof of how much God loves you and me. If it's sacrifice that proves love, then we don't ever have to wonder how God feels about us. God the Father gave up God the Son to absorb the guilt and the hell for every wrong thing you and I have ever done. There's never been a greater sacrifice. There's never been a greater love.

But we can know about what happened on that cross. We can be around it for years and still miss that forgiveness, that love, even the heaven that Jesus died to give us. Maybe you've been kind of skirting the issue of dealing with Jesus personally. Maybe you feel someone's been pressuring you about Jesus, and that's just made you resist Him even more. Maybe it's pride that's kept you from having a life-changing encounter at the cross, or it could even be your Christianity, because you've had so much Christianity you thought you had Christ.

It's easy to go very busily about the routines of your life and never really see that cross until...it's suddenly night time. Something happens to your health, to your family, to your job, whatever you've counted on for security. And none of your answers, none of your fixes are enough. That's when a lot of people look up and finally see the cross, shining there in the night, showing them where hope is.

In John 12:32-33, our word for today from the Word of God, Jesus said, "'When I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw all men to Myself.' He said this to show the kind of death He was going to die.'" See, that was it - lifted up to die on a cross. But there would be a magnet in that old hunk of wood; a magnet that would draw the people He died for right to His side. It sure did that for me.

Which is exactly why you might be feeling that tug in your heart right now. Jesus is drawing you to come to the cross, to give yourself to Him; to find what you've spent your whole life looking for. All those religious hang-ups, all those lame arguments, all the proud resistance, all the spiritual pride that just drops to the ground at the foot of His cross and you finally belong to the One you were made for.

If you've been doing it without Jesus all these years, for whatever reason, and you want this to be the day you finally experience Him for yourself, would you tell Him that right where you are, "Lord, I turn from the running of my own life. I am pinning all my hopes on You because You died for me, and You walked out of your grave so you could walk into my life and I want you to today."

If that's what you want, I think our website is a good place for you to go right now. Because that's where I've laid out in a very simple and non-religious way exactly what the Bible says about how to be sure you belong to Jesus, and how you can know that every sin of your life's been forgiven; how you can know for sure you're going to heaven. I hope you'll check it out. It's ANewStory.com.

Look, maybe it's night right now, not because God doesn't love you, but because He does. He doesn't want to lose you. His cross shines very brightly in your night.

Once you meet Him there, it will never be night in your soul again.