I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Joshua 1-4.

    Today’s passage can be divided into three parts:Preparing to enter the Promised Land, Rahab and the spies, and Crossing the Jordan. There are two parts to the part about preparing to enter the Promised Land. I am only going to touch on the first part of that. God gave Joshua advice which every leader will benefit from. Meditate on God’s word day and night. Study it and follow its principles. If you do this you will be successful in everything you do. Remember that God will be with us in everything we do. God will not abandon us, nor will He fail us. This is not conditional on us studying and following His word. However, if we do not study and follow God’s word, we will fail ourselves.

    The story of Rahab and the spies gives us a great example of faith. Rahab acted to protect the spies before she extracted a promise from them to be kind to her and her family. Why di she do this? She tells us why. She had heard what God had done for the people of Israel and she recognized that He was the Supreme God above all other gods. She recognized God’s power and His will and acted accordingly. She did not wait for the promise of benefit to herself or her family to do what was right. She acted in faith with no assurance that she would receive any benefit from doing so.

    When the Israelites crossed the Jordan River they built two monuments to God’s power. One of them was an example which was probably never seen again. They built two stone altars. One in the middle of the riverbed of the Jordan River and one where they camped for the night after crossing the river. The second was built from stones taken from the riverbed of the Jordan River. These stones would have been distinctive, as any stones which spend any length of time in a moving body of water develop several characteristics. As a result for generations afterwards this altar would have stood as a testament to them crossing the dry river bed of the Jordan River. There are times when it is useful for us to do similar things in our lives, to build monuments to how God has used His power in our lives. Those monuments do not necessarily need to be physical.
    As an example, I struggled long and hard with whether asking my wife to marry me was God’s will. God assured me that I had made the right decision. This story is how He did that. Several things happened over the summer leading up to our wedding which made it clear where we should hold our wedding reception. When we reached out to the caterer to see if we could schedule his hall he responded by saying, “I am sorry but I am booked every Saturday for the next two years…except for September 23. The couple who had reserved that date just called yesterday and cancelled.” September 23 was the date we had chosen for our wedding. Whenever my wife or I question whether or not we made the right decision to get married, one of us says, “I’m sorry but I have no dates available for the next two years…except for the day you want.”