Wednesday, March 21, 2007
Disciple: Week 8, Day 3
The story of Joshua is an amazing display of communal obedience to God.
Following God's directives, Joshua commanded the people: "Do not give a war cry, do not raise your voices, do not say a word until the day I tell you to shout. Then shout!" (Joshua 6:10)
Can you imagine? The entire fighting force ("armed men") of Israel marching around the city of Jericho in silence for a total of 13 times in 7 days? I couldn't even get my classes (max size of 20 kids) to walk from the portable to the computer lab in relative quiet!
But the Israelites (for once) obeyed, and God brought down the walls of Jericho for them.
It boggles the mind.
Then one man out of hundreds of thousands, Achan, disobeyed God by taking some of the plunder of Jericho and immediately 3000 Israelite men were routed by the men of Ai (amazingly, however, only 36 died). When Achan's sin was revealed, he and his entire family were stoned to death.
And then there's Judges. The Israelites forgot God and worshipped other gods, and so God delivered them into the hands of foreign kings.
The lesson is pretty obvious, as the "Assignment" blurb in Disciple clearly states:
But while the lesson is easy to understand, it's much more difficult to apply. When I look at my life--even when I look back on my day--I can see the myriad of times and ways I've disobeyed God, whether directly or in principle.
I guess that's one of the reasons Christians nowadays like the New Testament so much better than the Old: we don't like to think of God as a righteous God who requires our obedience; we like to think of God as a loving God who offers us forgiveness. It's all too easy to fall into the trap of unintentionally testing God's grace (Romans 6).
The story of Joshua is an amazing display of communal obedience to God.
Following God's directives, Joshua commanded the people: "Do not give a war cry, do not raise your voices, do not say a word until the day I tell you to shout. Then shout!" (Joshua 6:10)
Can you imagine? The entire fighting force ("armed men") of Israel marching around the city of Jericho in silence for a total of 13 times in 7 days? I couldn't even get my classes (max size of 20 kids) to walk from the portable to the computer lab in relative quiet!
But the Israelites (for once) obeyed, and God brought down the walls of Jericho for them.
It boggles the mind.
Then one man out of hundreds of thousands, Achan, disobeyed God by taking some of the plunder of Jericho and immediately 3000 Israelite men were routed by the men of Ai (amazingly, however, only 36 died). When Achan's sin was revealed, he and his entire family were stoned to death.
And then there's Judges. The Israelites forgot God and worshipped other gods, and so God delivered them into the hands of foreign kings.
The lesson is pretty obvious, as the "Assignment" blurb in Disciple clearly states:
The Book of Joshua stresses what occurs when the people "trust and obey," when the leadership is faithful and the people are united.
The Book of Judges stresses what happens when the people do no "trust and obey," when they act individually rather than as a united community.
But while the lesson is easy to understand, it's much more difficult to apply. When I look at my life--even when I look back on my day--I can see the myriad of times and ways I've disobeyed God, whether directly or in principle.
I guess that's one of the reasons Christians nowadays like the New Testament so much better than the Old: we don't like to think of God as a righteous God who requires our obedience; we like to think of God as a loving God who offers us forgiveness. It's all too easy to fall into the trap of unintentionally testing God's grace (Romans 6).
