Josué 21

Josué 21

Spurgeon - Dt 10:12 - “It is a land the LORD your God cares for.” The eyes of the Lord our God are always on us, from the beginning of the year even to the end of the year. Some of us say, “I have had deep troubles this year.” “I have lost a friend,” says one. “I have been impoverished this year,” says another. “I have been slandered,” cries another. “I have been exceedingly vexed and grieved,” says another. “I have been persecuted,” says another. But take the year altogether—the troubles and the joys, the hills and the valleys, and what have we to say about it? Do not pick out one day in the year and say it was a bad day. Let the year revolve in all its grandeur, and then say, “He has done everything well” (Mk 7:37). And why have all things been well? It is because the eyes of the Lord have been on us all the year. If those eyes had been shut for a single moment, night or day, where would we have been? We would not have been at all, but swept away, like airy dreams, into annihilation. God has been watching over us, so that when a trouble came, he said, “Trouble, go away!” I think a child of God will say with Joshua, when he reviews it all, “None of the good promises the LORD had made to the house of Israel failed. Everything was fulfilled” (Jos 21:45). Henry Blackaby - Not One of God's Promises Not one of the good promises which the LORD had made to the house of Israel failed; all came to pass. . . . “Now behold, today I am going the way of all the earth, and you know in all your hearts and in all your souls that not one word of all the good words which the LORD your God spoke concerning you has failed; all have been fulfilled for you, not one of them has failed. It shall come about that just as all the good words which the LORD your God spoke to you have come upon you, so the LORD will bring upon you all the threats, until He has destroyed you from off this good land which the LORD your God has given you.”Joshua 21:45; 23:14–15 (NASB) God keeps his promises. That sounds like a warm and fuzzy thought, but let’s examine what Joshua had to say about it. Joshua had walked with God his entire life—from the time he was a child slave in Egypt through his days as a Hebrew spy, through his forty-year stint in the desert, and as he led his army to victory all across the Promised Land. Joshua had seen it all. He saw how many times the Hebrews pleased God and how many times they failed him. He saw their faith and their disbelief, their obedience and their disobedience. He was there for the good days and the bad days. Joshua also observed God’s ways over his long lifetime. He saw that God kept, to the letter, every single promise he made. He concluded that God had been faithful, without exception, to his people. Joshua also saw that God would indeed judge his people for their sin, just as he said he would. Half of Joshua’s life had been spent in the back country leading a nation that was paying the penalty for its disbelief. As he looked back over his life, Joshua could say with confidence that God was completely trustworthy to do as he said he would. According to Joshua, this could be troubling or it could be comforting. It all depends on whether you’ve been faithful. Are you aware of how many promises God has made to you? It’s important that you never take his faithfulness to you for granted. It’s equally important that you don’t take your faithfulness to him for granted. Strive to be faithful to God, and you will enjoy fully God’s incredible faithfulness to you. (The Experience) Joshua 21:45 Amazing Guide Not a word failed of any good thing which the Lord had spoken. — Joshua 21:45 Today's Scripture & Insight: Joshua 1:1-9 When actors and actresses make a movie, it’s the director who sees the “big picture” and the overall direction. Actress Marion Cotillard admits she didn’t understand everything the director was doing in one of her recent films. She said, “I found it very interesting to allow myself to be lost, because I knew that I had this amazing guide. . . . You abandon yourself for a story and a director that will make it all work.” I think Joshua could have said something similar about the director of his life. In today’s Scripture passage, the newly commissioned leader of Israel is standing at the threshold of the Promised Land. More than 2 million Israelites are looking to him to lead them. How would he do it? God didn’t give him a detailed script, but He gave him the assurance that He would go with him. God said, “I will be with you. I will not leave you” (Josh. 1:5). He commanded Joshua to study and practice everything written in His Word (vv.7-8), and He promised to be with Joshua wherever he went. Joshua responded with complete devotion and surrender to his amazing Guide, and “not a word failed of any good thing which the Lord had spoken” (21:45). We too can abandon ourselves to our Director and rest in His faithfulness. Matthew Henry -”you know that not one thing hath failed of all the good things which the Lord spoke concerning you” (and he spoke a great many); see Joshua 21:45. God had promised them victory, rest, plenty, his tabernacle among them, etc., and not one thing had failed of all he had promised. “Now,” said he, “has God been thus true to you? Be not you false to him.” It is the apostle’s argument for perseverance (Heb. 10:23), He is faithful that has promised. Israel’s experience of God’s fidelity is here upon record, and is an acquittance under their hands to the honour of God, the vindication of his promise which had been so often distrusted, and the encouragement of all believers to the end of the world: There failed not any good thing, no, nor aught of any good thing (so full is it expressed), which the Lord had spoken unto the house of Israel, but in due time all came to pass, v. 45. Such an acknowledgment as this, here subscribed by Joshua in the name of all Israel, we afterwards find made by Solomon, and all Israel did in effect say Amen to it, 1 Ki. 8:56. The inviolable truth of God’s promise, and the performance of it to the utmost, are what all the saints have been ready to bear their testimony to; and, if in any thing the performance has seemed to come short, they have been as ready to own that they themselves must bear all the blame. F B