March 7th, 2013
Today’s reading from Encounter with God

Unchanging God

Please see the links to our EXTRA Bible Study notes at the bottom of the page.

Opening Prayer

Lord God, match my dedication with my deeds, and lead me to a new understanding of trust in You.

Read Joshua 8:18-29

[18] Then the LORD said to Joshua, “Hold out toward Ai the javelin that is in your hand, for into your hand I will deliver the city.” So Joshua held out toward the city the javelin that was in his hand. [19] As soon as he did this, the men in the ambush rose quickly from their position and rushed forward. They entered the city and captured it and quickly set it on fire. [20] The men of Ai looked back and saw the smoke of the city rising up into the sky, but they had no chance to escape in any direction; the Israelites who had been fleeing toward the wilderness had turned back against their pursuers. [21] For when Joshua and all Israel saw that the ambush had taken the city and that smoke was going up from it, they turned around and attacked the men of Ai. [22] Those in the ambush also came out of the city against them, so that they were caught in the middle, with Israelites on both sides. Israel cut them down, leaving them neither survivors nor fugitives. [23] But they took the king of Ai alive and brought him to Joshua. [24] When Israel had finished killing all the men of Ai in the fields and in the wilderness where they had chased them, and when every one of them had been put to the sword, all the Israelites returned to Ai and killed those who were in it. [25] Twelve thousand men and women fell that day-all the people of Ai. [26] For Joshua did not draw back the hand that held out his javelin until he had destroyed all who lived in Ai. [27] But Israel did carry off for themselves the livestock and plunder of this city, as the LORD had instructed Joshua. [28] So Joshua burned Ai and made it a permanent heap of ruins, a desolate place to this day. [29] He impaled the body of the king of Ai on a pole and left it there until evening. At sunset, Joshua ordered them to take the body from the pole and throw it down at the entrance of the city gate. And they raised a large pile of rocks over it, which remains to this day.

Scripture taken from the Holy Bible, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 International Bible Society. All rights reserved throughout the world. Used by permission of International Bible Society.

Meditate

“One who faces his own failures is steadily advancing on the pilgrim’s way” (Archbishop William Temple, 1881-1944).

Think Further

We live in a very different age from Joshua so, rather than looking for direct parallels, we should seek for some clues about the unchanging character of God and our relationship with him. The first thing that we notice is God’s patience and forbearance. Ever since Abraham’s day, the Amorites had been thwarting God’s purposes (Gen. 15:16). Rather than question whether God was really involved in judging, we should be amazed that he does not do it more often (2 Pet. 3:9)! Second, we need to realize that God’s judgment does not just fall on Israel’s enemies: God’s own people are actually the first to come under his judgment (Amos 3:2). When Joshua asked the angelic messenger, “Are you for us or for our enemies?” the answer was “Neither … but as commander of the army of the Lord I have now come” (5:14). Before we assume that God is for us we need to ask whether we are for God. 

Have we lost our experience of God’s searing holiness? God will not bring people into a church that is not worth joining. There is a direct link between Achan and Ananias and Sapphira (Acts 5:1-11).

However, these events also have a message of real encouragement. Once disobedience has been confessed and dealt with, and a pattern of listening and obedience restored, we can go forward with the assurance of victory as we live out God’s purposes for our lives. But faith and assurance must never degenerate into complacency. All these events should make us more aware of the consequences of sin and therefore of the suffering of Jesus, who took upon himself the pain and the penalty that should rightfully have been ours. As God’s redeemed people we are called to be living demonstrations of his loving, saving grace.

Apply

God wants the cycle of sin, repentance, and forgiveness to strengthen us, not weaken us. In what ways have you learned from your failures?

Closing prayer

Loving Lord, help me to live my new life for Your glory in some practical way that others can see.

Click here to sign up to receive the EXTRAs via email each quarter.

© 2024 Scripture Union U.S.A. All rights reserved. Reproduction of the whole or any part of the contents without written permission is prohibited.

Encounter with God is published in the USA under license from Scripture Union England and Wales, Trinity House, Opal Court, Opal Drive, Fox Milne, Milton Keynes, MK15 0DF.

View all readings

Get ENCOUNTER:

in your email:

in Print:

Become a Member | Visit our store