Begin Again, Day 30 Bought in to the idea, not the effort required. Read Joshua 18. As we continue to journey through the book of Joshua, one thing becomes very evident. The children of Israel loved the idea of the promised land, but they did not love the idea of the work required to obtain and conquer the promised land. I don’t know if they thought they would just walk in and God would cause all of the people in the land to lay down there stuff and run away or what they were thinking exactly. Several years have passed and Joshua has to go to the many of the…

Begin Again, Day 29 Whiny. Read Joshua chapter 17. Joshua is continuing to assign land to the various tribes of the people of Israel. However, one tribe argues that they haven’t been given enough land. They start to say that they need more land because there’s so many of them. But then they complain that the land they were given isn’t enough because they can’t take the hill country. The people there have chariots, which is way too difficult, so they need different land. Joshua agrees that they do need more land, but then makes the decision that they can do the hill country, and they should work to just…

Begin Again, Day 28 Finish well. Read Joshua chapter 16. As we read through this chapter of Joshua, we see the division of the land for the descendants from Joseph. They received land as part of their allotment in the promised land, but what we also see is that they did not finish well. They started the process of taking over the land and they began strong. However, they did not carry through God’s commands all the way to completion. Somewhere along the way they got sidetracked, they got focused on themselves, they stopped looking at the final goal, and ultimately, and they ended up falling short of achieving everything…

Begin Again, Day 27 We need others. Read Joshua chapter 15. We can’t do everything on our own. While there are a lot of things about the Christian life that are individual decisions, we were meant to live the Christian life, most effectively, together with others. We saw yesterday that Caleb was committed to following through on all that God had promised him. And as we start reading chapter 15, we see that he absolutely went and conquered the lands that he had set his sights on, and that God had promised to him. However, now we see that he is offering his daughter in marriage to someone who would…

Begin Again, Day 26 Beginning again every single day. Read Joshua chapter 14. Reading through Joshua, chapter 14 is one of the reminders that God doesn’t pay any attention to age. God sees our ability and desire to be obedient to Him, and confirms that it doesn’t change as we get older. Caleb was 85 years old now, but he still remembered the promise of God from 45 years earlier. He was ready and willing to go and do what God had promised him all those years ago. Beginning again, it’s often about a conscious choice each and every day to do the little things that God is requesting of…

Begin Again, Day 25 Still work to be done. Read Joshua chapter 13. A couple of days ago, we saw the verse that talked about how a long time had passed while they were taking over the promised land. Now we get a sense of just how long the time has been. This military campaign and takeover of the land has taken Joshua’s entire lifetime. The people have been working, moving, and being obedient and following through for the whole of Joshua’s life. Our obedience is to span our lifetime. It’s not to be something that’s just in the good moments or in the easy moments. It’s not something we’re…

Begin Again, Day 23 No shortcuts. Read Joshua chapter 11. Yesterday, we read about the people of Israel conquering the lands in the southern part of what is Israel. Today, we read about them going through and conquering the lands in the northern part of the country. The Bible explains how the people continued to do what God had told them to do so they would be successful and experience the victory that God desired to bring about in their lives. But, verse 18 gives us a hint to something even more important to remember. These victories, when we read about them, seem to happen quickly. Yet, verse 18 reminds…

Begin Again, Day 22 Pray, obey, repeat. Read Joshua chapter 10. The people of Israel are experiencing victory. They go in and attack the cities. They defeat them completely, following through on exactly what God had told him to do. Then they regroup, and then they repeat. Throughout this chapter, we see multiple battles. The people who fought were victorious through the Lord. God gave them victory. The people continued to obey and follow God, and God continued to supply the victory. Beginning again, it’s really about doing the little things consistently, repetitively, so that they are almost become boring because they are so routine. That is where the victory…