Begin Again, Day 35 Consistency. Read Joshua chapter 23. Joshua is giving his final address to the people. He knows that he is coming toward the end of his life and he wants to pass on the legacy that he has been carrying. It’s amazing how many phrases in this chapter mimic Joshua chapter one where God was speaking to Joshua. We know that God had worked in Joshua’s life in amazing and tremendous ways. Now we see Joshua passing along that same wisdom to the people of Israel. If you think about the amount of time that has passed since God sent those words to him, you see how…

Begin Again, Day 34 Miscommunication. Read Joshua chapter 22. The people were finally going home. Those tribes who had inherited land east of the Jordan river were finally at a place where they had fulfilled their obligation to their fellow brothers and they were headed home. However, when they went home, they ended up building an altar, but they didn’t tell the others about it or explain their intent beforehand. This led to a massive miscommunication that almost started a civil war. We are part of a group and a team, and as a result, we must communicate with others. We must be willing to talk to others and to…

Begin Again, Day 33 Trust in the faithfulness of God. Read Joshua chapter 21. As we read chapter 21, we see the last of the division of the territory. The Levites receive towns that they can live in. This was the final separation of the groups of the children of Israel. The chapter finishes with this incredible verse that summarizes the faithfulness of God. Every single promise that God made to the people, he kept. They could trust in him and in what he was doings we follow through in obedience to God, we find that he is worthy of our trust. He is always faithful to do everything. He…

Begin Again, Day 32 Follow Through. Read Joshua chapter 20. Reading through Joshua chapter 20 is a reminder of Number chapter 35 where God had told Moses and Moses had told the people about the importance of cities of refuge. The role of these cities was explained in that chapter in Numbers, and the people agreed upon the need and importance of these cities. What I found amazing today was the reminder that they actually followed through and set up these cities. How often have I felt like I knew what God wanted me to do and I understood the plan, but yet I failed to follow through and execute…

Begin Again, Day 31 Sharing is caring. Read Joshua chapter 19. Joshua is continuing to divide the lands and assign territory to each of the tribes. For Simeon, it actually states that they took part of the land originally assigned to Judah and gave it to the tribe of Simeon because Judah had more than they needed. Sharing is a concept that we talk about a lot, especially with children. The phrase sharing is caring came up often in ourhousehold as my kids were growing up. Sharing is not something that comes naturally. The idea of giving something to someone else that doesn’t provide any kind of benefit to ourselves…

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…