Great Is Thy Faithfulness

Hello....I was reading Joshua last night and was inspired to write my own devotional today. I don't have a cute little story to go along with it (at least not at this point, but maybe something will come to me as I write) so you'll just have to bear with me :-0! (I apologize if it's on the long side....I'm new at this!)

Joshua 21:43-45 (KJV)
(see Numbers 35:2-8 for more background)

And the LORD gave unto Israel all the land which he sware to give unto their fathers; and they possessed it, and dwelt therein. And the LORD gave them rest round about, according to all that he sware unto their fathers: and there stood not a man of all their enemies before them; the LORD delivered all their enemies into their hand. There failed not aught of any good thing which the LORD had spoken unto the house of Israel; all came to pass.

As Christians, we spend a lot of time reading the New Testament. In church, our pastors select NT passages, and even now we're studying Romans together. Don't get me wrong, it's very important to read the NT, since it teaches us about our man, JC, however, it's also important to remember that he is the fulfillment of a promise that God made to his people in the Old Testament. The cool thing about the OT is that tells the (hi)story of the Israelites, in true story form. In order to really understand the NT Christians, we have to understand God's covenant and his relationship with Israel in OT times. At school we read books like the Illiad, Shakespeare's Plays, The Republic, etc. in order to understand the principles our own society was founded upon. Shouldn't we take the same time to figure out how our own church came about?

Anyway, the OT is pretty much chronological for the first half or so. As you may or may not know, the Israelites escaped from Egypt in Exodus and started heading for the land the God had promised them. By time Joshua rolls around, they have finally made it (although if you read the intervening text, it's quite an adventure), and it's just a matter of splitting the land up.

This passage from Joshua is the fulfillment of a promise that God made to the people of Israel in Numbers 35:2-8. If you go through the OT, you will see repeatedly how God remains faithful to his people, even though they keep letting him down. God is the same way with us today. Even though we declare our faith and committment to him, it's inevitable that we will screw up and let him down, because we are still mere humans. How terrible would it be if God's grace were a one shot deal? Fortunately for us, it's not. We just have to strive to be as faithful as possible, because he'll be there to pick us up when we fall down.

Lord,

I just thank you for your faithfulness and your grace, even though we don't deserve it. Thank you for giving us the desire to live our lives in a way that is pleasing to you, and help to us remain faithful to you.

-AMR