Week Nine Reading Assignment:
Deuteronomy 32 - Joshua 20

"So we affirm first of all that a living church is a learning church, a church submissive to the teaching authority of the apostles.  Its pastors expound Scripture from the pulpit.  Its parents teach their children out of the Scriptures at home, and its members read and reflect on the Scriptures every day in order to grow in Christian discipleship.  The Spirit of God leads the people of God to honor the word of God."

(John Stott, The Living Church: Convictions of a Lifelong Pastor)

This Week's Video: Introduction to Bible Geography Part 2

Making Progress
​This week we will finish reading the Book of Deuteronomy, the fifth book of the Bible.  The chart above illustrates where we will stand in our reading of the Old Testament and in our reading of the entire Bible upon completion of that book.  Keep up the good work!

Good Book Review: New Mission, New Man

God prohibits Moses from entering the Promised Land.  At first blush, that seems a bit harsh to us.  After all that he had done, and after so long and so faithful a wait, it seems a shame that Moses would not enjoy the reward.

In fact, however, God’s prohibition was probably a mercy.  The next phase for the Israelites, after all, was not living in the land flowing with milk and honey.  Rather, the next phase was attacking and conquering the land inhabited by Amalekites, Hitties, Amorites, Jebu-sites, and Canaanites.  Old Moses didn't need that kind of task. 

And so the Lord had a new man in mind to lead Israel in its next phase: Joshua.

Joshua’s credentials are evident earlier in the story.  First, when he and Moses came down from Sinai, upon hearing the revelry surrounding the golden calf, Joshua said that there was the sound of war in the  camp.  It was not war, in fact, but what he thought he heard re-veals something about his orientation.  Second, he had been one of only two men who had enough faith to trust God with the battles for the land back when the Israelites first arrived at the border.

The Book of Joshua records the cam-paigns to take the land, details the division of the land among the tribes, and bears witness to the truth that the keys to victory for Israel are not size and strength but faith and obedience.    

How the Bible Came To be

"The Bible and the books of the Bible came to be regarded as the inspired word of God, not because of any decision of any Synod or Council or Committee or Church, but because in them men found God. The supremely important thing is not what men did to these books, but what these books did to men. These books, as the story plainly shows, became Scripture, because nothing could stop them doing so. Their unique inspiration was self-evidencing through their ability to meet the needs of the human heart, especially in times when life was an agonizing thing."
(William Barclay)

Moses, Joshua, and  the Rev. John Sammis

The 19th-century Presbyterian minister, John Sammis, famously wrote: "Trust and obey, for there's no other way to be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey." It is a simple refrain, but profoundly true.

Moses and Joshua would not have known anything about being happy in Jesus, of course.  I think they would have said a heart Amen, however, to the fundamental "trust and obey" mes-sage. Indeed, they might have offered a few additional insights of their into that familiar chorus.

During this week, we will move from the end of Moses's farewell reminders and instructions to the new leadership of his
successor, Joshua. We'll follow Joshua across the Jordan River, past Gilgal, against Jericho, and piece by piece, town by town through the conquest
of Canaan. And as we read, we might do well to hear the tune of Trust and Obey playing in the background, for both Moses's words and Joshua's battles bear witness to the truth of that hymn.

We read these chapters, and we dis-cover that trusting and obeying are the only way to win a victory against a superior foe. Trust and obey obey is the key to receiving the promises of God. Trust and obey puts us in a position to enjoy the power and the blessings God has in store. Trust and obey create the kind of individual lifestyle and com-munity culture that please and honor God. And trust and obey enables us to be instrumental in His will and His work.

As we examine both the biblical stories and our own experience, we see that trust and obedience are natural part-ners. Disobedience betrays a funda-mental lack of trust, while only a fool would obey without trusting. Trust is a prerequisite for obedience, and obe-dience is the natural extension of trust.

Moses and Joshua did not yet know about being happy in Jesus. They did know, however, about trusting and obeying God. What they wrote and how they lived, therefore, are instructive examples for us. And as we follow their instructions and examples, we will soon concur that there is no other way -- to pleasing God, being used by him, receiving all that he has for us, or being happy in Jesus -- than to trust and obey.
© 2021 The 3x5 Club