[A Meditation on One Verse]

(Joshua 13:1) “When Joshua had grown old, the LORD said to him, ‘You are now very old, and there are still very large areas of land to be taken.’”

Joshua chapter 13 begins with words that, from a worldly perspective, are a perfect recipe for discouragement.

“You are now very old, and there are still very large areas of land to be taken.”

The work to be done is mountainous, but the strength to handle it has waned. What a hopeless diagnosis this is. But this is only the perspective of someone without God. A person of faith is different. Because they see God’s promise beyond the immediate reality.

“I myself will drive them out before the Israelites. Be sure to allocate this land to Israel for an inheritance, as I have instructed you.”

We often speak of ‘good faith’ or ‘great faith,’ and in doing so, we tend to place the source of faith in ‘ourselves.’ But the Bible does not introduce faith in that way. Faith is based on God’s promise, which contains His will and power.

Therefore, it is not the believer’s condition that fulfills the promise, but rather, it is God’s promise that leads us to faith. In other words, faith is the ‘response’ that appears in one who daily experiences the faithful God who keeps His promises. In that way, faith is a gift, received freely.

To walk a walk of faith is not a time to prove our own state, but a time to experience God’s character. The time to see God’s faithfulness and power daily is ‘today.’ How beautiful, then, is this ‘today’ that unfolds before us. This morning, we pray in faith:

“God, we sing to You, looking forward to the ‘today’ in which You will lead us and establish us in a place of ‘faith’.”
___________________

(Daily Reading)

Joshua 13:1-23