2/24/16

The Israeli Pirate Story

The Scripture is Joshua 7:13.

The folks of Israel are hot to trot after a recent military victory in Jericho (not to be confused with the pro-wrestler or that sweet show on CBS that only lasted 2 seasons).

The Israelis were not suppose to plunder anything after the win.  All the fancy gold stuff was supposed to go toward the Tabernacle (throwback Tent-Temple).

Come to find out, a dude stole some stuff and buried it, attempting to save it all for himself.

He should have known that a God who can cause raging rivers to turn to dry passable paths and cause dry old boulders to spew fresh raging drinking water is able to see where he buried stolen treasure. Silly pirate--tricks don't work on God!

After such a decisive victory in Jericho, Israel only send a fraction of foot soldiers to Ai town... except the Ai dudes come out in swarms and chase them off!  So, Joshua whines to God (in essence), "Where were you?!  We are trying to conquer in life like you want and BAM!  We get blindsided!"

Sound familiar?

We try to do our best in life to get where we wanna be, and next thing we know, BAM!  We get blindsided by life...

Moral failure...
Angry friends...
Broke down car...
Divorce...
Unexpected hospital bills...
You name it.

So, God tells Joshua (the leader of the Israelis at this time) to tell the folks this: “Get up! Command the people to purify themselves in preparation for tomorrow. For this is what the Lord , the God of Israel, says: Hidden among you, O Israel, are things set apart for the Lord . You will never defeat your enemies until you remove these things from among you."

If you are anything like me (hopefully not too much, the world can only handle so much Billy) then when you think about it, there are some things in your life you are keeping from God.

Time...
Devotion...
Loyalty...
Tithe...
Love...
Taking care of those around you...
You name it.

So before I go blaming God when my life is in shambles... I try to do a self-evaluation:

What happened before this negative event?
Have I been faithful to God and my fellow humans?
Have I been generous with my resources?
When was the last time I prayer or read the Instruction Book (Bible)?

Some things I realize I have buried hidden from God.  I dug a hole and threw some personal things (that were never really mine to begin with--they were blessings from God) and tried to hoard them.

I am not saying every issue you face is cause God is mad at you.

But I am saying if you are in a struggle, the best way to keep God close to you so He can lead you through the storm is by "purifying" yourself.

Unveil the hidden stuff.  He knows about it anyway.

After all, it is all already His.

He is just waiting for you to act like it.

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